Let Christians All With Joyful Mirth - The Composers and Arrangers
John Anderson (b. Belfast 1948) entered the teaching profession on graduation from The Queen's University of Belfast. However, his subsequent very varied career has been in almost every aspect of the music business and broadcasting. He has composed music for theatre, radio, TV, advertising and film. With his own recording studios he has had several "hit" records (four No.1s in the UK). He is also one of Ireland's most experienced Radio and TV producer/directors (for the BBC and ITV). His most recent work, On Eagle's Wing, (a very large-scale stage-musical) is currently being broadcast across the USA by PBS Television.
Philip Bolton (b. Belfast 1958) studied music at Manchester University. He has been a teacher for more than twenty years, first at Regent House Grammar School, Newtownards and then at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution where he is Director of Music. His radical and highly imaginative approach has revitalised music-making at "Inst." In an attempt to interest as many boys as possible in the subject, a very wide repertoire, ranging from medieval carols to contemporary rock, is explored. Philip's multi-part arrangements are an outstanding feature of school concerts given by an impressive array of instrumental and vocal ensembles including a choir of 140.
Christopher Boodle (b. Gloucester 1952) was educated at New College, Oxford and the Royal College of Music, London. In 1974 he was awarded first prize in the Incorporated Association of Organists' competition. For six years he lived in Belfast, combining the post of Assistant Cathedral Organist with teaching and conducting a choral society. In 1983 he returned to England where he is active as a freelance musician. His compositions include four symphonies, much organ music, a Passiontide Oratorio, a dramatic cantata, Death of a Martyr and a Mass for the End of Time, as well as chamber and choral works.
Charles J. Brennan (b. Gosport, Hants.1876 d.1972) held organist posts at Clifton, Bedfordshire; Strabane, Co. Tyrone and Elmwood Presbyterian Church, Belfast prior to his appointment as the first organist of the new Belfast Cathedral in 1904. Due to his having held a commission in the Royal Irish Fusiliers in World War I, he was thereafter always known as "Captain" Brennan. Though small in stature, he had a commanding presence and was highly regarded as a choral conductor. He was a noted vocal specialist with a large teaching practice and the author of a valuable text-book, Words in Singing. He was awarded an MA(hc) by The Queen's University of Belfast and an OBE for his services to music.
Alfred Burrowes (b. Dublin 1921 d. 2000) was a chorister and later, in his twenties, organist and choirmaster at St. Bartholomew's Parish Church, Dublin. He taught music at Foyle College, Londonderry 1958-1961 and was also organist at Christ Church. During this period he wrote many hymn-tunes, Grianan being named after a Stone-Age fort near Derry. He was Head of Music at Regent House Grammar School, Newtownards 1961-1985 and successively organist and choirmaster of Bangor Parish Church and St. Gall's Parish Church, Carnalea. For over 16 years he was the Northern Ireland music critic for The Irish Times. He also conducted the Ards Choral Society and for 20 years presented the weekly programme, Concert Choice, on Downtown Radio. Four of his grand-sons were choristers at St. Paul's Cathedral, London.
John Crothers (b. Belfast 1948) is a graduate of The Queen's University of Belfast. He is a modern linguist by profession and was Director of Music at St. Martin's Parish Church, Belfast in the late 1990s. He served as chairman of the Royal School of Church Music in Ireland 1992-2001 and was founder/conductor of the RSCM Ireland Singers. He moved to live and teach at higher university level in Paris in 2001. There he regularly accompanies church services, writes poetry and hymn-texts and continues to compose music for the Church. He has been commissioned to write an anthem (to be premiered in 2005) and has had two hymn-tunes published in a British hymnal.
Donald Davison (b. 1937 PhD Cantab) was Belfast City Organist for 21 years, giving hundreds of recitals in the Ulster Hall and playing often with the Ulster Orchestra in concerts and recordings. He has broadcast frequently and has given recitals at such prestigious venues as King's College, Cambridge and St. Paul's Cathedral, London. For many years, he also held the position of University Organist at The Queen's University of Belfast where he was Head of the Department of Statistics and Operational Research. He has been a parish church organist throughout his life. For the Church of Ireland, he was Joint Musical Editor of Irish Church Praise( 1990), Music Editor of the Church Hymnal (5th edition) (2000) and Joint Editor of the Companion to CH5 (2004). His compositions include several service settings, anthems and responses.
Huston Graham (b. Belfast 1925 d. 2003) was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. As a chorister at St. James's Parish Church, he developed a life-long love of church music which was nurtured under the guidance of the organist, Jack McKeown, who was later to be his piano and organ tutor. Huston was appointed to his first church organist post while still at "Inst." As well as being a gifted musician, he was also an artist and mathematician and eventually he opted for a career in architecture. During his time as assistant organist at Belfast Cathedral, he directed the Sunday Evening Choir and composed carols and other short pieces for the annual carol services.
Philip Hammond (b. Belfast 1951. DMus. Belfast) was educated at Campbell College and The Queen's University of Belfast. He is currently Arts Development Director at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. As a pianist, critic and broadcaster, he has a wide reputation in Irish musical circles. As a composer, he has been commissioned to write in a variety of media for many leading international artists and ensembles. His major works include Psalms and Songs from the Hebrew, a millennium commission for Methodist College, Belfast and Carnavalesque (2003) for the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland. He writes regularly for the Ulster Orchestra.
