Formed more than twenty years ago by Timothy Reynish, the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra is now recognised as one of the leading conservatory ensembles in the world. It has performed at the Aldeburgh, Cambridge, Huddersfield, Lichfield, Malvern, Spitalfields and Three Choirs festivals, as well as festivals in Japan, Switzerland and Poland. In its regular series of concerts at the Royal Northern College of Music it has performed more than 500 works and led the field in commissioning new works and rescuing old. The Wind Orchestra has played at the Royal Festival Hall and the Barbican Centre, and in 1991 became the first conservatory ensemble to give a BBC Prom. Its recordings are broadcast on radio throughout the world. In 2000 the Royal Northern College of Music was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher Education for its outstanding and pioneering work with the Wind Orchestra.