Peter McGarr

McGarr was born in Openshaw, Manchester, and attended Ducie Technical High School for Boys, now Manchester Academy. He studied Music and Dance at Mather College (now part of Manchester University) and is self-taught in composition. For several years he taught steel pan, achieving the Outstanding Performance Award from Music for Youth for his steel band 'Orchestral Steel', appearing in the School Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in 1984{{cite web|url=http://www.issu.com/musicforyouth/docs/programme_1984 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127200931/http://www.issu.com/musicforyouth/docs/programme_1984 |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 January 2016 |title=The Leading Issu Site on the Net |publisher=issu.com |date= |accessdate=15 September 2012}} and 1986.[http://www.issuu.com/musicforyouth/docs/programme_1986]{{dead link|date=September 2012}} He has received the Butterworth Prize for Composition from the Society for the Promotion of New Music and has been nominated for Music Teacher of the Year, the British Composer Awards, the Paul Hamlyn foundation Awards and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship. He has led composition workshops at the Edinburgh International Festival{{cite web|url=http://www.cairdhall.co.uk/event/?id=3791 |title=Dundee – Events |publisher=Caird Hall |date= |accessdate=15 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090708113016/http://www.cairdhall.co.uk/event/?id=3791 |archive-date=8 July 2009 |url-status=dead}} and also engaged extensively with musical activities involving the elderly and people with dementia.

McGarr has been influenced by the sounds and changing culture of the Northern English people and landscape.{{Cite web |url=http://www.signumrecords.com/products/booklets/SIGCD294booklet.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=14 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150722191311/http://www.signumrecords.com/products/booklets/SIGCD294booklet.pdf |archive-date=22 July 2015 |url-status=dead }} His piece "Hillclouds, Rainwindows and Vanishing Orchestras" has been described as "integrat[ing] tremolo sounds into a subtle patchwork of changing harmonies".{{cite news|author=Keith Potter |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts.../flash-in-the-pan-1282087.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts.../flash-in-the-pan-1282087.html |archive-date=26 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Flash in the pan – Arts & Entertainment |work=The Independent |date=7 January 1997 |accessdate=15 September 2012}}

He has received performances and commissions from many leading musicians, orchestras and festivals including the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall,{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/search/work/cloudspell-seasons/8883 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130420045121/http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/search/work/cloudspell-seasons/8883 |archive-date=20 April 2013 |title=Proms – Cloudspell Seasons |publisher=BBC |date=1 January 1970 |accessdate=15 September 2012 |url-status=dead}} London Sinfonietta,{{cite web |url=http://www.pierreandrevalade.com/en/pages/repertoire.html |title=Valade, repertoire |publisher=Pierreandrevalade.com |accessdate=15 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131010001333/http://www.pierreandrevalade.com/en/pages/repertoire.html |archivedate=10 October 2013 |df=dmy-all }} Joanna MacGregor,{{cite web |url=http://fabermusic.clientdemoarea.com/news/story/joanna-macgregor-explores-unbeaten-tracks.aspx?ComposerId=430 |title=Joanna MacGregor Explores Unbeaten Tracks! – News & Reviews – Joanna MacGregor – Composers – Faber Music |publisher=Fabermusic.clientdemoarea.com |date=6 October 2005 |accessdate=15 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130119111938/http://fabermusic.clientdemoarea.com/news/story/joanna-macgregor-explores-unbeaten-tracks.aspx?ComposerId=430 |archivedate=19 January 2013 |df=dmy-all }} Ensemble Bash, Three Strange Angels,{{cite web|url=http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=3149 |title=Classical Music :: The Classical Source :: Feature Review: fffade away :: Classical Music |publisher=The Classical Source |date=29 January 2006 |accessdate=15 September 2012}} Passacaglia,{{cite web|url=http://www.naxos.com/person/Passacaglia/72834.htm |title=Passacaglia- Bio, Albums, Pictures – Naxos Classical Music |publisher=Naxos.com |date=25 June 2011 |accessdate=15 September 2012}} oboeworks,{{cite web|url=http://www.oboeworks.co.uk/repertoire.php |title=Oboeworks oboe quartet – oboe and string trio – chamber music, concerts |publisher=Oboeworks.co.uk |date= |accessdate=15 September 2012}} Cappella Nova,{{cite web|url=http://www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/artsinscotland/music/features/archive/choirsatchristmas.aspx |title=Scottish Arts Council – Archive – Choirs at Christmas |publisher=Scottisharts.org.uk |date= |accessdate=15 September 2012}} The Crossing,{{cite web|last=Gearhart |first=Steven |url=http://www.choralnet.org/view/231996 |title=The Crossing: Month of Moderns 2 |publisher=ChoralNet |date=19 May 2009 |accessdate=15 September 2012}}

