Peter McGarr
Encyclopedia
Peter McGarr is a Northern English classical composer.
, McGarr studied Music and Dance at Mather College (now part of Manchester University) and is self-taught in composition. For several years he taught steel pan, achieving the Outstanding Performance Award from Music for Youth
for his steel band 'Orchestral Steel'. He has received the George Butterworth Award for contemporary music from the SPNM and has been nominated for Music Teacher of the Year, the British Composer Awards, the Paul Hamlyn Awards and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship. He has also engaged extensively with musical activities involving the elderly and people with dementia.
He has had performances and commissions from many leading musicians and orchestras including pianist Joanna MacGregor
, The Proms
, London Sinfonietta
, Brodsky Quartet
, BBC Philharmonic
and Black Dyke Band. His music features in Faber Music
's 'Unbeaten Tracks' series, and he was commissioned by Joanna MacGregor to write a 1,000-voice piece for the Bath Festival
's 60th anniversary.
His recent commissions include a series of soundtrack pieces for the Edinburgh International Festival
and an opera to be premiered in 2013.
In 2005 he moved from the city to live on the edge of Saddleworth Moor. As of 2009 he still lives there with his wife, Janet Tye and an assortment of cats and dogs.
Biography
Born in ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, McGarr studied Music and Dance at Mather College (now part of Manchester University) and is self-taught in composition. For several years he taught steel pan, achieving the Outstanding Performance Award from Music for Youth
Music for Youth
Music for Youth is a British charity which provides free access to educational and performance opportunities for groups of young musicians and audiences through a series of festivals and concerts throughout the UK. 2 million children have taken part in Music for Youth events since 1971...
for his steel band 'Orchestral Steel'. He has received the George Butterworth Award for contemporary music from the SPNM and has been nominated for Music Teacher of the Year, the British Composer Awards, the Paul Hamlyn Awards and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship. He has also engaged extensively with musical activities involving the elderly and people with dementia.
He has had performances and commissions from many leading musicians and orchestras including pianist Joanna MacGregor
Joanna MacGregor
Joanna MacGregor is a classical, jazz and contemporary pianist.-Biography:MacGregor grew up in North London, and was educated at home by her Seventh-day Adventist parents until she attended South Hampstead High School at the age of 11. Her mother is a piano teacher who studied at the Royal...
, The Proms
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
, London Sinfonietta
London Sinfonietta
The London Sinfonietta is an English chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble specialises in contemporary music and works across a wide range of genres, performing modern classics alongside world premieres, and includes music by electronica artists as well as folk and...
, Brodsky Quartet
Brodsky Quartet
The Brodsky Quartet is a British string quartet, in existence since 1972, though only Ian Belton and Jacqueline Thomas are original members.In addition to performing classical music, and in particular the classic string quartet repertoire of Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Bartók and Shostakovich,...
, BBC Philharmonic
BBC Philharmonic
The BBC Philharmonic is a British broadcasting symphony orchestra based at Media City UK, Salford, England. It is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The orchestra's primary concert venue is the Bridgewater Hall....
and Black Dyke Band. His music features in Faber Music
Faber Music
Faber Music is a British sheet music publisher best known for contemporary classical music. It also publishes music tutor books, and in 2005 acquired popular music publisher International Music Publications....
's 'Unbeaten Tracks' series, and he was commissioned by Joanna MacGregor to write a 1,000-voice piece for the Bath Festival
Bath International Music Festival
The Bath International Music Festival, also known as the Bath Music Fest, is held each summer in Bath, South West England. Inaugurated in 1948, the festival includes many genres such as orchestral, contemporary jazz, folk and electronica...
's 60th anniversary.
His recent commissions include a series of soundtrack pieces for the Edinburgh International Festival
Edinburgh International Festival
The Edinburgh International Festival is a festival of performing arts that takes place in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, over three weeks from around the middle of August. By invitation from the Festival Director, the International Festival brings top class performers of music , theatre, opera...
and an opera to be premiered in 2013.
Personal life
Peter McGarr is the only son of Joan McGarr, a school secretary from Audlem in Cheshire and William McGarr, a shipbuilder, coal miner and mouth organ player from Wallsend, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne (both deceased). He was brought up in the Openshaw district of East Manchester.In 2005 he moved from the city to live on the edge of Saddleworth Moor. As of 2009 he still lives there with his wife, Janet Tye and an assortment of cats and dogs.
Selected works
- Beautiful Days (mixed choir - 1994)
- The Dreaming World of Radio (Soundtrack - 1994)
- Haunted Rain (Brass Band - 1994)
- Sweet Steel Alone (solo steel pan - 1997)
- Wildflower Street (orchestra - 1997)
- The Archaeology of Air (organ and soprano - 1998)
- Something Lost (flute and piano - 1999)
- Love Remains (mixed choir - 1999)
- Britain Seen From the North (11 solo strings - 2000)
- Night Scented Stock (percussion and piano - 2001)
- Vanishing Games (oboe quartet - 2001)
- Goodnight, Goodnight (various instruments and soundtrack - 2002)
- The Buried Dreams of Our Lives (Baroque Ensemble - 2002)
- Audlem Sonatas (solo percussion - 2002)
- Tidelines (javanese gamelan - 2004)
- Eleven Nights with Glenn Gould (piano - 2005)
- Dreaming England (mixed choir - 2005)
- Lindisfarne Love Song (40-part choir - 2005-7)
- Sound Asleep (percussion quartet and soundtrack - 2006)
- Imaginary Orchestras (flute and soundtrack - 2007)
- Homesongs (Collected soundtracks - 1994 - 2007)
- Dance Daze (recorders and soundtrack - 2009)
Selected Recordings
- Something Lost (Sarah Brooke, flute; Elizabeth Burley, piano / British Music Label BML031)
- Dreaming England / Beautiful Days (Exmoor Singers of London : conductor James Jarvis)
- Vanishing Games (Oboe Quartet : oboeworks. / Dinmore Records DRD 066)
- Fieldthread (Flutes d'Accordes / Amalie Records ALACD 1202)
- Memory Trace (Tuba Quartet; Tubalate / TCD 5)
- Homesongs (Collected soundtracks / Broken Scissor Records BSR 01457)