Andrew Downes

'... varied, innovative, involving and absorbing.' - Roderic Dunnett, of Andrew Downes' music

British composer and teacher Andrew Downes was born in Handsworth (Birmingham) on 20 August 1950. He studied composition at St John's College, Cambridge and then with Herbert Howells at the Royal College of Music in London.

From 1992 until 2005 he was Head of the School of Composition and Creative Studies at Birmingham Conservatoire, but then retired due to ill health.

He was much-commissioned, and his music appears on at least seventeen CDs and has been performed and broadcast all over the world.

Andrew Downes (1950-2023)
Andrew Downes (1950-2023)

 

Andrew Downes died on 2 January 2023, aged seventy-two, after battling long-term health conditions for most of his life.

Further information: andrewdownes.com

 

A selection of articles about Andrew Downes

Pleasingly Eclectic - Mike Wheeler listens to James Curnow, J S Bach, Andrew Downes, Simon Lesley, Randy Newman, Lennon and McCartney, and Irving Berlin from Curzon Brass

CD Spotlight. On Buoyant Form - Orchestral music by Andrew Downes, heard by Roderic Dunnett. '... varied, innovative, involving and absorbing.'

Ensemble. Cogent Achievements - Peter Maxwell Davies' tenth symphony and other British music, heard by Roderic Dunnett

Record Box. Unique Timbres - A recording by The Brahms Trio Prague, reviewed by George Balcombe