Kerry Andrew facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kerry Andrew
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| Background information | |
| Born | 5 April 1978 High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, performer and author |
Kerry Andrew (born 5 April 1978) is an English composer, performer, and author. She is known for her creative music and interesting stories. Kerry earned a PhD in Composition from the University of York. She has won four British Composer Awards, which are important honors for music creators.
Kerry has also written several books. Her first novel, Swansong, was published in 2018. She later released Skin in 2021 and We Are Together Because in 2024. Kerry was also shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award in both 2018 and 2022. In 2024, she won the Edinburgh Short Story Prize. As a performer, she creates alt-folk music under the name You Are Wolf. She is also a long-time member of the Juice Vocal Ensemble.
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Kerry Andrew's Journey
Kerry Andrew lived in Canada with her family when she was very young, from age 3 to 6. After that, her family moved back to the UK and settled in Buckinghamshire. She studied music at the University of York, where she earned her Bachelor's, Master's, and PhD degrees in Composition.
Awards and Special Projects
Kerry has received many awards for her music. She won her first British Composer Award in 2010 for a choral piece called 'Fall'. Choral music is written for a choir to sing. In 2014, she won two more awards. One was for 'Dart's Love', an opera about wild swimming. The other was for 'Woodwose', a community opera she wrote for Wigmore Hall. She even wrote the story (called the libretto) for 'Woodwose' herself. Her fourth award came in 2016 for 'who we are'. This piece was for the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and was performed at the Royal Albert Hall.
Kerry has written music for many different groups, including young people. Her piece 'No Place Like' was part of the BBC Ten Pieces scheme. This means it was performed at the BBC Proms in 2017 and 2018. She has also created large pieces for school children and non-professional groups. For example, she wrote music for 400 primary school children in London. She also composed for 500 singers from the South London Riverside Partnership.
In 2011, Kerry created a special vocal project for Art on the Underground. This project was called A Lock Is A Gate. She also wrote a piece that was performed by 25 community groups across the UK at the same time. This was for the Landmark Trust. In 2015, she wrote music for the London Sinfonietta to support the National Health Service. This piece included recordings of 60 people, including actor Michael Sheen. In 2019, she composed the music for the play Rutherford and Son at the National Theatre.
International Work
In 2016, Kerry was a Musician in Residence in China. This was part of a program by the British Council and PRS for Music Foundation. She spent five weeks in the Henan Province. While there, she created new songs that mixed rock music with traditional Chinese sounds. These songs were inspired by stories about foxes in folklore.
Published Music
Kerry's choral music has been published by Faber Music and Oxford University Press. Some of her works are even included in popular carol books like Carols for Choirs. Her vocal trio piece, The Song of Doves, was performed at the national memorial service for the victims of the 7 July 2005 London bombings. This performance was broadcast live on the BBC.
Her composition Dusk Songs was recorded by The Ebor Singers and released in 2007. Her music has also been released on labels like Naxos and Nonclassical. Famous groups like the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and The Hilliard Ensemble have performed her choral pieces.
Performing as a Musician
Kerry performs with the vocal trio Juice Vocal Ensemble. They have released two albums on the Nonclassical label. These albums feature their own music and a collaborative album with David Thomas Broughton. They have also worked with other artists like Anna Meredith and Gavin Bryars.
She also performs alt-folk music under the name You Are Wolf. Her first album, Hawk to the Hunting Gone (2014), explored British birds and folklore. Her second album, Keld (2018), was chosen as a top folk album by fRoots magazine and The Guardian. She has worked with authors Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. They set texts from their book The Lost Words to music. Her third album, hare // hunter // moth // ghost (2023), was also named The Guardian's Folk Album of the Month. In 2024, she collaborated with Hayden Thorpe and Robert Macfarlane on their album Ness.
From 2007 to 2018, Kerry was a multi-instrumentalist in the band DOLLYman. She also sang with Laura Cole's jazz group, Metamorphic, from 2007 to 2017.
Media Appearances
Kerry sometimes presents on BBC Radio 3's The New Music Show. She has also been a guest on BBC Radio 3 and 4 many times. She was the Chair of the Judges for BBC Young Musician in 2018.
Writing Career
Besides music, Kerry writes stories and articles. She has written librettos for her own music-theatre works. She has also written articles for The Guardian. Her first short story was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014. Her first novel, Swansong, was published in 2018. She was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award in 2018 for her story 'To Belong To'. This story was also broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
She was shortlisted again in 2022 for her short story 'And the moon descends on the temple that was'. Her second novel, SKIN, came out in 2021. It was chosen as one of Attitude Magazine's "Game-changing novels of the last 30 Years" in 2024. Her third novel, We Are Together Because, was published in 2024. She won the Edinburgh Short Story Prize in 2024 for her story, 'The Coffin Path'.
Discography
Juice Vocal Ensemble
- Songspin (2010), Nonclassical
- Laid Bare: Love Songs (2014), Nonclassical
- Sliding the Same Way with David Thomas Broughton (2014), Song by Toad
- Snow Queens (2018), Resonus Classics
You Are Wolf
- hunting little songs, EP (2010), Mulberry House
- Hawk to the Hunting Gone, (2014), Stone Tape
- Keld, (2018), Firecrest
- hare // hunter // moth // ghost (2024), Firecrest
Choral
- Dusksongs, The Ebor Singers (2007), Boreas Music
- York Mass, The Ebor Singers, (2009), Boreas Music
DOLLYman
- DOLLYman (2010), self-release
- Have Yourself a DOLLY DOLLY Christmas (2013), self-release
- Ponderous Skiffle Rubbish (2015), self-release
Metamorphic
- The Rock Between (2011), F-ire
- Coalescence (2013), F-ire
Selected publications
