After graduating Roger joined the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra before moving to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in April 1992. During the past 10 years he has appeared as a guest performer with a wide variety of orchestras and ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London Sinfonietta, London Brass, Symphonic Brass of London and the Super World Orchestra at the Tokyo International Music Festival.
He now holds the position of Bass Trombone with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he has travelled to most countries of the world, performing at the most prestigious festivals and concert halls with some of the world’s finest conductors including Ashkenazy, Previn, Temirikanov, Gergiev, Gatti, Haitink, Mazel and Rostropovich.
In March 2001, Roger started BONELAB, a trombone based music education project. This was as a direct response to the declining number of school children learning to play the instrument here in the UK. Roger is currently Head of Brass Studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.
MFY Orchestral player, teacher, Head of Department, band leader, improviser and collaborator – how do you do it all?
RA You could add husband, dad of two very demanding (and expensive teenagers), record producer, music publisher and chief cook and bottle washer to that list. It’s all a matter of priorities, being practical and doing everything as well as you can
MFY Describe a typical Roger Argente day.
RA I’m a very light sleeper, so I usually get up around 6am without an alarm call. I do about an hour of admin, answering emails, filling out proposals, doing references, then I find the time for a bit of breakfast with my wife and the kids before they go to school.
I then try to go to the gym. As you know I’m not what you would call the slimmest or sport conscious of people, but I try at least two or three times a week to get some cardiovascular exercise done. Following that I usually head off to work where-ever that is.
I only work part-time at Trinity College of Music, so I tend to go to TCM in the mornings and follow that by heading off to an RPO rehearsal/concert at either Cadogan Hall or the Royal Albert Hall.
I usually get home about 11/11.30pm. Of course I don’t work such long days every day of the week, but I would say I do work schedules such as this 3-4 days a week. It’s not unusual to work for at least two weeks without a day off, sometimes without a night off!
MFY As a young trombonist you played at the MFY Schools Prom with your school brass ensemble from Dwr-y-felin Comprehensive School in Neath. What are your memories of playing at the RAH in 1975?
RA SUPERB! I was very fortunate to have been brought up and educated at Neath Boy’s Grammar School which was overflowing with musical talent. Many of my fellow students went into the music profession. I’m talking about being exposed to playing repertoire such as Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, Brahm‘s First Symphony and Schubert’s Ninth Symphony in your local comprehensive school.
None of this of course would have been possible without the wonderful team of dedicated and professional classroom and peripatetic music teachers. My school music was complimented by regular weekend and holiday period music courses for my county and then for “The NASH”, The National Youth Orchestra of Wales. I still keep in touch with many people from that period of my life and additionally still get the chance to work with quite a few of them on a regular basis.
MFY As someone who spends a lot of time on stage, what do you consider to be the component parts that make up a great performance?
RA That’s the 64,000 dollar question, if I knew the answer to that one I could retire. I think there needs to be the right chemistry, there must be a team dynamic that really wants to get it right. It doesn’t matter if the programme is under or over rehearsed, if the conditions are superb or if you’ve spent seven hours on a draughty coach, you’ve just got to want to get it right and love your job!
MFY There will be 350 trombonists taking part in the National Festival. As a passionate promoter of the instrument’s possibilities, not least through your BONELAB project, what advice would you offer them?
RA 350! That’s excellent, I’d love to hear them all together. Try to listen to as many live concerts as possible, vary your styles and tastes, always try and play alongside better and stronger players, help younger and less experienced players. It’s important to start developing sustainable and regular practice regimes, warm-up well and listen to yourself carefully.
MFY You’ve been Principal Bass Trombone for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for 19 years. That’s a lot of repertoire, rehearsals, conductors, tours, recording sessions, workshops and concerts! What have been some of the musical (and non-musical) highlights?
RA A good place to start would be performing The Rite of Spring at the Royal Festival Hall recently with Charles Dutoit, the RPO Mahler cycle with Daniele Gatti at the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra tour to Oz in 1992 (I met my wife on that tour!).
Recording big block-buster film scores is fun but Sleepy Hollow (six Bass Trombones!) for Danny Elfman and all the David Arnold/ Nick Dodds James Bond collaborations all stick out and, of course, recording the new SUPERBRASS CD earlier this year.
MFY Describe yourself using only musical directions.
RA Prestissimo e fortissimo sempre!
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