Biographical Info

Jeremy Pike studied violin and piano at the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music whilst taking composition lessons with Christopher Finzi, Bryan Kelly and Sir Lennox Berkeley. He was awarded a scholarship to study Music at King’s College, Cambridge, in 1973, studying composition with Gordon Crosse. After a postgraduate year studying composition, with Paul Patterson, and conducting at the RAM he won a Polish government scholarship, enabling him to study with the celebrated composer Henryk Górecki at the Katowice Academy of Music.

In 1998 he was awarded a Churchill Fellowship for research into the application of new technology to the arts, based at Stanford University in the USA and at IRCAM in Paris. He has held the position of Director of Contemporary Music at Warwick University, subsequently joining the composition faculty of the RAM, where he directed the electro-acoustic music studios. He was made an Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 1990 and gained a PhD from London University in 2000. He was appointed to the staff of Chetham’s School of Music in 1989 where he is Head of Composition.

His extensive list of compositions comprises orchestral, chamber and vocal music, including Missa Brevis commissioned by Warwick University, a bassoon concerto for Graham Salvage & the RNCM New Ensemble and The Crossing Point, premièred by the City of London Sinfonia in 2005. His fifth string quartet was runner up for the prestigious Carl Maria von Weber International Composers’ Competition in 1985. Recent performances of his music have included Processions for violin and piano, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 from the Wigmore Hall, Praesagium and Aphelion, both broadcast on BBC Radio 3 from the Bridgewater Hall, Cascades for violin and harpsichord, premièred in Hong Kong with broadcasts on national radio RTHK4, as well as A Forsaken Garden and The Cat and the Moon commissioned for the 2017 and 2018 William Alwyn Festivals. He has arranged music for performance by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

CD recordings of his music include Three Pieces for Piano performed by Jonathan Middleton and recently broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Processions for violin and piano and Closed Circuit for clarinet, piano and live electronics. In 2020 Divine Art Records released The Cat and the Moon­, performed by the soprano Lesley-Jane Rogers, recorderist John Turner and mixed ensemble.

He is also active as a pianist, giving recitals with his daughter, violinist Jennifer Pike, including performances on BBC Radio 3.

Jeremy will teach the composition and beginner composition courses on the summer school.