COMPOSITION, ARRANGEMENT & ORCHESTRATION

Composition

In addition to working as a pianist and musical director, Darren also composes music for theatre.

He has composed incidental music and songs for productions of Jane Eyre, After Juliet and Twelfth Night. He has also written two musicals - Frankenstein's Legacy, a contemporary pop musical for youth theatre companies and Past Vows, which formed part of his portfolio submission for his Master's degree.

Darren was also commissioned to compose incidental music for a stage dramatisation of a Tim Burton poem, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy.

Here is an example of Darren's work - the Curtain Calls from Twelfth Night. The music for the production was folk influenced making use of live vocals, accordion, violins and guitar, along with sequenced tracks.

Arrangement & Orchestration

Darren studied orchestration and arrangement as part of his undergraduate degree and has considerable experience using these skills for a variety of ensembles - everything from pit orchestras to jazz bands, choirs, cabaret artists and recorder consorts.

At university, Darren provided orchestrations and vocal arrangements for numerous revues and concerts with the university musical theatre society and jazz and gospel choir. He was also commisioned to orchestrate pieces for amateur theatre companies that he was working with at the time.

Whilst working on Mamma Mia and Wicked, Darren has continued to provide arrangements for cabarets, pantomimes and charity events whenever his work schedule has allowed.

Darren uses Sibelius software for scores, parts and rehearsal tracks. In addition to arranging, Darren can also provide transcription and music preparation services.

Keyboard/Sequencer Programming

Darren has experience using Kurzweil, Roland and Korg hardware in addition to Logic, Pro Tools 9, Cubase and QLab software. He has provided keyboards and programming services for several pantomimes, youth theatre and stage school productions.

Please contact Darren with any enquiries or to request samples of his work.