Andrew Dickson

Andrew Dickson is an Australian guitarist and singer associated with Ghostwriters. He is also a composer, pianist and conductor, and his work extends to authorship, teaching and string playing. He is best known for writing film soundtracks, particularly for the films of Mike Leigh.

Education and early career

He studies piano at Cambridge University with John Lill during four years there, then studies organ at York University with Nicholas Danby and Francis Jackson. While at York, he holds the post of organ scholar at York Minster and is among the first students there to work towards a DPhil in Composition, with David Blake as his main teacher.

Composition and performance

His compositions are performed and broadcast by a range of soloists and ensembles, including Peter Lawson, Andrew Ball, Julian Jacobson, Nancy Ruffer, John Wallace, Susanne Stanzeleit, Madeleine Mitchell, Kevin Bowyer, Lontano, the Wallace Collection and the Medici String Quartet. The Medici String Quartet performs his string quartet, which is commissioned by the BBC. He writes several operas and musicals, and he also has a substantial output of music for Christian church worship, including around 30 congregational psalm settings, several hymn-tunes, cantatas and instrumental pieces based on liturgical tunes.

Wales, teaching and ensembles

He moves to Wales in 1984 to work at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where he has a long career as teacher, player and composer. The college makes him an Honorary Fellow in 2005. He later freelances as a pianist and continuo harpsichord player in concerts across the UK and abroad, including appearances at festivals in Buxton, Tudeley, Swansea, Lower Machen, the Gower, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the York Late Music Festival.

He plays regularly with the contemporary music ensemble PM, the trio Trio 114, and the period-instrument group L’Indiscret. With mezzo-soprano Buddug Verona James, he is musical director for Castradiva and several other shows.

Early music work and organisations

He founds Early Music Wales to encourage early-music activity in Wales. Part of this work is the Welsh Baroque Orchestra, a professional period-instrument ensemble that he directs. The orchestra receives funding from the Welsh Assembly and later the Arts Council of Wales, and performs widely in Wales as well as at the Varazdin Baroque Evenings in Croatia. He also conducts the Welsh Camerata, a choir specialising in baroque and renaissance music.

Writing and awards

He wins the Bournemouth-Parry International Festival composition prize for Psalm 29, a piece that later tours Australia sung by the Sydney Chamber Choir. As an author, he writes The Story of Christian Music, a book linked to his long involvement in church music and published in many languages worldwide.