Concert to celebrate the 100th birthday of the late Bryan Turbett

THE son of a renowned conductor will be making a guest appearance at a concert which will celebrate his late fathers’s 100th birthday at St Eugene’s Hall later this month.

Taking place on June 22 at 7.30pm, music will swell triumphantly as tributes are paid to Mr Turbett, formerly of St Eugene’s Band, on what would have been Bryan’s centenary birthday.

Fittingly, the special guest on the night will be Mr Turbett’s son, Philip, who is came into the national spotlight last month as he featured in the orchestra playing for King Charles’ Coronation.

The late Bryan Turbett started his musical journey during Frank McCrory’s reign as conductor over the then St Eugene’s Brass and Reed band as a clarinet player.

By age 15, he was raising eyebrows within the music world when he performed a cornet solo titled ‘Love’s Old Sweet Song’ following the main performance at the Temperance Society Annual concert in the Omagh Town Hall in 1938.

After ten years of playing with the band, conductor Martin Meyler, at the time, handed in his resignation due to buisness reasons, and Bryan came to fill the vacancy.

Bryan’s first concert would be in 1948 in Omagh Town Hall, which he opened with ‘Colonel Bogey on Parade’.

Through the late ‘40s and ‘50s, the band would continue to perform for the annual Omagh Show, the Féis, church events and open air concerts in front of the courthouse.

In November 1950, they also played for the funerals of four railway employees killed at the station.

His son, Philip Turbett, was another member of the family and band that achieved great success from an early age.

By age 11, he had joined the band and started clarinet, and then at 16, he was asked by his father to play the bassoon, which is a large, under-the-shoulder woodwind instrument used in classical and jazz music.

In his studies at Trinity College of Music in London, he was asked by his tutor to go professional and move to the English capital.

In October 1982, he was awarded diplomas in both clarinet and bassoon in Trinity, London.

Philip would go on to play globally in the London Classical Players and English Baroque Soloists bands during the ‘80s.

Later, he would manage the English National Opera, and play with the English Touring Opera.

As of recent years, Philip played for the King’s Coronation, and is currently the Professor of Bassoon at Trinity College in London.