Kerry Andrew (born 5 April 1978) is an English composer, performer and author. She has a PhD in Composition from the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

and is the winner of four

British Composer Awards The Ivors Academy (formerly the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors – BASCA) is one of the largest professional associations for music writers in Europe. The academy exists to support, protect, and campaign for the interests ...

. Her debut novel, ''Swansong'', was published by Vintage in January 2018 and her second ''Skin'' was published by

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

in 2021 She was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award 2018.

Career

From age 3 to age 6, Andrew lived in Canada with her family. The family subsequently returned to the UK and settled in the Buckinghamshire area. Andrew earned a BA in Music, MA and

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in Composition, all from the

. Andrew was Composer in Residence at

Handel House Museum Handel & Hendrix in London (previously Handel House Museum) is a museum in Mayfair, London, dedicated to the lives and works of the German-born British baroque composer George Frideric Handel and the American rock singer-guitarist Jimi Hend ...

during 2010-12, and was Visiting Professor of Music at

Leeds College of Music Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populatio ...

in 2015-16 and 2017-18. She won her first British Composer Award in the Making Music Category in 2010 for her choral work 'Fall', and won two awards in 2014, in the Stage Works category for her wild swimming chamber opera 'Dart's Love' and in the Community or Educational category for her community chamber opera 'Woodwose,' written for Wigmore Hall, and for which she also wrote the libretto. She won her fourth award, in the Music for Amateur Musicians category, for 'who we are', a piece for the massed National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, premiered at the Royal Albert Hall in 2016. Andrew's 'No Place Like,' was written for the BBC Ten Pieces scheme, and received BBC Proms performances in both 2017 and 2018. She has written large scale pieces for young and non-professional ensembles, including 400 Lewisham-based primary school children at the Royal Festival Hall; for Animate Orchestra, the Junior Trinity Symphony Orchestra and 500 singers of the South London Riverside Partnership at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

; and for the massed choirs of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain at the Royal Albert Hall in her piece 'who we are.' She created a concept drawing and vocal EP A Lock Is A Gate for Art on the Underground in 2011, and a work simultaneously performed by 25 community ensembles around the UK for the

Landmark Trust The Landmark Trust is a British building conservation charity, founded in 1965 by Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or architectural merit and then makes them available for holiday rental. The Trust's headqua ...

. In 2015, she wrote a piece for the

London Sinfonietta The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert in 1968—givi ...

to fight for the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

(featuring the recorded voices of 60 members of the public, including actor/campaigner Michael Sheen). Andrew was a British Council/PRS for Music Foundation Musician in Residence in China in Spring 2016, spending five weeks in the Henan Province in 2016. She made collaborative new rock/traditional-inspired songs based on foxes in folklore. Andrew's choral works have been published by Faber Music and by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, including in Carols for Choirs. Her vocal trio piece ''The Song of Doves'' concluded the national memorial service for the victims of the 7 July bombings, receiving national broadcast live on the BBC and other news outlets. Her composition ''Dusk Songs'' was commissioned and recorded by

The Ebor Singers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

, and released by Boreas Music in 2007. Elsewhere, her work has been recorded on the Naxos and

Nonclassical Nonclassical is a British independent record label and night club founded in 2004 by Gabriel Prokofiev, grandson of Sergei Prokofiev. History Nonclassical has released fourteen albums, each following a concept of recording new contemporary cl ...

labels, and choral premieres have been given by the

National Youth Choirs of Great Britain The National Youth Choirs of Great Britain (NYCGB) is the family of choirs for outstanding young singers, and those with outstanding potential, in the United Kingdom. It comprises a total of five choirs for around 750 young people between the ages ...

, The Hilliard Ensemble, ORA Singers, the Joyful Company of Singers and Alamire. Andrew performs with the vocal trio Juice Vocal Ensemble, who have released two albums on the

label, which include her music, as well as a collaborative album with

David Thomas Broughton David Thomas Broughton (, born 20 March 1981) is an English folk/avant-garde singer and guitarist. Born in Otley, West Yorkshire, he creates the sound of a large ensemble by sampling himself singing, playing acoustic guitar, and making an assor ...

