Wes Warren

Wes began playing the cornet at the tender age of 4 years. His whole family were brass players in the Salvation Army and he joined the junior band as soon as he could read. His first teacher was his sister Wendy and her husband John Britan.

His cornet playing flourished in such a great musical environment as the Salvation Army and during his teens, Wes decided that music was going to be his career.

In 1973 on moving to London, he joined the Upper Norwood Band and was invited to become a member of the Salvation Army International Staff Band. During this time he undertook many solo engagements including a solo tour to Canada accompanied by Peter Ayling.

He studied trumpet whilst at London University with Andrew Hendrie (BBC Symphony Orchestra)

In 1981 Simon Rattle appointed Wes to the CBSO where he has served as second trumpet (playing first as required) for 22 yrs. He has also played as a guest player with most British orchestras.

"I feel so lucky that I have had the opportunity to play with such a great orchestra and a brilliant trumpet section for my entire career. Alan Whitehead was a great influence on me, as when I joined the orchestra I had very little orchestral experience and most of that was limited to the ballet repertoire. I soon learned that to be a good second trumpet was more than just being a good player - the main role is supporting the first player and following the lead when it comes to style, volume and intonation.

Our present section has now been together for some 17yrs and during that time we have developed a great unity in our performance and like to think we carry on the tradition on British trumpet playing in our approach and in the sound we try to make, handed down by 'the greats' such as Ernest Hall and David Mason."

For several years now we have been using German rotary valve trumpets for appropriate repertoire which has been something of a challange but also exciting, particularly in Bruchner and Mahler symphonies. Our next challenge is in using baroque trumpets which seem to becoming more and more in demand by conductors in works by Bach, Handel and Mozart for example. I am indeed indebted to Bob Farley for his instruction and encouragement with this.

For the future I look forward being involved in many more great performances both in Birmingham and around the world, at least for a few more years and in whatever spare time I have I intend to drink my favourite beer 'Fullers London Pride' and escape to my second home in sunny Tenerife for a well earned rest!"