Kevin Bowyer,{{cite web|author=|url=http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/music/news-and-features/kevin-bowyer-glasgow-university-chapel-choir-1-1104270 |title=Kevin Bowyer/Glasgow University Chapel Choir – News and features |publisher=Scotsman.com |date=1 February 2006 |accessdate=15 September 2012}} Ruth Morley,{{cite web|url=http://www.sound-scotland.co.uk/site/2007/diary/11_25@3pm.htm |title=s•o•u•n•d event – Ruth Morley, flute; Scott Mitchell, piano – 25 November 2007 @ 3pm |publisher=Sound-scotland.co.uk |date= |accessdate=15 September 2012}} and Emily Andrews.{{cite web |url=http://www.emilyandrewsflute.com/pastevents.html |title=Emily Andrews flautist past events page |publisher=Emilyandrewsflute.com |accessdate=15 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130122041009/http://www.emilyandrewsflute.com/pastevents.html |archivedate=22 January 2013 |df=dmy-all }}

He was commissioned by the Tallis Festival to write a 40-part companion piece to Thomas Tallis's Spem in alium. The resulting work, Lindisfarne Love Song (also called Love You Big as the Sky) included poems about Lindisfarne, diary notes and the detailed geography of the area including shipwrecks and lighthouses. An on-line campaign has since started, Lybats, to secure a performance of the piece on its "spiritual home" of Lindisfarne.{{cite web|last=Jim |first=Honest |url=http://lybats.blogspot.com/ |title=LYBATS |publisher=Lybats.blogspot.com |date=11 December 2007 |accessdate=15 September 2012}}

file:Page from Lindisfarne Lovesong by Peter McGarr.jpg

The Bath International Music Festival commissioned its largest ever piece; a choral work from McGarr, to celebrate the festival's 60th anniversary. The work was Homesongs and scored for over a 1,000 voices.[http://www.bathmusicfest.org.uk.../2008%20festival%20brochure] {{dead link|date=July 2020}}

File:Saddleworth Moor Song, first page by Peter McGarr.jpg

File:8 views of farne.jpg

McGarr won the 2013–14 British Composer Awards (Making Music Category) for his piece Dry Stone Walls of Yorkshire, written for orchestra with soundtrack and features field recordings made on Saddleworth Moor.{{cite web |title=British Composer Awards 2013 |url=https://www.prsformusic.com/press/2013/british-composer-awards-2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702134909/https://www.prsformusic.com/press/2013/british-composer-awards-2013 |archive-date=2 July 2019 |website=PRS for Music |access-date=4 January 2024 |language=en |date=4 December 2013 |url-status=deviated}}

File:Frontispiece to 'Drystone Walls of Yorkshire'.jpg

• The Acoustics of Morecambe Bay for Percussion Quartet
• Creating a Wildflower Garden (Wildflower Street) for orchestra
• Dreaming England for mixed choir
• Lindisfarne Love Song (Love You Big as the Sky) for 40-part choir
• Sweet Steel Alone for solo tenor steel pan
• Tidelines for Javanese gamelan
• Night Scented Stock for percussion and piano
• Audlem Sonatas for solo percussion
• Sound Asleep for percussion quartet
• Vanishing Games for oboe quartet
• The Buried Dreams of Our Lives for baroque ensemble
• Something Lost for flute and piano
• Eleven Nights with Glenn Gould for solo piano

• Something Lost (Sarah Brooke, flute; Elizabeth Burley, piano / British Music Label BML031)
• Dreaming England / Beautiful Days (Exmoor Singers of London: conductor James Jarvis)
• Vanishing Games (Oboe Quartet: oboeworks. / Dinmore Records DRD 066)
• Fieldthread (Flutes d'Accordes / Amalie Records ALACD 1202)
• Memory Trace (Tuba Quartet; Tubalate / TCD 5)
• Homesongs (Collected soundtracks / Broken Scissor Records BSR 01457)
• Sound Asleep (Ensemble Bash / SignumSIGCD 294)

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.petermcgarr-composer.co.uk/ Peter McGarr], Website
• [http://www.soundcloud.com/tempestflutes/points-north-excerpt-peter Points North (excerpt) - Peter Mcgarr] Clip of 'Points-North' for three flutes

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGarr, Peter}}

Category:English composers

Category:Living people

Category:Musicians from Manchester

Category:People educated at Ducie Technical High School for Boys

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)