Edward Tait ▪ Composer
Edward Tait is a British composer, currently living in West London. Since being granted a Scholarship to study at The Purcell School, he has studied composition with acclaimed composers Deborah Pritchard, Brian Elias, and currently Jacques Cohen. He has had a number of orchestral works performed with the Purcell Sinfonietta, notably his orchestral interlude Mo Li Hua, as well as Fleeting Manhattan, which was be premiered at St. John’s Smith Square in February 2024.
Tait has also had instrumental and vocal performances in numerous locations, particularly in-and-around London, having had two significant premieres of his compositions at Hatfield House, in October 2019 and September 2022. He has won prizes at a number of well-respected composition competitions, including the North London Festival, the Chiltern Arts Festival, and the Benslow Music Trust. In March 2023, Tait was fortunate to have his arrangement of Waltzing Matilda performed in the pre-service to the Commonwealth Day Service, in Westminster Abbey. Additionally, he has had his music performed by the Carducci Quartet, the Chorleywood Orchestra, the Kucharsky Quartet, as well as in several concerts which he organized himself at the Purcell School. These concerts have seen the premieres of works like Allegretto for Clarinet and Piano, Herbstlied, and Two Shakespeare Songs.
While being primarily a classical composer, Tait has also recently branched out into writing film and electronic music, having re-scored the 1902 silent film Le Voyage dans la Lune, by Georges Melies, which is currently in the process of being recorded by members of the Purcell School. Throughout early 2023, he composed the first full arrangement of Holst’s The Planets suite for solo piano, which he published through the arrangement-selling website NoteWelder.com. This arrangement was later premiered in December 2023 at the Purcell School. Similarly, he is currently in the process of arranging Debussy’s Trois Nocturnes for solo piano.
He has a sideline career in web development, and is a Partner at the web development company EYP Websites, which builds professional websites for professionals and small businesses. Aside from this job, he created the sheet music website NoteWelder.com, and is the founder of the online debating platform CounterU.com, still currently in development.
Edward Stanley Tait was born in 2006, in Ruislip, West London, into a musical family, with his mother being a professional cellist, and his father, a violin teacher. He first got involved with music at the age of 6, while he was at Whiteheath Junior School, initially taking piano lessons with James Kellas. Furthermore, a year later, he began his study of the cello with his mother, who gave him lessons for several years.
He began composing at around age 8, idolizing the great composers that he discovered through his instrumental repertoire, including Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mahler, Ravel, and Stravinsky. Over the next few years, he began taking lessons in composition and musical theory, with composer Andrew Melvin, through which he extensively grew his knowledge of repertoire and compositional and musical technique. During these years, his new school, The Beacon School, began to further his opportunities as both a composer and pianist, giving performances of his music in venues across Buckinghamshire. He was also the winner of his Middle School category of the Beacon Young Musician of the Year, as a pianist, with his performance of Burgmüller Ballade in C Minor, Op. 100.
That same year, he was very excited to receive a Scholarship to study at the prestigious Purcell School of Music, in Bushey, with his major study in Composition, giving him the opportunity to study with the acclaimed composers Deborah Pritchard, Brian Elias, and currently Jacques Cohen. Additionally, at Purcell, he has received masterclasses and seminars from Daniel Fardon, Simon Speare, Sylvia Lim, Robert Saxton, Julian Anderson, Judith Weir, Dru Masters and Errollyn Wallen. As a keen 2nd study pianist, he has been develop his pianistic technique under the mentorship of Lidia Amorelli, gaining a Distinction at Grade 8 Piano in 2022. He was also a 3rd study cellist for a couple of years, learning with Julian Metzger.
He has had countless works performed at the Purcell School, during his time there, a number which has increased over the past year, due to the initiative that he has taken to arrange and manage his own Composers Concerts. These concerts have seen the premieres of many notable works, most recently such as his Allegretto and Fantasia-Elegy for Clarinet and Piano, which were both premiered by Tom McDonnell alongside the composer himself on the piano, as well as his arrangement of The Planets by Gustav Holst, the first of its kind. He has similar upcoming chamber concerts involving a range of wind, strings, piano and voice, with premieres of works like Herbstlied, for solo piano, and Two Shakespeare Songs, for choir.
In concerts run by the school, he has had his music conducted by Paul Hoskins, Edward Longstaff, and Nicholas Daniel, and has received a lot of coaching of his compositions by well-established musical groups and ensembles, such as the Carducci Quartet, with his 2023 string quartet, titled Passage of Time. His orchestral works, Mo Li Hua and Fleeting Manhattan have both also received premieres by the Purcell School, in venues as diverse as Hatfield House and St. John’s Smith Square.
Edward has won significant prizes at a number of well-respected composition competitions, including the North London Festival, the Chesham Arts Festival, as well as being shortlisted for the Benslow Music Trust. In March 2023, he was very fortunate to have his arrangement of Waltzing Matilda performed in the pre-service to the Commonwealth Day Service, at Westminster Abbey. His work in the world of chamber music has led to performances of his music by the Chorleywood Orchestra, the Kucharsky Quartet, and the previously-mentioned Carducci Quartet.
