Composer
Biography:
derek smith, born in 1930, began his musical career as a student at University College. He played brass in the Chelsea Symphony Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra before studying chemistry at UCL. During his work with Collin Davis, a.o. with the Kalmar Orchestra and the Chelsea Opera Group, he acquired knowledge of musical phrasing.
In addition to his academic work, he studied conducting with Norman Del Mar and was his assistant in the Croydon Symphony Orchestra. He was Assistant Conductor of the Modern Symphony Orchestra and took composition lessons from Malcolm Arnold. He played horn in a wind quintet for twenty years and led his own wind ensemble as conductor and arranger for over a decade.
He is particularly concerned with excellent but little-regarded music, which he rearranges for modern performance practice. His own catalog of works includes four string quartets, a three-movement piano quartet, a number of songs for soprano and wind quintet, and a brass quintet, Tomkins Tunes, which premiered at Fine Arts Brass in 2004. One of his most recent works, Bachorales, a concerto for ten wind instruments and double bass, was premiered on February 8, 2008 by ESO Winds under his baton.
its composition Carolingua for string quartet and four sopranos, received first prize in the composition competition of the Henschel Quartet and the BBC Music Magazine.
Albums:
Merry Christmas – Traditional and New Christmas Music:
