Stephen Cobb became bandmaster of The International Staff Band in 1994. In that position he has ably followed some of The Salvation Army's most famous conductors.

As Bandmaster of the Hendon Corps Band and The International Staff Band, Stephen has achieved the highest standards of musicianship and musical ministry, providing outstanding models for the worldwide Salvation Army musical fellowship. Recordings, concerts, and international tours by these two groups have received the highest critical praise and affirmation.

Since his appointment, Stephen has led The International Staff Band through an exciting period of innovation that has seen the band’s profile in the wider brass band movement significantly raised. Appearances in the Gala Concert following the National Brass Band Championships and other shared concert and recording projects with both the Black Dyke Band and the Cory Band have been rewarding and stimulating.

Two recent recordings by Stephen and The International Staff Band have garnered them notable acclaim, the double-CD Origins and St. Magnus - The Music of Kenneth Downie. A music educator by profession and training (his initial degrees the MA and BA (Hons) Cert-Ed), in July 2006 Stephen completed the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts, in instrumental conducting, at the University of Salford.

Since April 2001, Stephen has been serving as Territorial Music Director for the United Kingdom Territory, overseeing all aspects of Salvation Army musical activity. Prior to this appointment, the first non-clergy member to hold the prestigious position, he worked as the Territorial Bandmaster for the United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland.

His innovative leadership in Salvation Army music has brought about a renewed vigour to that great musical tradition, marked symbolically by the establishment of the Territorial Youth Band (directed by Dr. Stephen Cobb), a group made up of the finest young players in the territory.

Stephen Cobb’s initial reputation was secured as a cornet soloist, both at Hendon and in The International Staff Band, having come from a family of talented bandmasters and soloists. He has passed on that legacy to his own sons, who have both proved to be outstanding cornetists in their own right.


Philip Cobb is a product of a very healthy and vibrant music programme at the Hendon Salvation Army Corps – and in parallel to that, a family with a name that is synonymous with both Hendon Salvation Army Corps and the wider sphere of Salvation Army music-making.

His first notes were produced under the watchful eye of his father, Dr. Stephen Cobb, on a battered old cornet that was handed down to him by his grandfather Roland. You can already see the pedigree of this young man emerging… both father and grandfather have been The International Staff Band’s Principal Cornet players as well as Bandmasters of Hendon Salvation Army Band - and going back one more generation, a great-grandfather who was also Bandmaster at Hendon.

Philip’s first engagement as a soloist was at Winchester Salvation Army Corps, where Dr. Kenneth Downie was the Bandmaster. A seven-year-old Philip was accompanied by Kenneth in a memorable performance of Gopak… and so began the story.

Years of practice, study and playing eventually led Philip to become a member of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain at the age of 13. He attended a total of nine courses, sitting in the Principal Cornet seat for the first time at the age of 15. Philip had a great impact on those courses and became the first player ever to win the coveted Harry Mortimer Soloist Prize on three consecutive occasions.

In Salvation Army circles, Philip also continued to progress. The Territorial Youth Band provided another opportunity for him to hone his skills, eventually serving as Principal Cornet on a number of those annual courses too. His outstanding ability eventually led him to membership of The International Staff Band’s solo cornet section and then to be the featured instrumental soloist in The Salvation Army’s 2007 Gospel Arts Concert in London’s Royal Albert Hall.

While all this was happening, Philip had also commenced his studies at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he is a scholarship student studying trumpet with Paul Beniston (Principal Trumpet of the London Philharmonic Orchestra) and renowned trumpet soloist Alison Balsom. The decision he made to enter the prestigious Maurice André International Trumpet Competition, which was held in Paris in November 2006, effectively launched Philip into the international world of music. Although he narrowly missed reaching the concerto final of the competition, his personality and playing clearly impressed the adjudication panel, which awarded him the Prize for the Most Promising Performer.

Since the competition, Philip has featured as a soloist at the International Trumpet Guild Conference in Boston, USA, and is receiving more and more concert invitations from all over the world as his playing career takes off.

Philip is a young man with a single-minded commitment to the pursuit of excellence in his playing, but also with a natural flair and charisma that reveals itself through his innate musicianship.