. They have collaborated with the likes of

Anna Meredith Anna Howard Meredith (born 12 January 1978) is a Scottish composer and performer of electronic and acoustic music. She is a former composer-in-residence with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and former PRS/RPS Composer in the House with Si ...

, Gavin Bryars, Shlomo, Errollyn Wallen and

Mica Levi Mica Levi (; b. 28 February 1987), also known by their stage name Micachu, is an English singer, songwriter, composer and producer. Levi is classically trained and since 2008 has released experimental pop music with their band Good Sad Happy Bad ...

. She performs alt-folk under the name You Are Wolf. Her debut album, Hawk to the Hunting Gone (2014, Stone Tape), explored British birds and folklore. Her second album, Keld (Firecrest, 2018) was awarded fRoots magazine's Editor's Choice! Album of the Year 2018 and chosen by the

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...

as a Top Ten Folk Album 2018. She has collaborated with Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, setting texts from their book The Lost Words. She is a multi-instrumentalist with the band DOLLYman. From 2007-17, she sang with Laura Cole's jazz ensemble, Metamorphic. Andrew has written libretto for her own music-theatre works and articles for

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

. She made her short story debut on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's Stories from Songwriters Series in 2014, and Jonathan Cape published her debut novel, ''Swansong]'', in January 2018. She was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award in 2018 for her story 'To Belong To', which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4, read by

Tobias Menzies Tobias Simpson Menzies (born 7 March 1974) is an English stage, television and film actor. He is known for playing Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in the third and fourth seasons of Netflix's series ''The Crown'', for which he won the Primetime ...

. Andrew occasionally appears as a presenter on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

's Hear and Now and has been a frequent guest on BBC Radio 3 and 4, including The Essay in 2018, and a guest mix for

Late Junction ''Late Junction'' is a music programme broadcast weekly on Friday nights by BBC Radio 3. Billed as "Experimental music for adventurous listeners.", the programme has a wide musical scope. It is not uncommon to hear medieval ballads juxtaposed wit ...

in 2017. She was the Chair of the Judges on BBC Young Musician 2018.

Selected compositions

Choral Music

* ''maranatha'' (2004) SATB choir * ''dusksongs'' (2005) compline mass for SATB choir and percussion * ''hevene quene'' (2006) SATB choir * ''Drop, Drop Slow Tears'' (2007) SATB choir and piano * ''York Mass'' (2008) SATB choir * ''the ivy and the holly'' (2008) SATB choir * ''The Cherry Tree Carol'' (2009) SATB choir * ''hexennacht'' (2009) SSAA choir * ''Fall'' (2010) SATB choir * ''Magnificat'' (2010) SATB choir * ''adam and the mother'' (2011) SATB choir * ''The Earth Hath Voice'' (2011) SATB choir * ''Out of the Orient Crystal Skies'' (2011) SATB choir * ''Rhymes and Charms for Fly-Away Things'' (2011) SATB choir and piano * ''A Still Roar'' (2012) SATB choir and organ * ''where the marsh plants grow'' (2012) SSAATTBB single voices * ''All Things Are Quite Silent'', arr. (2012) SATB choir * ''The London Breed'' (2014) Large-scale young people's choir, symphony orchestra, experimental orchestra * ''The Dream of the Rood (fragments)'' (2015) SATB Choir * ''CoMAblues'' (2016) from 6 voices to any number of voices * ''who we are'' (2016) Large-scale choirs/ (or) SATB choir * ''Thy Flight Be Fleet! trainsongs'' (2016) SATB choir, children's chorus and symphony orchestra * ''Psalm 150'' (2016) SATB choir * ''Two Bird Proverbs'' (2016) SSA single voices, SATB choir * ''Listen To Us'' (2017) children's chorus, rhythm trio * ''No Place Like'' (2017) children's chorus, SATB choir / children's chorus with optional piano and classroom percussion * ''By Any Other Name'' (2017) SSAATTBB *''wave'' (2018) SSSAA (junior girls choir, senior girls choir) *''Charm'' (2018) SSAA (youth voices) *''Under The Same Sky'' (2018) SSAA (youth voices)

