Captain Phil Trudgeon has probably taken part in the Chichester Festival Theatre Christmas concerts seven or eight times in the past, probably most recently in around 2010.
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00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Now, goodness,
00:06this comes around incredibly quickly, doesn't it? The Chichester Festival Theatre Christmas
00:11Concerts, which, as ever, combine the band of the Royal Marines and the Chichester Cathedral
00:16Choir. Now, lovely to speak to Captain Phil Trudgeon, Director of Music. Now, you have
00:21a history of having appeared in these concerts on stage a number of times, a little while
00:26ago. This is your first time conducting. It must be a lovely thought to be back on
00:31the stage.
00:32Yeah, it's great. It's a concert that I've always had such good memories of and I'm really
00:38excited to come back. I mean, I played as a percussionist before I was commissioned
00:43to a conductor, to a director of music, and the Chichester was such a joyous event to
00:52be part of. And the band really, really enjoy it. And yeah, I've done solos there over the
00:57years, so featured with different directors of music and different choirs. And I think
01:05it's always been the Chichester Cathedral Choir, but we've had a number of speakers
01:08which, you know, which were, so it's changed quite a lot over the years, more the band
01:14and the choir. But when I first joined, there was a lot of poetry and Christmas stories,
01:19which was lovely.
01:20Absolutely. But tell me, what makes it so special, this event? And people really do
01:24look forward to it, don't they?
01:26Yeah, I think it's the, most of our events, it's the people who come to watch it. It's
01:32the public, it's the reaction, it's the, you know, the hard kind of enthusiasts who get
01:41excited and want to come and watch us and support us. And those reactions that we have,
01:46those conversations that we have, we always like to, myself and the bandmaster will always
01:50try to speak to as many of the audience when they leave, which is always the best thing
01:56to do. But Chichester is such a special concert for us, a great venue, lovely people, and
02:04the way that they set up the theatre with the Christmas trees is just beautiful.
02:08It always looks absolutely superb, doesn't it? So when it comes to thinking about the
02:11programme, what are the things that you're juggling in your mind that you really want
02:15to put across about the band and these concerts?
02:20Well, I think we have to keep it light and entertaining, and people need to leave with
02:25a smile on their face. And I think what helps the audience is seeing us enjoying ourselves.
02:32So I've got to think about the music for the band, that they enjoy it, that it's
02:37challenging enough for them, while still, you know, primarily thinking about the audience,
02:43because the audience, the paying customer, they come, they want to see a show, they
02:47want to see us enjoying ourselves. And yeah, Christmas is just, it's just a joyous time
02:52of year, isn't it? So we try to kind of get into the Christmas spirit. And of course,
02:56we have to rehearse for these things early. So, you know, for example, today, I've been
03:01doing some Christmas rehearsals for another concert, you know, so at the beginning of
03:06November, start thinking about Christmas music. And I've been probably thinking about it
03:10for a few months before that into the summer, really kind of thinking about music. And if
03:15we need to get some music ordered, you've got to really think in advance.
03:18You just know it's going to be fabulously worth it when the time actually comes. Now,
03:23in the background, you're telling me there's something serious going on with the band,
03:26isn't there? You have a challenge, a really important challenge for one of your members,
03:31and you are raising money. Fill me in.
03:35Yeah, so one of our members was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, which is obviously
03:41extremely heartbreaking for the band when we when we when we heard about this news.
03:48But in typical Royal Marine fashion, the band turned this negative experience and they've
03:55gone away and they thought of a challenge. It's called hashtag 26 for Soph. And the band,
04:01the idea was to raise £26,000. She she was she was diagnosed with motor neurone disease
04:07when she was 26 years old. So the theme that the the members came up with was anything
04:14any kind of challenge around 26. So some people have climbed 26 mountains or some people have
04:21done 26 mile runs or 260 miles on a on a bike and all these kind of different ideas.
04:29And so, I mean, the target was £26,000.
04:36Oh, you've just frozen there. We've just looked and you are currently at £64,000,
04:41which is fabulous, a fabulous achievement. It seems sadly I've lost you for the moment,
04:46but Captain Phil, really lovely to speak to you. And the Chichester Festival
04:51Theatre Christmas concerts are coming up at the start of December. Lovely to talk to you.