Stylistically, his music has spanned a wide range of styles over the past couple of years, with his discovery and exploration of new composers, with his favourite composers largely revolving around the late 19th and early 20th century, like Vaughan-Williams, Mahler, Ravel, Holst, Shostakovich, and Tchaikovsky. Over 2023 and 2024, his music began to explore the use of folk and national music as a major within his compositions, particularly the style of Scottish and Celtic music, in works like Crenark Hill and Eclogue. Additionally, his music also explores factors of impressionism and neoclassicism, taking influence from many “abstract” composers like Shostakovich and Ravel, and their orchestral works.
Edward has also done a sizeable amount of outreach work, introducing and nurturing musical development amongst young people in a number of schools across the UK, starting with his first interactive assembly in Bushey Heath Primary School in December 2022. He played a leading role in IMPULSE 2023, an outreach trip across North Norfolk, which he took part in with The Purcell School, in June 2023. During this trip, he was involved in interactive assemblies at schools like Burnham Market, Docking Nursery, and Wells Primary, as well as being involved in concerts at the Yorke Trust, Fulmodeston Christ Church, and the Handa Theatre in Wells Maltings, in which he was the lead conductor.
While being primarily a classical composer, Edward has also recently branched out into writing film and electronic music, having re-scored the 1902 silent film Le Voyage dans la Lune, by George Melies, which is currently in the process of being recorded by members of the Purcell School. Throughout early 2023, he composed the first full arrangement of Holst The Planets suite for solo piano, which he published through the arrangement-selling website NoteWelder. This arrangement was later premiered in December 2023 at the Purcell School. Similarly, he is currently in the process of arranging Debussy Trois Nocturnes for solo piano.
He has a sideline career in web development, and is a Partner at the web development company EYP Websites, which builds professional websites for professionals and small businesses. Aside from this job, he created the sheet music website NoteWelder, and is the founder of the online debating platform CounterU, still currently in development.
Around the World
7pm ▪ April 25th 2024
Recital Room, Purcell School (UK)
Performance of Herbstlied
Edward Tait's A-Level Recital
2:25pm ▪ May 1st 2024
Recital Room, Purcell School (UK)
Performing Ravel Menuet and Debussy Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum
Minimalism with the London Sinfonietta
5:30pm ▪ May 3rd 2024
Dugdale Arts Centre, Enfield (UK)
Premiere of Rhapsody for Sextet
Knowledge Exchange Concert
7pm ▪ May 8th 2024
Recital Room, Purcell School (UK)
Premiere of Fantasy for Violin
An Easter with Purcell
3:30pm ▪ April 11th 2024
Free Church, Amersham (UK)
Performances of Prelude for Violin and Piano and Herbstlied
Playing Piano part in Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 1 and Tchaikovsky Dumka
Spring Serenade
7pm ▪ March 23rd 2024
St Andrew's Church, Chorleywood (UK)
Premiere of Crenark Hill
Spring Recital
7pm ▪ March 14th 2024
Constance Pilkington Hall, Purcell School (UK)
Premieres of Eclogue and Fantasia No. 1 for Piano
Symphonic Wind Orchestra and Choral Concert
7pm ▪ March 13th 2024
Constance Pilkington Hall, Purcell School (UK)
Singing Bass part in Carl Orff Carmina Burana
Lunchtime Concert
1:10pm ▪ March 4th 2024
Constance Pilkington Hall, Purcell School (UK)
Performance of Prelude for Violin and Piano
Composers Concert
7pm ▪ February 28th 2024
Recital Room, Purcell School (UK)
Premiere of Herbstlied
Rhapsody in Blue Centenary Concert
7pm ▪ February 12th 2024
St John's Smith Square, London (UK)
Premiere of Fleeting Manhattan
Orchestral Odyssey
5pm ▪ January 28th 2024
Grand Hall, Merchant Taylor's School (UK)
Playing Percussion II part in Mussorgsky Night on a Bare Mountain and Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade
Orchestral Odyssey
5pm ▪ December 9th 2023
Rickmansworth School, Hertfordshire (UK)
Playing Celeste part in Howard Blake The Snowman
Playing Percussion I part in Daniel Hogan A Chorleywood Guide to the Orchestra
Orchestral Odyssey
2pm ▪ December 9th 2023
Rickmansworth School, Hertfordshire (UK)
Playing Celeste part in Howard Blake The Snowman
Playing Percussion I part in Daniel Hogan A Chorleywood Guide to the Orchestra
The Planets: Reimagined
7pm ▪ December 5th 2023
Recital Room, Purcell School (UK)
Premiere of The Planets (arr. Edward Tait)
Evening Recital
7pm ▪ November 30th 2023
Recital Room, Purcell School (UK)
Premiere of Allegretto for Clarinet and Piano and Fantasia-Elegy
Chorleywood Music Presents
6:30pm ▪ August 25th 2023
St Andrew's Church, Chorleywood (UK)
Playing Timpani part in Shostakovich Jazz Suite No. 2
Classical Commissions
Composition commissions for any instrument or voice, and across what is generally considered to be the "classical" genre, from opera and ballet, to solo, chamber and orchestral work. Click here for reviews of his work.
