Andrew Carter (born 1939) is an English composer, conductor and arranger.
Contents |
Born in Wigston Magna, Leicestershire, Carter studied music at the University of Leeds, before moving to York and joining the choir at the Minster as a bass. Whilst there, in 1965 he founded the Chapter House Choir, a mixed voice ensemble that achieved national renown under his direction of seventeen years. After spending a year conducting and adjudicating in New Zealand (1984), he returned to England to focus on composition.
The Oxford University Press have published more than fifty of his compositions over a period of association spanning twenty-five years. The famous Nine Lessons and Carols service broadcast annually on the BBC by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge has included several of his carols, including A maiden most gentle and Mary's Magnificat.
A notable moment in Carter's musical career was a commission in 1997 to write a mass (Missa Sancti Pauli) for the tercentenary celebration of St Paul's Cathedral in London. In 2007, he composed a 22-variation Passacaglia for organ to mark the 90th birthday of the former York Minster organist Francis Jackson.
He travels extensively in Europe and Australia and New Zealand as a choral director.