He played as a pianist with the local Jimmy Carr Orchestra before leaving Grantham for National Service in 1954 with the Royal Artillery Band.
As a jazz harpist he has worked with many jazz musicians (including John Dankworth, Tubby Hayes, Zoot Sims and Kenny Wheeler),[3] and also on film, television and pop music sessions and projects, such as harp on The Incredible String Band's The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, and the Chris Rea single Every Beat of My Heart.
His 1999 CD Women Write Music with the Foundation Philharmonic Orchestra includes performances of works by Doreen Carwithen, Elizabeth Maconchy, Barbara Kolb and Nicola LeFanu.
[5] As a concert composer his own works include the Divertimento for Strings (premiered at the Wigmore Hall in 1976),[6] and a Requiem (1996) as well as chamber music[7] and songs for soprano and harp.
[9] He has conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre de Paris, and conducted film scores such as Sun Child (1988, his own music), and films with music composed by Rachel Portman, including Emma (1996), The Cider House Rules (1999), Chocolat (2000), Oliver Twist (2005) and Never Let Me Go (2010).