John McDowell (b. Armagh City 1935), a graduate of The Queen's University of Belfast, lectured at Stranmillis University College, being Head of Music for seventeen years. He founded and directed the Stranmillis Singers and Stranmillis Operatic Society and, as piano duettist, broadcast on radio over many years. In addition, John has always been an enthusiastic piano teacher. Composing from a young age, he considers himself largely self taught. Choral compositions and arrangements, songs, much piano music and pieces for various combinations indicate the range of his output. Recently he has been composing for the recorder family. His carol, The First Christmas, won The Christopher Coulter Memorial Carol Competition at Belfast Cathedral in 1995.
Alex McKee (b. Belfast 1946) was educated at Grosvenor High School, Stranmillis College and The Queen's University of Belfast. He is currently Director of Music at Stranmillis University College. He has experience in conducting and directing a wide range of orchestral, choral, band, stage and chamber music, and has conducted broadcast performances on both Canadian television and BBC Radio Ulster. As well as lecturing, his interests include writing and arranging music for various types and combinations of performers, playing jazz on the piano and accompanying. He composed A farmer's carol for the Chapel Choir at Methodist College, Belfast where he was on the staff of the music department 1978-89.
Havelock Nelson (b. Cork 1917 d. 1996 PhD, MusD Dublin), a Quaker and a pacifist, served as a bacteriologist in the RAF in World War II. From 1947 to 1977 he was on the staff of the BBC in Belfast as resident accompanist, conductor and broadcaster. He founded and directed the Studio Opera Group in the 1950s and also conducted the Ulster Singers from 1954. He was a frequent adjudicator at music competitions internationally. His numerous compositions include orchestral and choral works, chamber music and song cycles in addition to incidental music for some 150 radio plays and television films. He was awarded a number of honorary degrees and an OBE (in 1966) for his distinguished services to music.
Dorothy Parke (b. County Londonderry 1904 d. 1990), having studied piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music, London, returned to Northern Ireland and settled in Belfast where she was a gifted and highly-regarded piano teacher. She wrote extensively for children, composing many songs and piano pieces which were frequently used in musical competitions. While her compositional style owes something to Stanford, Vaughan Williams and Herbert Howells, her music is distinctive and always effective. In particular, many of her choral and vocal settings have a real poignancy and show considerable expressiveness.
Frederick Powell (b. Portrush, County Antrim 1894 d. 1986) studied with the noted Ulster musician, Dr.Norman Hay and graduated from Durham University with a degree in music in 1923. He held organist posts at St. Nicholas's Parish Church, Carrickfergus and St. Mark's Parish Church, Dundela, Belfast before being ordained into the Church of Ireland in 1929. Apart from his first curacy which was at Bangor Parish Church, Co.Down, his ministry was in southern Ireland. Among the parishes where he was incumbent was Castlemartyr (Cloyne) (1955-59), hence the name of the tune to which the carol Hush Thee to sleep is set.
Philip Prosser (b. Chard, Somerset 1946) has lived in Northern Ireland for the past thirty-eight years. A love of the Anglican liturgy and his chosen profession as an organ-builder have allowed him to be involved in the music of the church both as a craftsman and singer. Philip and his wife, Valerie, are founder members of the Priory Singers and he is also a lay-clerk in the choir of St. Anne's Cathedral, Belfast. There is no Rose was composed for the choir of Donegall Square Methodist Church.
Keith Rogers (b. Middlesex, 1943) was educated in Woking and at Bangor University in Wales where his second degree was in composition. He was Head of Music at Belfast Royal Academy 1967-1981 and at Regent House Grammar School, Newtownards 1985-1992. A pianist and singer, Keith met Harry Grindle in 1968 and has since composed a great deal of music for his and other choirs, for organ, for recorder consorts of up to 20 parts and a successful musical in 1971. He and his wife, Kathryn now live in Norfolk where he makes cornetts, serpents and historical oboes.
Raymond Warren (b. Weston-super-Mare 1928 MusD Cantab) studied with Robin Orr (at Cambridge),Michael Tippett and Lennox Berkeley. From 1955 he was successively lecturer, professor of composition and professor of music at The Queen's University of Belfast. He held the chair of music at Bristol University from 1972 until his retirement in 1994. His output includes operas, oratorios, three symphonies and a violin concerto. During his time in Belfast he wrote pieces for local schools, incidental music for productions of 11 of Yeats's plays at the Lyric Theatre and settings of poems by Yeats and Seamus Heaney. He is the author of the book Opera Workshop (Scolar Press, 1995).
Martin White (b. Southall, Middlesex 1941) was educated at the Mercers' School, Holborn and the Royal Academy of Music, London. He is a music graduate of Dublin University. Having held organist's posts at Ruislip Priory and Harrow Parish Church, he came in 1968 to Armagh Cathedral where he served for the next 34 years as Organist and Master of the Choristers. He was also a school-teacher and later organiser at the Craigavon Music Centre. As tutor for the Gregg Organ Scholarship Scheme, he trained many student organists over the years. His compositions include two settings of the Holy Communion service, A Celtic Eucharist (OUP) and A Modal Eucharist.
