Andrew Carter (composer)
Biography
Born in Wigston Magna, Leicestershire, Carter studied music at the University of Leeds, before moving to York and joining the choir at the Minster as a bass. Whilst there, in 1965 he founded the Chapter House Choir, a mixed voice ensemble that achieved national renown under his direction of seventeen years. After spending a year conducting and adjudicating in New Zealand (1984), he returned to England to focus on composition.
The Oxford University Press have published more than fifty of his compositions over a period of association spanning twenty-five years. The famous Nine Lessons and Carols service broadcast annually on the BBC by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, has included several of his carols, including A maiden most gentle and Mary's Magnificat.
A notable moment in Carter's musical career was a commission in 1997 to write a mass (Missa Sancti Pauli) for the tercentenary celebration of St Paul's Cathedral in London. In 2007, he composed a 22-variation Passacaglia for organ to mark the 90th birthday of the former York Minster organist Francis Jackson.
He travels extensively in Europe and Australia and New Zealand as a choral director.
Compositions
Choral works
- A maiden most gentle
- An Affirmation
- Mary's Magnificat
- Christ is the morning star
- Benedicite
- Te Deum
- Musick's Jubilee
- Horizons
- Song of Stillness
- Laudate Dominum
- The Southwell Service
- Missa Sancti Pauli
- The Light of the World
- Hodie Christus natus est
- Rejoice in the Lord alway (2001)
- O mistress mine (2005)
Organ works
- Organ Concerto (2005)
- Toccata on Veni Emmanuel
- Passacaglia (2007)
Other works
- Three Nonsensical Songs for upper voices and orchestra
- A Little Suite for Heather for Treble Recorder and Piano (Forsyth Publishing)