| Date of Birth: | 25 February 1942 |
| Place of Birth: | Schenectady, New York, USA |
| Occupation: | Archer (Tom) Endrich is an independent composer now living and working in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England. He lives with his wife, Liz, and has two talented stepsons and three wonderful grandchildren. |
The family moved to Syracuse, New York when he was 6 months old. His parents were very musical, and his father was well-known as a tenor soloist in the choir of Assumption Church. Early studies in piano were with Miss Richards and Mrs. Price, and later with James Gardner. He began composing while in high school at Christian Brothers Academy.
Studies in philosophy (BA Summa cum Laude 1965, St. Hyacinth College, Mass.), with the emphasis on existential themes and an interest in creativity. During this time, his attention became increasingly focused on music composition.
He attended summer schools at Peabody Conservatory studying music history, theory and composition with Louis Cheslock and Stefan Grové.
At Union College, Schenectady, New York, he studied composition with composer/conductor Edgar Curtis, earning a Masters degree in Teaching (MAT). During this period he had a special opportunity to work closely with Edgar and his composition students. Edgar's profound humanity, passionate understanding of musical form and love of composition have remained life-long inspirations.
He then went to the University of York, England, where he studied electronic music with Richard Orton, composition with Bernard Rands, and was constantly inspired by the books, methods and lectures of Professor Wilfrid Mellors. While studying at York, he developed an individual style rooted in the study of melody, finding particular inspiration in Arabic maqam.
He received the orchestral commission for 1974, for which he wrote Amoeba, a study in the pursuit of personal identity, with 2 conductors, one of whom has an acting/speaking role, soprano soloist, and an orchestra which speaks and sings as well as plays.
He was active as a composer/performer in the experimental music theatre group formed at the University by Bernard Rands, working with composers Roger Marsh, Steve Stanton, Jonty Harrison and vocalist Melody Lovelace. He wrote the music theatre piece Savari II for this group, and performed in it as the 'overseer', a vocal role.
He graduated in 1975 with a Ph.D. in composition.
The focus for the next 10 years was on composition, receiving commissions from Yorkshire Arts (Lift-Off), Merseyside Arts (Sonata a Due) and Midlands Arts (Corona Quintet). He is self-employed, has worked as a music editor and copyist for Edition Eulenburg and Edition Kunzelmann, and has taught part time at Bingley College of Further Education, The University of York, Sheffield Polytechnic, and the Open University. In all of these courses, practical projects were completed by the students.
During 1976 and 1977 he formed his own music theatre group and presented concerts at the Edinburgh Fringe during the summers of both those years, featuring his Savari II and The Burial of the Moon.
He was active in the local composer/performer organisation SOUNDPOOL for which he wrote several compositions, including Cartoon for instrumental ensemble. He then joined with colleagues in York to form INTERFACE, which was concerned with discussing and performing electroacoustic music. With the advent of the first personal computers, the members of this group became rapidly and increasingly involved with computer programming for music.
The latter led to the formation of The Composers' Desktop Project in 1986, which developed one of the world's first computer music systems for direct-to-disk recording and sound processing. CDP: http://www.composersdesktop.com.
'CDP' has been set up as an independent network of composers and programmers. The scope of its sound design software and its membership have increased steadily over the past 15 years. Archer has served as its Coordinator since 1987. He now enjoys the use of the CDP System for his own compositional activites, while continuing his work for the Project. During the past 3 years, he has completed a 30 minute soundscape, Crossing the Dark Rift, to accompany an exhibition of fabric art by Pat Warrington, The Mystery of the Maya.
A Millennium Award in the Autumn of 2002 has led to a year's work preparing materials for and running a variety of free workshops and classes on sound design for the community in the Wiltshire area.