Anthony_Whittaker
Anthony Whittaker
English composer
Anthony John Whittaker-Mahoney (born 1968) is an English composer. His first musical experiences were in the local church choir age 7 and as a tenor recorder player; he did not begin formal study of the piano until 1982 with Peter Wild. Lessons with Ann Bond on the organ followed in 1986. After acquiring the LRAM diploma in 1989, ARCO and LTCL in 1991, he graduated from the University of London in 1994 BMus (hons).
Composition became increasingly important for Whittaker during the 1990s where he composed for staff and students at the Performing Arts department of Liverpool Community College. His MMus and PhD degrees are from the University of Liverpool where he studied with James Wishart (1957-2018) and the American composer, Ben Hackbarth.
Notoriety came in 2000 with the SPNM performance of Drift for six pianos which was performed alongside Steve Reich's music for 6 pianos; the principal pianist was Joanna MacGregor.
Choral music became important after this time;Agnus Dei (TTBB) received performances in Berlin and Montreal. A Litany also for TTBB was performed at the International Eisteddfod and broadcast on S4C television in 2002. Larger commissions followed. For example, The Prodigal Son for choir 2 pianos and percussion 2005.
Chamber music has also played an important part in the composer's output. A string Quartet was written in 2005; Indiscretions with Sarabande was written for the Baroque ensemble L'indiscret in 2007. A second string quartet and the Clarinet Quintet were completed in 2009 during a long period in the Far East, Singapore and Taiwan; Another Place for chamber orchestra was finished in 2014. Whittaker's largest project to date is a choral suite with Genghis Khan as the protagonist. The piano piece Micro-Sonatina forms part of the Beethoven 250 project created by the German pianist Susanne Kessel and was premiered in 2018 in Bonn, Germnany. It is published in Volume 6 of the project by Editions Musica Ferrum.
Some of the early choral pieces are published by the Welsh firm Curiad;recent projects have included educational music initially concentrating on early to intermediate levels and more advanced solo works for the violinist Steven Wilkie and oboist, Manon Lewis. Scree for oboe and piano is published by Forton Music. Whittaker's setting of Psalm 150 was premiered in Nairobi Cathedral in July 2017.