Sandy Brown celebrates 50th anniversary at the Royal Albert Hall

Sandy Brown came together to celebrate 50 years of acoustic excellence with an evening of live music, food and drinks at the Royal Albert Hall.

Our evening began with a guided tour of the Hall where we heard a fascinating history of the building with a peek at the Royal areas and the breathtaking auditorium from the galleries. This was followed by a drinks reception in the Elgar Room, surrounded by walls adorned with portraits of icons who have performed at the Hall.

It proved a fitting venue following our work on the ‘sound of the future’ project, the first stage of which involved the installation of a new d&b audiotechnik sound system hailed as the biggest improvement to the acoustics in the main auditorium since the iconic ‘mushrooms’ 50 years ago.

Highlights from the evening:
We enjoyed speeches from partners Richard Muir and Stephen Stringer and we had the pleasure of revelling with our staff, former Sandy Brown partners, those connected with Sandy Brown himself and the management and technical team from the Hall.

David Binns, the founding partner alongside Sandy regaled us with tales of their adventures beginning with the legendary Trident Studios and expanding across the globe. David continued the company in Sandy’s name and honour following his untimely passing just 6 years after they first launched.

In his speech, Craig Hassall, CEO of the Royal Albert Hall highlighted our wonderful relationship over the past few years and the work we’ve contributed to the Hall, who are celebrating their 150th anniversary in 2021.

A very big thank you to his management, technical and events teams for putting on a fantastic evening for us.

Our very own Shenuka Jayasinghe played on “Big Red” – a striking hand built red Yamaha S6 Grand Piano, originally played by Sir Elton John at the O2 Arena and on loan from Markson Pianos.

We also enjoyed a drinks reception with recital by the Brompton String Quartet, winners of the 2019 St Martin in the Fields chamber music competition and a rousing jazz set from Digby Fairweather’s Half Dozen, eleven-time winners of the British Jazz Awards Top Small Group. Digby’s band paid tribute to Sandy by playing his last clarinet for part of their set.

To all our staff, past and present, who have been instrumental in the success of the company, alongside our clients and fellow design team members: here’s to the next 50 years.