Composer Information: Tim Munday

Born in Epsom , London, in 1967, Tim was educated at Reading School and Sheffield University, graduating with a Bachelor of Music Honours Degree in July 1988. His first composition, written at the age of 12, was a short piano piece, 'Samantha', named after a certain young lady friend. Having begun lessons in piano, organ and flute, he subsequently wrote three sonatas and a 'Carillon' for organ during his time at Reading School, in addition to an arrangement of the 'Chariots of Fire' Theme for school orchestra. Outside his school activities, he wrote a short five movement work for voice and piano set to his own poetry, 'Kestrel', which was later orchestrated for wind band by John Dingle, conductor of the Thames Wind Concert Band, for which Tim played keyboard and percussion for many years. Another composition which Tim orchestrated himself, 'Sequence', for solo synthesizer and band, was also premiered by Thames Wind.

On arrival at Sheffield University, Tim quickly began developing his interest in arranging and produced an arrangement of Gustav Holst's 'Planets' Suite for two piano duets (eight hands) which he performed in 1986 with fellow pianists Jon Booth, Ian Shepherd and organist Martin Colton. As part of his degree portfolio he produced a dissertation on the 'Planets', studying with Martin Hindmarsh, as well as composition studies with David Harold Cox, under whose tuition he composed a 'Requiem' mass setting for mezzo-soprano and tenor solos, double SATB and orchestra. Tim later arranged the central movement of this, the 'Pie Jesu' for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble, for it's premier performance in February 1989 at St George's Church, Reading where Tim had been appointed musical director on leaving Sheffield. Mezzo-soprano and fellow Sheffield graduate Sally Walters, for whom it was written, took the solo role.

Following graduation, Tim began his career in music retail at Modern Music in Reading. For many years, he was in charge of the Sheet Music department and hence gained first hand knowledge of customer requirements, especially in the field of music for schools and ensembles. It was during this time that he had his first contact with Mark and Pat Goddard at Spartan Press, the first arrangement he produced for them appearing in 1994, 'Arco Anthems' for string quartet. Tim's career in music retail, including sheet music, continues to this day, working for Dawsons Music Ltd, which took over the retail operations in Reading when Modern Music Ltd ceased trading in July 2005.

More recently, Tim has produced more arrangements of orchestral music for two piano duets, most notably Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Scheherazade' which he premiered in 1997 at St Agnes Church Reading with fellow pianists Rosie Stephens, Vanessa Tyrrell and Martin Jones. Other regular performance duties include playing drums in the on-stage band at the annual Reading Primary Schools Music Festival in which he has worked with conductors Norman Morris, Clive Waterman, Shirley Taylor and pianist and composer Gwyn Arch.

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E-mail: tim.munday1@ntlworld.com