York RI Golden Rail Band is a non-contesting brass band based in central York, next to York Station
We are a versatile brass band and undertake a wide range of engagements, from bandstand concerts in parks and gardens across Yorkshire to playing for ceremonial occasions. We have earned a reputation for innovative and entertaining programming and have performed in prestigious venues including York Minster, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York Barbican, Selby Abbey and the National Centre for Early Music (NCEM). We also love playing community concerts, whether it's a Christmas carol concert or to boost your local fete or fundraiser.
In 2024 Golden Rail Band celebrated its 40th anniversary. Find out more here.
For up-to date pictures & videos, please visit our Facebook page and our YouTube channel.
Listen to Golden Rail Band in this From the Bandroom concert, recorded February 2024.
Golden Rail celebrates 40th anniversary in style!
Performing at York Barbican (Credit: Keith Meadley Photography)
Golden Rail Band rounded off its 40th anniversary year with
more ambitious concerts for the autumn and winter seasons.
On Friday 1 November, the band performed a special
anniversary concert at the stunning National Centre for Early Music with
a programme that celebrated the band's railway connections, as well as telling
an original story with narrator Paul Joe Osborne and a soundtrack.
Saturday 7 December saw us kicking off the festive
season in style with Leeds Male Voice Choir for a sold-out concert celebrating
the Spirit of Christmas at Selby Abbey, another glorious venue.
A hectic season concluded with the band playing for
1400 people at York Barbican for the ever-popular Community Carol
Concert on Sunday 15 December - always a wonderful family occasion,
and a real honour for the band to be returning to the Barbican again.
We wrapped, as has become a lovely tradition for the band,
with a cosy carol concert at Stamford Bridge Village Hall on 22 December.
Leeds Male Voice Choir and York RI Golden Rail Band at Selby Abbey (credit: Stage Shots Photography)
Remembrance parade in Tadcaster
For many years we have been proud to head the Remembrance Day procession in Tadcaster and we would like to give thanks to parade leader Phil (pictured above, centre) who led us to do so again on 10 November 2024, as he has for many others. We are always moved by how the community of Tadcaster comes together every year to remember those who have fallen, and we hope to honour them
again next year.
York band and choir sound brass and voices
Two of York’s well-loved music ensembles reunited on 20 September 2024 following a rapturously received sell-out 2023 concert saw them hailed
as ‘outstanding’, ‘superb’ and ‘cracking value’ by fans on social media.
York RI Golden Rail Band and the York Philharmonic Male
Voice Choir performed Sounding Brass and Voices at The Citadel in York – and this time the programme included a brand-new
story for brass band, written by Golden Rail’s conductor Nick Eastwood. (Watch a video interview with Nick.)
An homage to Wallace and Gromit, ‘The Mouse and the Moon’ is the story of Theo, a mouse who
thinks the moon is made of cheese and plans to plunder the moon to stock his
larder but bites off more than he can chew on his lunar adventure.
Blending sound effects with narration, the tale is a structure
around which the band plays a set of music from David Bowie, Kate Rusby, the
Rolling Stones, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, as well as classic
brass and lush big-band style swing. (Watch a recording of the performance.)
Photo: Keith Meadley Photography
For more news about the Golden Rail Band, go to our News Archive. York RI Golden Rail Band, and York RI Development Band are constituent parts of York RI - a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, registration number 1165513