New Musical Director for Hathern Band
Jun. 1, 2019
Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Barnwell BBCM, psm
Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Barnwell was born in Nottingham and played the trumpet with the City Wind Band and Orchestra, and the bugle in the local Boys’ Brigade (44th Clifton Methodist Company), winning the Nottingham Battalion Silver Bugle Competition three times in a row.
He joined the Army in 1975 as a trumpet player and his career began with two years’ initial training in the Junior Musicians’ Troop, Royal Artillery, at Woolwich, where he took up the viola as a second study instrument. In January 1985 he was selected for the three-year Student Bandmaster course at Kneller Hall. He graduated in December 1987 having gained the highest marks in the Ministry of Defence examinations for Bandmasters in that year. His first appointment as Bandmaster was with The Band of The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment.
Following the reorganisation of Army music in 1994 he briefly (for a period of three months) became Bandmaster of the Band of the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers before taking up the appointment of Bandmaster with the Band of the Irish Guards. On 1st May 1996 he was commissioned and posted to Kneller Hall for two years as the Deputy Chief Instructor before being appointed Director of Music of The Band of The Prince of Wales Division (Clive) in June 1998. He was deployed with them in March 2003 on Operation Telic (to Iraq) in support of 34 Field Hospital.
He returned to the Band of the Irish Guards in June 2005 to take up the appointment as the Director of Music and in November 2008 he exchanged shamrock for leek, rearranged his buttons and stepped through the connecting door to the adjacent office as Director of Music of the Welsh Guards. The band formed part of the Guard of Honour at Buckingham Palace for the Marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton.
He became Senior Director of Music Household Division in November 2011 and was soon facing the challenges of the following year with The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympic Games. Very much respected by the musicians across all five bands for his integrity, Lieutenant Colonel Barnwell retired from the Army on Sunday 10th November 2013 after conducting the Massed Bands at the Cenotaph and the Band of the Welsh Guards at the Regimental Memorial Sunday in the afternoon.
Stephen will be relocating from London to his house in Leicestershire in 2020 and until that time will be working with David and taking Contests and as many Concerts as possible until his relocation.
Notable engagements include:
The Guard of Honour Band at Buckingham Palace for the marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton. Barack Obama’s address to Parliament. The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Service of Commemoration at St Paul’s Cathedral. The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert on the Mall. The Closing Ceremony of the London Olympic Games. The Funeral of Baroness Thatcher. The 60th Anniversary Service of The Queen’s Coronation at Westminster Abbey.
Regular Engagements:
Trooping the Colour – The Queen’s Birthday Parade. The State Opening of Parliament. State Visits. Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. Investitures at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle Buckingham Palace Garden Parties. The National Act of Remembrance at the Cenotaph. The Royal British Legion’s Annual Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.