Bryan Kelly

He was a choir boy at Worcester College and attended Southfield Grammar School. After lessons with Harold Spicer, the long-serving organist and choirmaster of Manchester College, Oxford, he studied at the Royal College of Music with Gordon Jacob and Herbert Howells, then with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.{{cite journal|jstor=952489|doi=10.2307/952489|last=Howes|first=Frank|author-link=Frank Howes|title=Bryan Kelly|journal=The Musical Times|volume=108|number=1495|date=September 1967|pages=801–804}} He subsequently taught at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and (from 1963) at the Royal College of Music. He has spent periods of his teaching career in America, Italy, France and Egypt.[https://britishmusiccollection.org.uk/composer/bryan-kelly Biography at the British Music Collection]

His compositions range from light orchestral music and works for brass band to more serious and extended orchestral works (such as his Symphony from 1983 and the Concertante Dances) as well as church music and large scale choral works.Kennedy, Michael (2006), The Oxford Dictionary of Music{{ISBN|0-19-861459-4}} Lighter orchestral works include the Cuban Suite, the New Orleans Suite, Divertissement, and two Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra commissions – the overture Sancho Panza (1969) and the Sinfonia Concertante (1967). His works for brass band include Brass Bagatelles, the overture Provence and the Divertimento for Brass.[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/97e96fec6862486f862ed9fb683a0588 "Bandstand BBC Radio 3 Monday 9 September 1974 17:10"], Radio Times, issue 2652, 7 September 1974, p. 36 – via BBC Genome Project

His Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in C of 1965 incorporates Latin American rhythms.[https://www.musicwebinternational.com/2023/07/magnificat-3-signum-classics-2/ Recorded by the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge on Magnificat 3, Signum Classics SIGCD742 (2023)] At the round earth’s imagin’d corners (1977) is scored for choir, soloists and strings and includes six settings of religious texts from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries. It was commissioned by the Sheffield Bach Choir. The 45 minute choral work St. Francis of Assisi (1981) is a collaboration with poet John Fuller. For Adoration (2001) is a set of five short anthems.[https://musicwebinternational.com/2025/04/kelly-st-francis-of-assisi-regent/ Regent Records REGCD585 (2025)]

Instrumental solos and educational music are also important to him: for example, the Whodunnit Suite for trumpet and piano includes movements entitled: 'Poirot (Detective)', 'Lavinia Lurex (Actress)', 'Colonel Glib (Retired)', 'Miss Slight (Spinster of This Parish)', 'The Chief Suspect' and 'The Chase'.[https://stainer.co.uk/shop/h442/ "Kelly, Bryan: Whodunnit. Suite for Trumpet and Piano"], Stainer & Bell In 1961 Kelly wrote the piano piece Tango for Peter Katin.

Two CDs of Kelly's orchestral music have been issued by Heritage.[http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2021/Feb/Kelly-orchestral-v2-HTGCD180.htm Kelly: Orchestral Music, Vol. 2,, Heritage HTG CD180 (2020), reviewed at MusicWeb International]

• Volume One (2014): Left Bank Suite, 'Epitaph for Peace' (from the two movement Lest We Forget), A Christmas Celebration (five movements), Concertante Dances, Globe Theatre Suite (for recorder and strings), and Nativity Scenes. Heritage HTG CD284 (2014).
• Volume Two (2021): Fantasy Overture: San Francisco; Calypso’s Isle; Concerto da camera; Four Realms Suite, Capricorn, A Christmas Dance (Sir Roger de Coverley), Concerto for Two Trumpets, Comedy Film for orchestra. Heritage HTG CD180 (2020).

The Improvisations on Christmas Carols (1969) has been recorded by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Gavin Sutherland.[https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Dec02/Hely_carols.htm Naxos 8.557099 (2002)] There is a non-commercial recording of Kelly's Symphony No 1 (1983), by the City of Oxford Orchestra, director Yannis Daras, available on YouTube.{{YouTube|Nc18FjMx5HA|Kelly, Symphony No. 1}}

The choir of Clare College, Cambridge, issued a CD of the choral music in 2001, including the cantata Crucifixion, the Missa Brevis and the popular carol This Lovely Lady.[https://www.clarecollegechoir.com/product/kelly-crucifixion-and-other-choral-music Priory PRCD755 (2001)] The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge with the Britten Sinfonia, conducted by Sarah MacDonald, has a CD of choral works, including St Francis of Assisi (1981), At the round earth’s imagin’d corners (1977), and For Adoration (2001). The Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in C (1965) has been recorded by St John's College Choir Cambridge, conducted by Andrew Nethsingha with organist George Herbert.[https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W24171_120742 Signum Classics SIGCD742 (2023)]

{{reflist|30em}}

• [https://stainer.co.uk/composer/bryan-kelly/ Bryan Kelly biography], Stainer & Bell
• {{YouTube|N3iz_Lz8YEI|Performance of the Magnificat in C, Guildford Cathedral Choir, Barry Rose}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060115083225/http://www.lsso.co.uk/webmusic/briankellyweb.html Bryan Kelly and the LSSO], information and short audio extracts from the Cuban Suite

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Category:1934 births

Category:Living people

Category:Musicians from Oxford

Category:English contemporary classical composers

Category:Alumni of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Music

Category:People educated at Southfield Grammar School