Nash, Harold (1931-24th April 2013)

He was a trombonist, composer, and teacher born in Pendre, Wales. He was first confronted with music when his mother used to take him to see the local Salvation Army band before he was even four years old.

His father gave him his first lessons, followed by the bandleader Reg Little and then the conductor/trombonist Harold Laycock and during these early years he would play solo engagements at the local chapel and join the Parc and Dare Band.

When he was fifteen, in 1947, he was awarded a scholarship to study the trombone at the Royal Academy of Music in London and by the time he was eighteen he was already performing with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He left the Royal Academy when he was nineteen, before graduating, and joined the RPO on a full time basis, occasionally filling in at the Royal Academy Orchestra for his previous teacher even though he was no longer at the school.

In 1953 he left the RPO to join the Sadlers Wells Opera as First Trombone and after three years he was invited to join the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where he would stay for the next four decades. He often performed with other ensembles and orchestras through these 40 years, including the Hamburg Opera and the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble.

His own compositions for the trombone include Classical Trios for Trombone and Four Solo Pieces (trombone/Piano).

In the recording studio he featured on albums such as Manhole by Grace Slick, Classics for Brass, Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition and Festive Brass by the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and released the 45 single “Contrasts” with Don Lusher and Maurie Murphy. As a teacher he was a Professor on the faculty of the Royal Academy of Music and Golds College in London. He retired from the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in 1997 when he was 65 years old.

He passed away after a long illness in 2013.

Sources:

Nash, Harold (1931-24th April 2013)

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