As a child I listened to music when the lights went off as it helped me to sleep.
I have been performing music since the age of 6, and started composing a couple of years later. This early exposure to music was largely choral liturgical so it’s not surprising that I began writing in this genre first. My older sisters listened to lots of different music and were a big influence on my young tastes. In the school holidays I made mix tapes of pop tunes they had passed on to me.
Throughout secondary school, college and university I became friends with a number of brilliantly inspiring musicians.
Film Music
My love of film music sprung from watching endless Spielberg/Williams/Lucas work in the 80’s, with a sprinkle of Silvestri, Horner and Elfman. Later, the music of Morricone, Schifrin, Hermann, Nyman and Glass opened up a world of different possibilities and a wider understanding of the ways music can complement, lead and follow picture on screen.
The Door
The Door, a film by Andrew Steggall starring Charles Dance, Harriet Walter, Thomas Hardiman, Elliot Cowan and Tobias Menzies.
Read moreDeparture
Andrew Steggall’s Departure was my first feature film score. The film was co-funded by the BFI and stars Juliet Stevenson and Alex Lawther
Read moreMarilyn Myller
Marilyn Myller is the 2nd short from BAFTA winning animator/director, Mikey Please. The soundtrack was co-written with Beth Porter and Ben Please.
Read moreSparrow
Sparrow was a collaboration with Beth Porter (cello) and Andrew Steggall (director). With no dialogue in the film, and a strong visual narrative, the soundtrack played a key part in telling the emotional story.
Read moreFind the full archive of film scores HERE
Choral Music
My first experience of music was as a choirboy at Bath Abbey, and then at St Paul’s Cathedral. We sang daily as part of the age-old great Anglican choral music tradition. Surrounded by the music of Howells, Britten, Stanford, Parry, Mozart, Bach, Bruckner and Byrd, my ear grew accustomed to lush harmony (especially Howells) and serene melodies, which I tried to imitate on a practice room piano at weekends. Over the years, the St Paul’s Cathedral Choir commissioned many new works by British contemporary classical composers for the English Anthems CD series, including works by William Mathias, John Taverner and Francis Jackson and Francis Grier. Often, the composers would come in to talk to the choir about the pieces before they were recorded on to disc, which was particularly inspiring for a young composer.
The Cool Web : A Robert Graves Oratorio
Music Of The Spheres
Music Of The Spheres is a space themed song cycle for children’s choir, lyrics by Sue Curtis, commissioned by Shean Bowers and the Melody Makers of Bath Abbey.
Read moreExtraordinary Creatures
Extraordinary Creatures is a fantasy themed song cycle for children’s choir, lyrics by Sue Curtis, commissioned by Shean Bowers & the Melody Makers of Bath Abbey
Read moreFind the full archive of choral music HERE
Opera and Musical Theatre
Since meeting librettist Sue Curtis in 2007, I have worked in depth with theatrical texts, exploring how to use music to tell a story sympathetically through the use of singing and instrumentation. This has resulted in a growing body of Opera and Musical Theatre.
Vice
Vice is a large-scale Jacobean / jazz re-imagining of Middleton’s The Revenger’s Tragedy, with a libretto by Sue Curtis, inspired by the original play.
Read moreDemon Lover
Demon Lover is a chamber opera for 2 voices and ensemble, based on a ghost story by Elizabeth Bowen with a libretto by Sue Curtis.
Read moreGoose
Goose is a warm, funny, quirky and original musical play for children between the ages of 5-12, with book and libretto by Sue Curtis.
Find the full archive of Opera and Musical Theatre HERE
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