The adjudication panel for the 2018 Walter Hussey Composition Competition was made up of Kerry Andrew, Andrew McKenna, Anthony Jenner, Christopher Hann and Alex Parker.
The preliminary stage(s) of the competition were judged by Andrew McKenna, Anthony Jenner, Christopher Hann and Alex Parker, with head judge Kerry Andrew leading on the final adjudication.
Image courtesy of Urszula Soltys.
Kerry Andrew
Kerry Andrew is a London-based composer, performer, writer and educator. She has a PhD in Composition from the University of York and has won four British Composer Awards, most recently in December 2017. As a composer, she specialises in experimental vocal and choral music, music-theatre and community music, and has written for ensembles and organisations including Art on the Underground, the National Youth Choirs, the London Sinfonietta and the Landmark Trust. She made her BBC Proms debut in 2017 with her new commission for the BBC Ten Pieces scheme. She was Handel House Composer in Residence 2010-12 and a British Council / PRSF Musician in Residence in China in 2016. Her debut novel, Swansong, is published by Jonathan Cape in January 2018. www.kerryandrew.tumblr.comKerry Andrew
Kerry Andrew is a London-based composer, performer, writer and educator. She has a PhD in Composition from the University of York and has won four British Composer Awards, most recently in December 2017. As a composer, she specialises in experimental vocal and choral music, music-theatre and community music, and has written for ensembles and organisations including Art on the Underground, the National Youth Choirs, the London Sinfonietta and the Landmark Trust. She made her BBC Proms debut in 2017 with her new commission for the BBC Ten Pieces scheme. She was Handel House Composer in Residence 2010-12 and a British Council / PRSF Musician in Residence in China in 2016. Her debut novel, Swansong, is published by Jonathan Cape in January 2018. www.kerryandrew.tumblr.com
Image courtesy of Urszula Soltys.
Andrew McKenna
Toronto native Andrew McKenna is a composer, orchestrator and arranger, and has been providing unique original scores, musical direction, arrangements and orchestrations for a wide range of international clients throughout his career. Recent projects have included Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, piano coach to Marion Cotillard in Allied, music advisor on Jane Eyre and The Debt, original score for The LEGO Story (Lani Pixels), choral conducting and keyboards for Roger Waters’ opera Ca Ira, and orchestrations for Cocciante’s Giulietta e Romeo in Verona/Milan. www.andrewmckennamusic.com
Anthony Jenner
Anthony Jenner started his musical career as a chorister at the Chichester Cathedral Choir School and Music Scholar at Wellington College. He then studied at the Royal College of Music in London with John Birch, John Barstow and Norman del Mar, and won the Sir Adrian Boult Conducting Prize in 1977. For many years he worked as coach, chorus master and conductor at various Opera Houses throughout Europe including the Kölner Oper, Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Opera North in Leeds and Opernhaus Halle. From 1990 onwards he became freelance as coach and conductor and began teaching at the Justus-Liebig University in Gießen, Germany. After a period of further study with Sergiù Celibidache and the functional voice pedagogue Eugene Rabine he moved to Vienna, Austria and taught at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien. From 2006 to 2011 he was director of the City Music School in Vienna’s second district and he is now on the staff of the Music School in Perchtoldsdorf, where he teaches, coaches and conducts the town choir and orchestra.Anthony Jenner
Anthony Jenner started his musical career as a chorister at the Chichester Cathedral Choir School and Music Scholar at Wellington College. He then studied at the Royal College of Music in London with John Birch, John Barstow and Norman del Mar, and won the Sir Adrian Boult Conducting Prize in 1977. For many years he worked as coach, chorus master and conductor at various Opera Houses throughout Europe including the Kölner Oper, Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Opera North in Leeds and Opernhaus Halle. From 1990 onwards he became freelance as coach and conductor and began teaching at the Justus-Liebig University in Gießen, Germany. After a period of further study with Sergiù Celibidache and the functional voice pedagogue Eugene Rabine he moved to Vienna, Austria and taught at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien. From 2006 to 2011 he was director of the City Music School in Vienna’s second district and he is now on the staff of the Music School in Perchtoldsdorf, where he teaches, coaches and conducts the town choir and orchestra.
Christopher Hann
Christopher Hann has a very busy career as a freelance choral conductor and consort singer. In addition to Reading Phoenix Choir, he is Artistic Director of Berkshire County Youth Choirs, Musical Director of Harpenden Music Makers and an Assistant Conductor for the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain. He is also Artistic Director of his own professional vocal ensemble, Dieci Voices. Away from conducting and singing, Christopher teaches at The Royal Academy of Music and is head of choral output at Wilson’s Grammar School.
Alex Parker
Representing the singers of Reading Phoenix Choir, Alex Parker is a music graduate from Somerville College, Oxford where he played piano and oboe, and sang with Somerville College Choir. He has been a member of Reading Phoenix Choir since 2014 as part of the bass section. He thinks that the best things about the choir are the diversity of the repertoire, the high standard of singing and of course the people who sing in the choir. His favourite piece from the current repertoire is Loquebantur Variis by Tallis. Outside of choir, Alex works as a data scientist at EY.Alex Parker
Representing the singers of Reading Phoenix Choir, Alex Parker is a music graduate from Somerville College, Oxford where he played piano and oboe, and sang with Somerville College Choir. He has been a member of Reading Phoenix Choir since 2014 as part of the bass section. He thinks that the best things about the choir are the diversity of the repertoire, the high standard of singing and of course the people who sing in the choir. His favourite piece from the current repertoire is Loquebantur Variis by Tallis. Outside of choir, Alex works as a data scientist at EY.