I was born in Bridgend, South Wales in 1960. I had a pretty conventional upbringing, learning the piano at 9 and starting to write at the same time.
In 1973 I started attending the Royal College of Music Junior Department, with first study piano. In 1976 the composition teacher I'd been assigned was the young and so far relatively unknown Oliver Knussen, who encouraged me to explore late Stravinsky, Messiaen, Gerhard, and Dallapiccola.
1977 saw me going up to Magdalen College, Oxford to read Music under Dr Bernard Rose, who taught me good old-fashioned harmony and counterpoint. After staying on to take the BMus, the period between 1982 and 1993 was taken up with earning a freelance living as a repetiteur/ ensemble pianist and part-copying.
One of the ensembles I played with, Music Projects/London under Richard Bernas, made a BBC recording of Franco Donatoni’s cello concerto ‘Le Ruisseau sur l’escalier’ – I’d not heard much of the Italian maestro’s work before then, but I was immediately hooked, and I was invited to attend his class in Rome the following year (1988). Living in Florence for five months and commuting to Rome every fortnight was a memorable experience, as was two months in Tanglewood that summer, where I got to work with Hans Werner Henze and received encouragement from Leonard Bernstein.
In 1993 I was offered a ‘proper job’ teaching Composition at King’s College, London, but after 25 years of teaching and ever-increasing admin, I took early retirement and moved briefly to Hereford.
Now, back in suburban London I continue to compose and play the piano on a regular basis.
My music has been recorded on Naxos, Toccata Classics, Divine Arts/Metier, NMC, Lorelt and Clarinet & Saxophone Classics among other labels, and other publishers of my works are Composers Edition, Wise Music Classical, Tetractys, Clarinet & Saxophone Classics Publications and Saxtet Publications.
1960
Bridgend
