Michael James Regan
Composer - Teacher - Accompanist
Michael James Regan was born in Ruislip, West London, in 1947 , was educated at Gunnersbury Catholic Grammar School and later studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. His teachers there included Peter Wishart, Buxton Orr, Dennis Dance and Patric Standford. He later taught theory and composition at the London College of Music until 1997. Michael gained the Durham B. Mus. degree in 1973 and the M.Mus. degree in Composition [with distinction] from the University of West London in 1997. From that year, as well as teaching, he was busy examining for LCM examinations in the U.K., Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. After retiring from examining in 2015 he has devoted more time to composition and teaching piano and theory in private practice. He is a member of PRS, ISM, and theLondon Composers' Forum
Michael regards all of his activities as equally interesting and stimulating. He writes:
“As a teacher, my aims are to make the lessons as interesting as possible while also achieving some progress at each lesson. As an examiner, my work has, apart from taking me to many cities and towns in the United Kingdom, left me with a lasting affection for the far-eastern nations of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore which I have visited numerous times.
And, as a composer, after going through a “classical” phase (c.2000 – 2015) during which I wrote a number of substantial pieces including string quartets, symphonies and other instrumental works in a more or less traditional style, followed by a brief interval of involvement in 12-tone serial technique, there was a radical move away from all this c.2016 to a much-simplified style in a minimalist idiom. I feel that my work over the past 7 years would be out of place in the concert hall and more suited to smaller and more intimate settings.
This more recent work consists of numerous short pieces, mostly for piano or small ensembles, using whatever material I can find, some of it commonplace such as scales, major/minor chord progressions, hymn-tunes, folksongs, together with themes from medieval music and jazz. But, trying to make something of interest out of all this."
Performances of compositions by Michael Regan have been given by Anna Bell [flute], The London Myriad Ensemble, The London Contemporary Chamber Orchestra, Janet Oates [voice], The Konvalia Quartet, Total Brass, Sharon Moloney [flute] & Catherine Herriott [piano], Opal Flutes, Derek Foster [vibraphone & piano], Felicity Hayward [mezzo-soprano], Mark Wilson, Neil Crossland, the Regency Ensemble, the Marsyas Trio and the piano trio Trilogy.
Published works
Publishers include Schott, Stainer & Bell, Duettino, Spartan Press, Animus, Emerson Edition, Piccolo Press, Composers Library, Forton Music, etc.
In addition:
A large selection of works is available on scoreexchange.com, musicaneo.com, arrangeme.com and a sample of work may be listened to on https://soundcloud.com/user-869643521
Academic Appointments
1990 -2000 Tutor in piano & theory Watford School of Music
1975-1997 Tutor in theory and composition London College of Music
1997 -2015 Examiner in music [practical & theoretical] LCME
2003 -2013 Tutor in piano & theory for Kingston Music & Arts Service [SW London]
2015 Adjudicator 2nd Malaysian Festival of Music & Arts Kuala Lumpur
2015 - Tutor and co-principal Regan School of Music [SW London]
MJR 08/20