Born in 1954, Derek’s formal musical training was at Trinity College of Music where he studied piano with Eva Bernatova and conducting with Charles Proctor. His postgraduate studies were at Durham University specialising in music education.
From 1981 to 1987 Derek was Director of Music at Enfield Grammar School and joined the teaching staff of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Junior Department in 1983, teaching piano and general musicianship. In 1987 Derek was appointed to the panel of Piano Examiners for the Guildhall School, was a consultant for the Guildhall School Piano Syllabus and served as a member of the School's Examinations Service Board. He has been to the Far East as a representative of the School to promote the School's piano syllabus and to help train piano teachers. In 1989 he was Music Adviser for the Isaac Albeniz Foundation in Madrid in their plan to establish a specialist music school in Spain and in 2001 he was appointed Head of Junior Guildhall a post from which he has recently retired. On 4th November 2016 he was awarded a Fellowship of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in recognition of his contribution to the School.
Derek’s conducting experience includes founding and conducting the Enfield Schools Orchestra. He has been Musical Director of Gilbert & Sullivan productions and a fully staged performance of Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale. He was Director of the Enfield Grammar Choral Society and Chamber Orchestra between 1981 and 1987 and in 1989 he recorded the vocal music for the children's BBC radio programme Talk to me.
Derek is regularly invited to adjudicate competitions, the most recent being the Edna Head Competition, part of the Leigh-on-Sea Music Festival.
More recently Derek has returned to composition. Recent first performances have included:
· Piano Sonata, performed by Mateusz Borowiak at the Guildhall School
· Clarinet Sonata, performed by Jeffery Wilson and the composer at the Cramphorn Theatre, Chelmsford
· Saxophone Sonata, performed by Jeffery Wilson and Tim Watts in Cambridge
· Saxophone Suite, performed by Saxology in Maldon
· Threnody, performed by the Junior Guildhall String Ensemble at St Martin-in-the-Fields
· Hear my prayer, performed by the Junior Guildhall Chamber Choir at Regent Hall, Oxford Street
· Masada, an oratorio for choir, orchestra, soprano, tenor and narrator - performed in Milton Court
· Clarinet Concerto for string orchestra - performed by Rowan Jones in Milton Court
Trio for Cello, Clarinet & Piano - performed by Michael Christie, Jeffery Wilson and the composer at the
Camphorn Theatre, Chelmsford
