He
is a percussionist, tympanist, conductor and teacher born in Bebington,
Cheshire, England.His first
lessons in music came when he started to learn to play the piano when he
was eight.This was followed
in 1964 by his studies the harpsichord at the Royal Academy of Music in
London.In 1965 he changed his
courses and concentrated on percussion and this would become his main
musical interest.In
1967, after graduation, he started working with various British
orchestras until 1970 when he became the Principal Tympanist for the
English
Chamber Orchestra
.He was very highly
thought of in his field, to the fact that he would act as a consultant for
Benjamin Britten when he wrote his works Death In Venice, Rejoice the
Lamb and Owen Wingrave.In 1976
he became the Principal Percussionist for the Philharmonia
Orchestra and over the following years he would also be heard
accompanying many ensembles and orchestras including the Martin Best
Medieval Ensemble, World Orchestra for Peace, the Guildhall
Percussion Ensemble, Christopher Hogwood's Academy of Ancient Music,
Barbican Percussion Ensemble, Martin
Best Consort and the Philip
Jones Brass Ensemble
.On his numerous albums such as the soundtracks for Big
Country and Dreaming of Joseph Lees, Britten: Choral Music, The
Greatest Christmas Show on Earth, Thje Ultimate Christmas album with Dame
Kiri Te Kanawa
, and Llibre Vermell's Pilgrims Songs and Dances, he can be heard
performing with many acclaimed musicians and conductors such as Sir
David Wilcocks, John
Williams and The
King's Singers
and on the
1988 Grammy Award winning recording of Bartok's "Sonata for Two Pianos
and Percussion" where he accompanied Sir Georg Solti, Murray Perahia
and Evelyn Glennie.Adding an
extra branch to his career he moved into music education in 1975 and took
the post of Professor of Timpani at the Guildhall School of Music, where
was awarded with a Fellowship in 1987.
