User:Melisforfun

From ChoralWiki
Revision as of 23:25, 17 April 2015 by Melisforfun (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Melvin Clive Bird (composer)

Biography

Melvin Bird was born in Basingstoke, Hampshire Uk in 1955, son of a German mother Ingeborg Renate Bhenke and an English father Norman John Bird. He first studied piano under Hilda L. Price at Summerbrook Music School in Basingstoke. In 1965 the family moved to Ivybridge in Devon where he attended the local Primary and Secondary Schools followed by a final 6th Form year at King Edward VI Sixth Form College in Totnes, Devon. In 1972 he gained a place on the Preparatory Music Course at Dartington College funded by a Devon County Council Discretionary Award. His teachers at Dartington included Helen Glatz (piano); John Wellingham (organ); James Denean (vocal studies) and Richard David Haines (composition). After completing the foundation course at Dartington he continued his piano studies with Helen Glatz. In 1976 he moved to Oxford and in 1977 gained a place on the Bed. course at Lady Spencer Churchill College - Oxford Polytechnic. After achieving a Distinction in his final exams he was encouraged to further his piano studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London under Ruth Harte. After a period of teaching he moved to Reading and enrolled onto the Mmus course in Piano Performance later switching to Composition in 1997, studying under Rolf Gelhaar, Paul Rhys for Composition and Jonathan Dunsby (Analysis). He received financial support from the Vaughan Williams Trust, the University of Reading (Berks. UK) and the Finzi Trust in order to further his composition studies. Whilst at Reading the composer won 1st prize in the Finzi Composition Prize, 2001, 2002, 2003. Some of his works have been shortlisted and performed through SPNM. From 1990-2005 the composer worked as a Music Library Assistant to Dr. Margaret Laurie in the Department of Music at Reading University. In 2004 he was awarded a Phd in Composition from the University of Reading. In 2005 he moved to Madeira, Portugal where he works as a piano teacher and accompanist at the Conservatorio Escola das Artes in Funchal. He is also Organist and Director of Music at the city Anglican Holy Trinity Church in Funchal.--Melisforfun (talk) 23:22, 17 April 2015 (UTC)Melvin Clive Bird 2015.

References

External Links