Goff Richards (18 August 1944 – 25 June 2011), sometimes credited as Godfrey Richards,Cornish musician, composer & teacher Goff Richards dies
''BBC News'', 28 June 2011 was a prominent

Cornish Cornish is the adjective and demonym associated with Cornwall, the most southwesterly part of the United Kingdom. It may refer to: * Cornish language, a Brittonic Southwestern Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Cornwa ...

brass band arranger and composer. He was born in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...

, studying at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

and

Reading University The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

. Between 1976 and 1989, he lectured in arranging and at

Salford College of Technology Pendleton Sixth Form College is a further education college in Salford, Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten met ...

. He was the musical director of the Chetham's Big Band for many years. In 1976, he was made a Bard of the

Cornish Gorsedd Gorsedh Kernow (Cornish Gorsedd) is a non-political Cornish organisation, based in Cornwall, United Kingdom, which exists to maintain the national Celtic spirit of Cornwall. It is based on the Welsh-based Gorsedd, which was founded by Iolo Morga ...

. He received a Doctorate from

Salford University , caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford , mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things" , established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...

in 1990, after a career that had seen him lead the University Jazz Orchestra to the BBC Big Band of the Year title in 1989. He was well known for his original brass compositions such as "Trailblaze", "Doyen", "Exploding Brass!" and the marches "The Jaguar" and "Barnard Castle", and won a

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...

Award in 1984 for his "Continental Caprice". He was also a prolific arranger for brass bands, and his works included "Hymns of Praise", "Shepherd's Song", "Over the Rainbow", "

Mack the Knife "Mack the Knife" or "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" (german: "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer", italic=no, link=no) is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their 1928 music drama ''The Threepenny Opera'' (german: Die Dreig ...

", "New York, New York", "Chanson d'Amour", "I'll Walk with God", and "

That's a Plenty "That's a Plenty" is a 1914 ragtime piano composition by Lew Pollack. Lyrics by Ray Gilbert (born 1912) were added decades later. Several popular vocal versions have been recorded, but it is more often performed as an instrumental. The compositi ...

". He also arranged and composed

light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 te ...

orchestral and choral works, and his works have been performed by the

King's Singers The King's Singers are a British a cappella vocal ensemble founded in 1968. They are named after King's College in Cambridge, England, where the group was formed by six choral scholars. In the United Kingdom, their popularity peaked in the 1 ...

Huddersfield Choral Society Huddersfield Choral Society is a choir based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1836, and is recognised as one of Britain's leading choirs. Over the years the choir has performed most of the major works in the choral rep ...

London Brass The Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, founded in 1951 by trumpeter Philip Jones (musician), Philip Jones, was one of the first modern classical brass ensembles to be formed. The group played either as a quintet or as a ten-piece, for larger halls. It ...

Evelyn Glennie Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie, (born 19 July 1965) is a Scottish percussionist. She was selected as one of the two laureates for the Polar Music Prize of 2015. Early life Glennie was born in Methlick, Aberdeenshire in Scotland. The indig ...

and various BBC orchestras. He died on 25 June 2011 in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's coun ...

, following an illness, at the age of 66.

References

External links

Publisher's profile
Editions Marc Reift

* Compositions and arrangements by Goff Richards a
Obrasso-Verlag
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Goff 1944 births 2011 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century English composers 20th-century British male musicians Brass band composers British music arrangers Cornish composers English classical composers English male classical composers Alumni of the Royal College of Music Alumni of the University of Reading Bards of Gorsedh Kernow Musicians from Cornwall