Like many musicians, I have always wanted to compose, and wrote my first piano pieces when I was 7 years old.....Don't worry....I'm not going to go through every minute of my childhood!...just some of the interesting musical bits..
My first significant work I composed at the age of 18, my Requiem for choir, soloists, orchestra and rhythm section, which was broadcast on BBC Radio. I'll never forget the first time I heard it played! It got me hooked on orchestral writing for good.
I studied composition at the University of York and the University of California, Los Angeles, where I continued to write small and large-scale works, which were performed on both sides of the Atlantic.
I've worked a lot in schools, and for a while was a young Director of Music at St Paul's Cathedral School where I had a great time writing music for the Cathedral choristers.
SInce then, I have composed musicals for schools, songs for events, a handful of soundtracks for everything from Karate to Contemporary Art, set up a few musical businesses, taught, and got into the piano big-time!
The piano was always my first love. It's no wonder I have written more for the piano than anything else. I moved up to be near the Lake District in England just a few years ago, and since then have never been short of inspiration! The mountains and lakes are amazing, and that's what I'm writing about at the moment. You can hear some of these pieces from my CD Tales of Cumbria on my Music page. Let me know if you get a sense of the Lakes!
Watch my videos Lonely Road, Catbells and Sour Milk Gill.
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