22 Apr 2025
Trevor Kempton MNZM CMEngNZ has recently retired after a career that saw him progress from being Naylor Love’s first graduate engineer, to CEO.
Awarded a Fletcher Construction Civil Engineering Cadetship in 1971, Trevor began his career as a field engineer, with moves into the private sector then project management with the Ministry of Works. He joined Naylor Love in 1987 and retired as Board Chair in 2023. A Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Management and a Chartered Director, he was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2024 for services to the arts and local government.
What was the work that led to a Royal Honour?
As a musician, my focus has been brass bands, but the honour related to national governance work in brass banding and the choral sector along with regional governance of arts festivals and community music initiatives. My three terms as an Otago Regional Councillor made up the local government component.
When did you start learning music?
Quite late, as a 14 year old with the Invercargill Garrison Band on the tenor horn.
Are you from a musical family?
My mother was a violin teacher and my older sister was an accomplished violinist.
How long have you been involved in brass bands?
For 57 years, but with some reduced involvement at times determined by family and business commitments.
What is your current involvement?
Two evening rehearsals a week and occasional weekends leading up to major competitions. My band, St Kilda Brass, has an annual programme of two contests and around six concert engagements a year.
Photo: Trev Hill Photography
Do you have a favourite piece to play?
Over time, brass bands have become more versatile and the modern brass band repertoire covers all genres. I enjoy anything played well, but the Act 3 prelude to Wagner’s opera Lohengrin takes a lot of beating as a concert opener. From the modern repertoire a major work for brass band entitled Tallis Variations by Phillip Sparke based on a hymn tune written by Thomas Tallis in 1567 is a technically and musically challenging work. Executed well, it is immensely satisfying.
What are three words to describe brass banding?
Creative, collegial and lifelong.
What do you love most about it?
I gain great pleasure from being involved in and watching the growth of young players, the best of whom are getting better with each successive generation. There are often two or more generations of families in bands, which offer safe environments where musical and life skills can flourish.
Have you passed on your love of music to your own family?
My wife Carol and I are both musicians. She is a chorister and a preschool music specialist, so for our children, music was second nature. Our daughter Jenny was a member of the National Youth Choir and is now an arts management consultant in Edinburgh and an active chorister. David was a member of both the National Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Band and is now a professional musician and educator in Sydney, while our youngest, Sam, is a West African drummer.
What’s your greatest achievement with music?
In 1992, after several years as a “bridesmaid”, I won my first National Solo Championship followed two days later by my band, St Kilda Brass, winning the New Zealand Championship after a 20-year dry spell. My proudest moments haven been watching Carol and our children perform.
Tell us something about your involvement with bands that might surprise readers.
In recent years my band has appeared in an Air New Zealand safety video and we were extras for an American film shot in Oamaru in January.
Any advice for parents who want their children to play an instrument?
Many brass bands run teaching programmes and lessons are readily accessible. However, don’t lock your child into one instrument or genre. They will want to experiment and try different things. Having done so and found their niche they will settle and progress quickly.
Anything else you’d like to add?
While brass bands originally flourished in the north of England, and the antipodean colonies, they’re now enjoying huge growth in Europe, North America and Japan, while the highest number of brass bands per capita is in Tonga.
This article was first published in the March 2025 issue of EG magazine.
