Born in 1939 into a family of tower and handbell ringers, Andrew Carter’s earliest musical experiences are as much to do with ringing as with singing. At a state grammar school in the English midlands, Terence Dwyer, an outstanding music master, introduced Andrew to orchestral concerts and cathedral music in Leicester, and to solo singing in Bach cantatas and Mozart opera at school.
For seven years, following a music degree at the northern university of Leeds, Andrew Carter combined schoolmastering in the mornings with singing bass in the daily evensongs at York Minster, under the inspiring leadership of Francis Jackson. At this time Andrew founded a mixed voice concert choir at the Minster, called the Chapter House Choir, which gained considerable national fame during his 17-year conductorship. In 1984, relinquishing both teaching and choir positions, Andrew spent a happy year of conducting and adjudicating in New Zealand before settling again in York as a free-lance composer.
Andrew Carter’s compositions and arrangements have been published over a period of 25 years. His carol, A maiden most gentle, the first of several to be sung at the Christmas Eve service at King’s, Cambridge, has remained popular since its publication in 1978.
In more recent years, Oxford University Press has published three larger-scale works for choir and orchestra: Benedicite (1989, 35 minutes), employing both adult and children’s choirs, has been very widely performed on both sides of the Atlantic and in the Antipodes. Musick’s Jubilee (1993, 25 minutes), scored for small orchestral with soprano and mezzo soloists, and celebratory in nature, has already attracted numerous performances in Britain. Te Deum (1996, 25 minutes), premièred in 1996 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, again alternates adult and children’s choirs, and is suitable for church or concert use.
Two further choral/orchestral works premièred in 1996 are now in preparation. Horizons, a 30-minute sequence of sea poetry for St Neots Choral Society, with soprano solos, and Song of Stillness (25 minutes), with baritone solos, for the Quaker-founded Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana.
In the field of church music, still close to his heart, Andrew is regularly asked to write for choir and organ. One such invitation was for a Missa Brevis (Missa Sancti Pauli) premièred in 1997 to celebrate the tercentenary of Wren’s St Paul’s Cathedral. He has recently added several titles to the organ repertoire, notably the Toccata on Veni Emmanuel. As a composer and choir director, Carter has travelled extensively in the United States, sampling the many delights of that country, and receiving and conducting commissioned works.