Film & Games Scores
As well as his classical compositions, Tait writes soundtracks for short and feature films, television shows, documentaries, and games, all on commission.
Web Development
Building professional websites, through his Partnership at EYP Websites, on-demand for customers, relating to any industry, product or service.
Either just the one-off charge for building the website, or an additional monthly payment for regular maintenance and updates, based on the number of hours required. Click here to find out more.
Arranging & Copyist Work
Tait offers his skills in using the music notation software Sibelius, including the typing up of music from handwritten scores, and arranging music for any instrument or group of instruments. Over the years, his work has included typing up an entire collection of short cello pieces by Nicola Baxter, onto Sibelius, for publication. Find below a preview of his copyist work, his transcription of the Viola part of Charles Hambourg String Quartet No. 2, into a third Violin part.
Concert Management
Edward also offers his services as a freelance concert manager, having successfully planned, managed, scheduled, booked, and executed a number of concerts over the past few years. Additionally, he can also provide extra concert bsiness services, through his concert team, including poster and programme design, stewarding, stage management, filming, audio recording, and video editing.
Symphonic Transcriptions
Edward and several other composers are in the ongoing process of re-imagining and arranging the greatest classic orchestral works for the accessibility and convenience of the solo piano. They plan to have concerts roughly twice a year, with one concert having already successfully taken place.
Click the link here to listen to Edward's arrangement of Holst The Planets for solo piano.
Solo Piano
Maurice Ravel: Menuet from 'Le Tombeau de Couperin' (M. 68a)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Dumka (Op. 59)
Chamber Repertoire
Dmitri Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 1 (Op. 8)
Piano Arrangements:
Gustav Holst: Mars from 'The Planets' (arr. Edward Tait, Op. 21)
Gustav Holst: Saturn from 'The Planets' (arr. Edward Tait, Op. 21)
I always look forward to hearing Edward’s compositions, and once again I liked his Herbstlied, which was a pleasure to learn and perform.
– Yazdi Madon, who premiered his Herbstlied
Everything you write is always very thought through, it feels like everything has its place, and it’s the perfect mix of sounding fresh and contemporary while still being accessible and enjoyable to listen to!
– Tom McDonnell, who premiered his Allegretto, Fantasia-Elegy and Eclogue
Edward is a highly talented, enterprising young composer and has been an invaluable member of The Purcell School’s Composition Department for 7 years. During this time, Edward’s own work has developed and matured in numerous directions, and he has composed a great deal of fascinating original music for the many different creative projects run by the school over the years.
As a member of the sixth form, Edward is also now curating his own concerts, each having a different focus, including not only his own work, but also compositions by other students in the Composition Department. The concerts are carefully organised and very well presented and always give additional opportunities to the school’s young composers and performers.
Edward will be leaving The Purcell School in July 2024 to study in further and higher education. I am confident that he will become one of our future musical entrepreneurs and wish him all the very best for the future.
– Alison Cox OBE, Head of Composition during his time at the Purcell School
A mesmerizing and innovative metamorphosis of one of the most imposing and impenetrable works of symphonic music. Every sonority and musical gesture is preserved, yet reimagined for the piano. Intimate and austere in approach, this transcription breathes new life into a colossal masterpiece and adds a new layer of expression by reinventing it for the piano.
– Leo Lupascu, who premiered his arrangement of The Planets
Edward’s compositions have never failed to amaze me, with his works showing a nostalgic feel reminiscent of the works of great composers such as Britten, yet also showcasing a unique and individual stamp.
– Rhys Stokes, who premiered his Mo Li Hua and Fleeting Manhattan
Performing Edward’s new composition was a great opportunity for me. The orchestra did well to keep up, and I was fond of all the colours that came out of the composition! Always kept on your feet, exciting atmosphere, and I highly recommend you give it a listen.
– Joshua Gearing, on premiering Crenark Hill
Undoubtedly a very exciting upcoming compositional voice. Works with such a strong character and a unique integrity. It was an absolute pleasure for me to hear some of Edward’s early works and I will follow his future career with great interest.
– Samuel Kemp
Ed has an exciting future ahead as a composer, as demonstrated by the excellent craftsmanship shown in Crenark Hill. It’s a very clever piece, both playful and majestic, and was a pleasure to perform.
– Daniel Hogan
His music is one of the most, if not the most, interesting type of music that I have seen in my entire generation, full of creativity, imagination and emotions.
– Herman Cerisha
Chorleywood Orchestra was delighted to premiere Edward Tait’s ‘Crenark Hill’ in a recent concert. The vision of a Scottish band marching across a massive hill was represented by two contrasting themes – introduced separately then later combining and contrasting with harmonic clashes and offsets rhythms to build up to an exciting climax with a surprise ending. Crenark Hill was fun to play and very well-received by the audience. I could see it becoming one of a suite of pieces with a slightly quirky take on folk music from different regions of the UK.
– Andrew McFarlane, review on Crenark Hill