Other vocal music

* ''fruit songs'' (2001) soprano and guitar (also arrangements for soprano and chamber ensemble, and soprano and piano) * ''luna-cy'' (2001) SSA single voices * ''lullaby for the witching hour'' (2004) SSA single voices * ''ojo'' (2004) SSA single voices * ''sundial songs'' (2005) counter-tenor and prepared piano * ''the song of doves'' (2006) SSA single voices * ''hammock'' (2008) soprano and 'cello * ''Goodnight Irene'', arr. (2012) SSA single voices * ''Night-time Songs'', arr. (2013) SSA single voices * ''apples, plums, cherries (The Cherry Tree Carol)'' (2015) SSA single voices *''hollyberry song'' (2016) SSA single voices, wine glasses

Opera and music-theatre

* ''sedna stories'' (2005) music-theatre work for SSA single voices and chamber ensemble with electronics by Paul J Abbott and visuals by Harriet Poole * ''Woodwose'' (2013) community chamber opera for tenor solo, children's choruses, adult community choir, older voices and chamber ensemble * ''Dart's Love: a wild swimming chamber opera'' (2013) for baritone, soprano, three female voices and chamber ensemble *''Fox-Pop: A Snappy Opera'' (2017) for children's voices, bass clarinet, electric piano and trash drum kit *''Butterfly Brain'' (2018) for narrator, soprano/instrumentalist, 'cellist/vocalist and percussionist/vocalist, words by Laura Dockrill

Chamber ensemble

* ''I think you'll find that I'M the man'' (2007), chamber ensemble * ''Pollack'' (2010), chamber ensemble * ''bad-luck birds'' (2012) recorder quintet * ''NHS'' (2015) soprano and chamber ensemble, with recorded community voices * ''THE, WHAT IS IT? THE GOLDEN EAGLE?'' (2017) chamber ensemble *''tInItUs sOnGs'' (2018) string quartet and recorded spoken word

Other educational and community work

* ''beginning with blobs'' (2008) theatre work for actor-singers and recorded chamber ensemble * ''A Lock is a Gate (Art on the Underground)'' (2011) concept drawing and vocal album: children's spoken word, song and field recordings * ''Lines, Loops, Bones and Stones'' (2015) flexible ensembles * ''songchants'' (2016), children's voices and string quartet * ''The Sky Begins to Change'' (2017), for solo voice, early/folk chamber ensemble, recorded voices

Discography

Juice Vocal Ensemble

* Songspin (2010),

* Laid Bare: Love Songs (2014),

* Sliding the Same Way with

(2014), Song by Toad *Snow Queens (2018), Resonus Classics

You Are Wolf

* hunting little songs, EP (2010), Mulberry House * Hawk to the Hunting Gone, (2014), Stone Tape *Keld, (2018), Firecrest

Choral

* Dusksongs, The Ebor Singers (2007), Boreas Music * York Mass, The Ebor Singers, (2009), Boreas Music

DOLLYman

* DOLLYman (2010), self-release * Have Yourself a DOLLY DOLLY Christmas (2013), self-release * Ponderous Skiffle Rubbish (2015), self-release

Metamorphic

* The Rock Between (2011), F-ire * Coalescence (2013), F-ire

Selected publications

* *

References

External links

Official Kerry Andrew website

Juice experimental vocal trio website

You Are Wolf websiteThe Times: Laura Mvula, Kerry Andrew and Caroline ShawThe Guardian: Kerry Andrew You Are Wolf interviewThe Guardian: Kerry Andrew Swansong Interview Debut Novel

"Kerry Andrew - An Interview", Opera Today, 12 January 2010

"Kerry Andrew Interview (Part One)", PRS for Music Members' Magazine, 6 December 2010

"Kerry Andrew Interview (Part Two)", PRS for Music Members' Magazine, 6 December 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andrew, Kerry Alumni of the University of York English composers 1978 births Living people People from High Wycombe British women composers Musicians from Buckinghamshire 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers