Founding member and first President of WASBE Trevor John Ozias Ford died at the age of 93 from cardiac arrest on 8 February 2025.
When Frank Battisti was seeking international support for The International Conference for Symphonic Bands & Wind Ensembles at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England in 1981, he naturally contacted Trevor, who was Music Inspector for the Norwegian Band Federation at the time and well-known internationally. Trevor served on the International Advisory Board for the Conference, recruited Norwegian bands and played an important roll in the Conference itself. At the end of the Conference, it was decided to establish and international organization and to hold conferences every two years. At Paul Yoder’s suggestion, Trevor was elected Chairman – the name of the position was later changed to President – and the service that he with the help of Egil Gundersen as Secretary and Treasurer provided to organization during its first two years of its existence was tremendous. When they left Manchester, there were no statutes, no budget, and no Board of Directors, not even a name for the organization. There was only the mandate to organize a conference in Norway in 1983. In 1981, personal computers were in their infancy, and there was no internet, not to mention emails or smartphones. International telephone calls were very expensive, and the only other way to rapidly communicate was via fax, but most people then did not have a fax machine. With only a list of the participants at the Manchester conference and a great deal of idealism, Trevor and Egil recruited nearly 300 members from 34 countries during the next two years, decided on the name World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) for the organization, developed a multi-language newsletter, established an international board, created the first WASBE logo, and organized the first WASBE Conference in Skien, Norway. Because of the organizational skills of these two men, the Conference was a great success. In addition, during Trevor’s presidency, a Score and Tape Library was established, Conductor Exchange Program was organized, and a Student Summer Camp Scholarship Program was initiated.
Trevor was born on 19 November 1931 in Queenstown, Tasmania. His mother had emigrated from Lisburn, Northern Ireland and his father from Swindon, England; they met and married in Australia. They moved back to the United Kingdom in 1934 settling in Oxford. Trevor’s parents were very fond of music and soon purchased a piano, enabling Trevor to start piano lessons at the age of five. He began violin lessons at the age of twelve. In 1948 Trevor joined the Royal Marine Band Service as a Bandboy and learned to play the oboe and bass drum. In 1950 at the age of 18 as a member of the Royal Marine Band of the 3rd Commando Brigade, he was sent to Malaya, where he spent two years living in a tent in the jungle. After being stationed in Malta for half a year, the band was sent to Deal, England, from which it traveled around the world on the HMS “Newcastle”. When the HMS “Newcastle” visited Copenhagen in July 1960, Trevor and mate Ted Hewlett went to Tivoli Gardens, where they met two Norwegian girls, one of which – Berit – would become his future wife. In the same year, Trevor was appointed Bandmaster of the British Home Fleet becoming the youngest bandmaster in the Royal Marines at that time.
In 1964 Trevor left the Royal Marines and immigrated to Norway, where he worked in a factory for eight months and then in the spring of 1965 became Music Inspector for the Norwegian Band Federation, a position which he held for twenty-five years. During this time, he not only organized festivals and contests but established courses for conductors and instrumentalists, which greatly improved the standards of the bands in Norway.
Trevor became a sought-after quest conductor and lecturer throughout Europe and the USA. After a trip to the USA in 1974, Trevor had the idea to create a national youth wind band, having learned that an international band competition was to be held in 1976. Not only was the Norwegian National Youth Band founded, but it won the competition in the USA. Trevor was also an internationally known adjudicator, who judged at such band contests as the World Music Contest in Kerkrade, the European Brass Band Championships, the British Brass Band Championships, the Swiss National Contest, the New Zealand National Centennial Contest, and the Luxembourg National Contest.
Trevor composed around 100 compositions for band, which were published in Europe and the USA. These compositions include works for Dutch radio, the Nordic Music Union, the Festliche Musiktage Uster in Switzerland, and the Hamar International Festival in Norway. In 1973 he won second prize in an international contest for a new composition for band. Trevor also authored several books on music theory. Upon leaving the Norwegian Band Federation in 1988, Trevor established his own music publishing company: Fortissimo Forlag, which he ran for many years before selling it.
In addition to his work for WASBE and the Norwegian Band Federation, Trevor was co-founder of the Norwegian Bandmasters Association, co-founder of the Norwegian Conductors Society, for which he served as its first secretary, and for many years International Chairman for NBA. His many honors include the Norwegian Royal Order of Merit – Knight 1st class, the Academy of Wind and Percussive Arts Award, the Norwegian Band Federation’s Silver Trumpet, WASBE Honorary Life Membership, Honorary Life member of NBA, Honorary Life Member of the Norwegian Conductors Society, and Honorary Member of Phi Beta Mu.
Trevor was truly a great man and a fine musician, who inspired and motivated many, who will remember him with much respect and gratitude. He was also a dear friend to those who got to know him well and will be greatly missed by all.
Leon J. Bly