| Biography | Lieutenant Colonel Dr Ray Steadman-Allen was a British composer of choral and brass band music for the Salvation Army and for band competition. His Salvation Army Officer parents, living in Bristol, were appointed to London in 1937. Ray then obtained a job at International Headquarters as office boy to General Evangeline Booth, daughter of The Salvation Army's founder.
In 1942 he enlisted in the Royal Navy. He was examined for a music diploma by Sir Granville Bantock who invited him to apply for a job in music after the war. Following a short post-war period as a trombonist with The International Staff Band, he developed his conducting skills and became Bandmaster of the Tottenham Citadel Band. He became a Salvation Army officer himself in 1949, from the Harrow Corps.
Ray Steadman-Allen regularly took part as Bandmaster in the popular radio programme Sounding Brass which was presented by Gloria Hunniford and Owen Spencer-Thomas on Radio 2 and Radio London in the 1970s. He wrote a book called Colour and Texture in the Brass Band Score which was published by The Salvation Army. Besides well over 200 brass band works published by The Salvation Army, Ray Steadman-Allen has written numerous choral works with a large number of compositions and arrangements in manuscript form, often completed for recordings or special concert presentations. |