Gary Carpenter studied composition at the RCM London with Humphrey Searle, Thea Musgrave and John Lambert and participated in master classes with Nadia Boulanger. He has lived in Holland and Germany and has written operas, musicals (including The Streets Of London [Her Majesty’s Theatre, London 1981] and Goodnight Mister Tom – The Musical), ballets (mainly for Nederlands Dans Theater), a radio music-drama (The One Alone with Iris Murdoch) and much concert music. Musical director and/or arranger-orchestrator on many stage shows and films (including The Wicker Man [1972]), his Azaleas for harp trio received a 2006 British Composer Award in the chamber category. CDs include SET (orchestral works) and Die Flimmerkiste (chamber works).

Recent works include Fred and Ginger (London LSO, Daniel Harding), SET (Iain Ballamy (tenor sax), BBC PO, HK Gruber] and Dadaville (BBC SO, Sakari Oramo) for The First Night of the Proms (2015). His orchestral work Willie Stock was premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival 2016 with the BBCSO conducted by Oliver Knussen. Ghost Songs for junior choir and orchestra (RSNO/CBSO/RLPO/Basque National Orchestra joint commission) was premiered in Scotland (November 2018) and Mondrian (Harpsichord Concerto) for Mahan Esfahani and Ensemble 10/10 in Liverpool (March 2019). Gary was the RLPO’s Composer in Association (2018-19), lectures at the Royal Academy of Music, London and holds a professorship at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. Until 2021, he was a Director of the Ivors Academy.