MPAC to Welcome The Band of the Royal Marines

The United Kingdom's most prestigious military bands take the stage in a celebration of British pomp and circumstance when The Band of the Royal Marines comes to Mayo Performing Arts Center, Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 8 pm. Tickets are $29-59.

In their distinguishing white helmets, Royal Marines Bands are celebrated for the quality of their music, visual grandeur and precision drill. On the concert platform they enjoy a similar reputation ensuring their continuing popularity with their audiences. The Band's repertoire includes popular classics, Big Band, stimulating contemporary works and entertaining solo features. The Corps of Drums bring movement, color and the tradition of the ceremonial occasions integral to the Royal Marines. Most members of the Band play at least two instruments and are required to perform in wind band, marching band, big band, orchestral and dance band combinations. They also provide jazz, string and woodwind ensembles, making the Royal Marines musician one of the most versatile and adept in military music.

As with all Royal Marines Bands, the principal role is to provide musical support to the Naval Service, but within their secondary role the Band's men and women undertake a variety of duties by sea and land on active service. Members of the Royal Marines Band Service have been deployed on active duty in all the major conflicts of the last century. In October 2014 members of the Scotland Band were deployed for six months on board the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Ship ARGUS in support of the global effort to combat the Ebola virus.

The Band is currently under the direction of Captain Daryl Powell RM who assumed command in September 2012.

The Scots Guards were raised on March 16, 1642 by a Royal Commission issued by King Charles I to the 1st Marquess of Argyll, authorizing him to raise a Royal Regiment of 1,500 men to be "led into our Realm of Ireland". The regiment was intended by The King to be his Royal Guard and from this date the history of the Scots Guards begins. It was originally known as "Argyle's Regiment" and later renamed "His Majesty's Life Guards of Foot" by King Charles II in 1650. Under this name the regiment served in Scotland, Ireland, the Low Countries and in Spain until 1712 when both battalions were quartered in or nearby London and Queen Anne altered the name to 'Third Regiment of Foot Guards'.

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