Andrew Carter, 86, English composer, pedagogue, conductor, and arranger, died January 5 in York. He was born on December 13, 1939, into a Leicestershire family of tower and handbell ringers. After completing a music degree at Leeds University where he studied organ and piano, he joined the York Minster Choir in 1962, as a bass songman under the direction of Francis Jackson. For a decade, he served as director of music at Bar Convent Grammar School.
In 1965 Carter founded the Chapter House Choir at York Minster. During his seventeen-year tenure as conductor, the mixed-voice concert group earned awards in the BBC Let the Peoples Sing competition. A Winston Churchill Fellow in 1981, he studied choral traditions in Scandinavia, and in 1986 became a founder committee member of the Association of British Choral Directors (ABCD), addressing its first convention in Oxford. In 1984 Carter spent a year in New Zealand as director of the Auckland Dorian Choir, University Chamber Choir, and Youth Choir.
Upon returning to York, his career focused on his work as a composer. Carter’s compositions were published over a period of thirty years. His catalog of over 250 works ranges from intimate choral miniatures to large-scale works for choir, soloists, and orchestra, including Benedicite, Horizons, and Missa Sancti Pauli. His early carol and folk song arrangements, written for his York choirs, were published by Banks Music Publications. Much of his music was later published by Oxford University Press and MorningStar Music Publishers. He was perhaps best known for A Maiden Most Gentle, which was heard on the BBC’s annual broadcast of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge, alongside Mary’s Magnificat and I Wonder As I Wander. His recording Andrew Carter’s Christmas Carols, with organist John Scott, was named among BBC Music Magazine’s “ten best ever” Christmas CDs in 2007.
Andrew Carter was predeceased by his wife Sylvia in 2023. He is survived by his daughter Elinor, his son Martin, daughter-in-law Krissie, and five grandchildren. His funeral took place January 30 at St. Saviourgate Venue, York. For information: andrewcarter.org.
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