Biography
“…he was awarded the Hecht and Alchin prize for Composition”
Daryl gave his first performance at the age of three, and has been performing ever since. He achieved many awards throughout his musical education, including the Silver Medal for Grade 8 Violin. At the Royal College of Music, he studied Violin with Maria Lidka, Piano with Phyllis Sellick, Conducting with John Forster and Composition with Adrian Cruft, and was awarded the Hecht and Alchin prize for Composition during his final year of study.
“…awarded the First Silver Medal by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for obtaining the highest mark in the world”
His LGSM Diploma recital was awarded the First Silver Medal for obtaining the highest mark in the world during that session for any instrumental recital, and he was subsequently appointed Professor of Violin. During this period Daryl also worked as a Lecturer in Music at Thurrock Technical College, as well as a freelance Violinist, Pianist and Conductor with many orchestras.
Daryl began orchestrating and arranging during his tenure as Principal Conductor for the Symphonia Academica and also Conductor and Principal Pianist with English National Ballet. Commissions included arrangements of The Sanguine Fan, Aureole and a special orchestration of Happy Birthday for the 80th birthday of Nicholas Beriossof.
“Daryl joined the English National Ballet as Company Pianist, and in 1990 was promoted to Principal Pianist and Conductor”
In 1992, Daryl began Guest Conducting for ENB, touring domestically and internationally. He was also invited to be the Principal Conductor for London City Ballet, and the following year was promoted to Music Director, continuing to guest conduct with many other companies and orchestras, including English National Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, and the London Concert Orchestra.
Daryl arranged a series of reduced orchestrations of popular ballets for London City Ballet, English National Ballet and Matthew Bourne's "Adventures in Motion Pictures". His orchestration of Prokofieff’s Cinderella, produced in London’s West End, later transferred to Los Angeles' Ahmenson Theater, where Daryl was asked to be Music Director and Principal Conductor.
“He was also the orchestrator and Music Producer for The Little Vampire which won the composers the “Best Newcomers Award for 2000”.”
In 1998 Daryl wrote additional music, orchestrations and conducted sessions for several films, including Arabian Nights (Hallmark) for the BAFTA winning composer Richard Harvey, and Oliver Twist (ITV) for the BAFTA nominated composer Paul Pritchard. He also orchestrated and produced the music for The Little Vampire, which won the composers the “Best Newcomers Award for 2000”.
Subsequently Daryl orchestrated various films for Nicholas Hooper, including The Young Visiters and Prime Suspect: The Final Act, both of which won a BAFTA for best original music. He also worked as conductor and orchestrator on many production music albums for composers such as Richard Harvey, Henry Jackman, and Paul Pritchard.
“Arrangements and compositions for … Myleene Klass … nominated for a Brit award.”
Daryl was also invited to contribute his own music to albums for Fireworks Music, West One Music and KPM Music, and these tracks have proved to be very successful. They are licensed worldwide for programmes and commercials as high profile as Sex in the City (HBO), Love Child (ITV), Chuck (NBC), Häagen Dazs, White Collar (USA Network) and Desperate Housewives (ABC).
Many of his compositions have featured on both BBC Radio 2 and 3, being performed by the London Salon Ensemble and the BBC Concert Orchestra. Daryl’s own film scores include Sacred Journey (2001) and In Search of an Impotent Man (2002) as well as numerous shorts that have been screened worldwide.
“…composed all the orchestrations for … Sky News channel”
Arrangements and compositions for Classical Crossover and Pop albums include Summer Watson, Finbar Furie, Dominic Miller, Chage & Aska (Japan), Darius Campbell, and Myleene Klass' album Moving On, which reached No. 2 in the charts and was nominated for a Brit award. From this album the track Toccata was included in the Best Ever Classical CD compilation album of 2004, which sold almost half a million copies, and was CD of the month for Classic FM. Daryl also provided arrangements for the Italian pop singer Cesare Cremonini (Italy), whose album Magesse reached No. 4 in the Italian charts in 2005.
“…orchestrator and conductor with … Arcade Fire and McFly”
Daryl provided arrangements for Mastercard, Citroën and Virgin Trains commercials and composed all the orchestrations for the re-branding of the Sky News channel. In 2006 Daryl was commissioned by KPM/EMI to write a new double album for large orchestra and electronic instruments, recorded at Abbey Road Studio 1. He also provided a new orchestration of Giselle for English National Ballet, which was performed to great acclaim on their Mid-Scale tour. He worked as orchestrator and conductor with various contemporary bands, such as Arcade Fire and McFly's album, Motion in the Ocean.
“…wrote the score for Angelina Ballerina's Star Performance”
In 2007 Daryl was commissioned to orchestrate and arrange the music for English National Ballet’s exciting new children’s ballet Angelina’s Star Performance, which had its World Premiere in September 2007. There were also various other commissions, including the score for the short film Hourglass, several commercials and a new piece for the London Salon Ensemble, which was performed at the Royal Festival Hall in December.
In 2008, Daryl recorded the score for Angelina Ballerina’s Star Performance for a commercial DVD release. He completed another commission for the London Salon Ensemble, this time to celebrate English National Ballet’s return to the Royal Festival Hall.
“orchestrator for … Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
He worked as orchestrator for the feature films Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Warner Brothers) and Bedtime Stories (Disney). He also composed the Idents for Bailey’s sponsorship of Film on 4 and these have been shown to great critical acclaim on Channel 4, E4 and Film4 as well as a theatrical cinema release.
Daryl continues writing very successful production music for his production company, Maestro Music UK. Many of the albums, such as Life On Earth and Family Fantasy Adventure have been awarded APM’s Editor’s Pick.