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ANDREW POWELL was educated at King’s College School, Wimbledon and King’s College, Cambridge, where he received a Master’s degree in Music. Whilst at school he studied piano with Malcolm Troup, percussion with James Blades and composition with Cornelius Cardew. Prior to going to Cambridge he attended composition classes with Stockhausen and Ligeti at Darmstadt. At Cambridge he was a founder member with Roger Smalley and Tim Souster of the live electronics group “Intermodulation,” which gave first performances of several works by Stockhausen, as well as performing works by all of its members. His first professional engagement after leaving Cambridge was as a soloist at the “Proms”: he subsequently worked with several orchestras - principally the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Pierre Boulez, and in a group with the Japanese percussion virtuoso Stomu Yamash’ta. He worked as arranger/conductor on dozens of albums for “rock” artists as diverse as Cockney Rebel & Cliff Richard, John Miles & Al Stewart, Mick Fleetwood & Peter Hoffman, Chris Rea & Il Divo, as producer & arranger for Kate Bush’s first two albums, and for artists such as Chris de Burgh, Kansas, and Elaine Paige. He was arranger, conductor and co-composer for The Alan Parsons Project’s 15 albums. He has co-written songs with Al Stewart, David Pack, Alan Parsons, Stuart Elliott and Tim Rice. He wrote scores for the films Ladyhawke (Michelle Pfeiffer, dir. Richard Donner,) Rocket Gibraltar (Burt Lancaster, dir. Dan Petrie,) and has contributed music to many other films and T.V. series worldwide. His catalogue of concert music includes several works written for “Intermodulation”, such as Plasmogeny, The Old Pavilion, and Terilament. His Suite for Brass Quintet with Piano was commissioned and first performed by Equale Brass with the composer at the piano in 1986 at the University of Wales, Cardiff. Falstaff for brass band, commissioned by Peter Bassano, was premièred at the Cité de la Musique in Paris in July 1998 by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band conducted by Bassano, and has since been performed all over the U.K. Plasmogeny II for trumpet, live electronics and tape, was written for John Wallace and first performed by him and the composer at the University of Richmond, Virginia in May 1999, and has been recorded by them for a "Deux-Elles" C.D. “Within Those Radiances...” was written for the Wallace Collection and first performed by them in London in December 2000. Other commissions include Concerto Melyn Coch, commissioned by the Parc & Dare Band, and first performed by them with James Watson in June 2001, Fish Throw Stones, written for the LCO in 2002, Pied Beauty for a cappella mixed choir, and a concerto for piano, trumpet, percussion & strings. Tair Cerdd Sanctaidd, for baritone, harp, male voice choir & brass band, was also commissioned by the Parc & Dare Band and premièred by them in June 2006 with Gareth Rhys-Davies and Catrin Finch. Variations Towards a Theme for two trumpets & live electronics was premièred in London in September 2006 by Bella Tromba. Living Stones, for SATB, organ, 4 trumpets & 3 trombones was co-commissioned by Artswave & St. Mary’s Church, Fishguard, and first performed in St. David’s Cathedral in October 2007. He has just finished a work for cello and harp Glasiad y Dydd Dros Ben Dinas, to be premiered in March 2008 by Nia Harries and Claire Jones. He is currently writing a large orchestral work, commissioned by Christopher Warren-Green, a piano piece for his former teacher Malcolm Troup and a children's opera.
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