Andrew Mackereth

From Sawiki

Andrew Mackereth was born in Gateshead Tyne & wear in 1965. Born into a fourth generation Salvation Army family, he first attended a meeting aged barely a week old. The son of officer parents, he has lived in many places including 4 years in Zambia and nine years in Kingston-upon-Hull. It was here that he began his earliest musical training.

In 1982, he returned to his native North-East to enrol on the Certificate in Brass Band Studies Course at Newcastle College of Arts & Technology, studying trombone, euphonium and tuba. In 1984, Andrew gained a place at the Birmingham School of Music to study Trombone and Composition, later studying Percussion and Conducting also. In his fourth year, he won the Bernhard Brown Memorial Composition Prize.

At the completion of his studies he entered the teaching profession first in Nuneaton before moving to Birmingham to become Head of Music in the largest UK school. After a 5-year spell working for Sandwell LEA as an Advisory Teacher with responsibility for able pupils he left to become Deputy Headteacher at a Worcestershire Secondary school. His first publication was the song Ring the Bells of Heaven in 1987, but it was 1998 before his first piece for band entered the Salvation Army repertoire.

To date, more than fifty of his compositions; religious and secular are in print; many frequently feature on the concert programmes of Salvation Army Bands. In September of 2000 he was named Composer-in-Residence to the Coventry City Salvation Army Band and in January of 2001 he was named Composer-in-Residence to the Melbourne Staff Band tour of Great Britain.

Commissions include STANDARD BEARERS for the International Staff Band, HYMNUS for Wilhelmina Easterein (Netherlands) and EXALTATION for the Melbourne Staff Band. Recent projects include music for the Amsterdam Staff Band and Songsters, the Household Troops band and proposed collaborations with Birmingham Citadel & Bristol Easton bands. His test piece "Magnificat" was commissioned by NBK/SP&S for the 25th anniversary, Dutch brass band championships.

Andrew lives in Nuneaton with his wife Stella and two children, Eleanor and Joshua. They are all active members of the Salvation Army in Nuneaton where Andrew serves as Bandmaster.

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