Paul Adrian Rooke (Musical Director) was born in 1945 in Peterborough and educated at Bishop's Stortford College and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Here he read for an Honours degree in Music, studying with Peter Tranchell, Phillip Radcliffe, George Guest and Raymond Leppard. After graduating he spent 36 years teaching music in secondary schools, first at The Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe and then as Director of Music at Hatfield School. From 1977 until 2000 he was Director of Music at Hitchin Girls' School. He retired from teaching in 2002 and established himself as a free-lance musical originator and editor. In January 2004 he completed a transcription onto computer from the composer's manuscript of the music drama, The Queen of Cornwall by Rutland Boughton, commissioned by The Rutland Boughton Music Trust. He then transcribed and edited Boughton's Reunion Variations and String Quartet No. 2 ('From the Welsh Hills').  Having last year edited Boughton's Oliver Cromwell Symphony and finished the composition of his own Symphony No. 2 in C, both of which were premièred in November 2005 to great acclaim. Such was the interest generated by this concert that the Oliver Cromwell Symphony was recorded onto CD by the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Dr Vernon Handley, with Roderick Williams as Baritone soloist. This recording was issued on the Dutton label early in 2007 and has sold well.

Meanwhile, Paul was originating music for Volumes 37 (Music for Violin) and 4 (Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf) for the Elgar Complete Edition. Volume 37 was published on2 June 2007, the 150th anniversary of Elgar's birth. Volume 4 was published in December 2007.

In January 2007, together with some business partners, Paul established a publishing firm, ElgarWorks, the main aim of which is to produce musical materials to enable performances of Elgar's music. These consist of vocal scores, full scores and instrumental parts of Elgar's music. So far, scores so produced have been used for performances in Solihull, Coventry, Oundle, Worcester (for the 2007 Three Choirs Festival) and Portland, Maine in the United States of America. The quality of the scores and parts has been most favourably commented upon by conductors, singers and instrumentalists alike.

In 2007 Paul completed his performing editions of Three Movements for Pianoforte Trio and Two Polonaises by Elgar. The first of the trio movements had been left 50% unfinished at Elgar's death; the other two needed extensive editing and some re-composition to enable them to be performed. Their first performance was given on 6 June 2007 in St Mary's Church, Rickmansworth. The Two Polonaises, also left incomplete at Elgar's death, were first performed in the same church on 19 September 2007. The Three Movements for Pinaoforte Trio have now been professionally recorded by The Fibonacci Sequence and appear on the Dutton Epoch label: CDLX 7220

Paul has conducted and composed from his student days.   The list of compositions includes various carols and solo songs as well as the song-cycles Crimson Joy, A Memory for Darkness, When I Was in Love with You and The DTs.   There is also a String Trio, a Flute Concerto, the opera The Fairy Feller's Masterstroke, Jubilee Overture (written to celebrate the diamond jubilee of Hitchin Concert Orchestra in 1989) and Ariel and Caliban (a Suite for Wind and Percussion commissioned in 1990 by North Hertfordshire Youth Orchestra). His Symphony No. 1 in D was given its première by Hitchin Symphony Orchestra in November 2001 and was very favourably received. A commission by Stevenage Choral Society for the Stevenage Jubilee Arts Festival of a choral work involving children's choir, adult choir and orchestra resulted in The Selfish Giant. This was given its première at The Gordon Craig Theatre (Stevenage) by Kingshott School Chamber Choir, Stevenage Choral Society and Hitchin Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Robin Osterley. For the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Stevenage Male Voice Choir, Paul composed I am the Song, a Cantata for Speaker, Solo Baritone, Male Voice Choir and Orchestra. This was first performed in St Mary's Church, Hitchin by Roger Baldwin (Speaker), Ian Boughton (Solo Baritone), Stevenage Male Voice Choir and Hitchin Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer. Paul is currently working on a Saxophone Concerto and plans soon to start his Symphony No. 3

In April 1984 Paul conducted in the presence of the composer a most successful production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by John McCabe. The following September he became Conductor of Hitchin Concert Orchestra (now Hitchin Symphony Orchestra) and now has a wide repertoire of 20th century British pieces and some adventurous modern works by Jeremy Aknai, Malcolm Arnold, Gordon Crosse, Douglas Coombes, John McCabe, Martin Vishnik - and himself. 

In the latter half of 2004 Paul deputised on a number of occasions as conductor of Stevenage Male Voice Choir when its permanent conductor, Martin Hurrell, was unable to do so because of commitments with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. When Martin later decided to resign as conductor of the choir, Paul was invited to become its permanent conductor with effect from January 2005. He was delighted to accept.  

Paul has also recently (2006) been elected Music Adviser to The Rutland Boughton Music Trust. Amongst his first duties in that capacity was the attendance at the recording sessions in Watford Colosseum of Boughton's Oliver Cromwell Symphony (see above).  In the summer of 2007, he was present at a subsequent recording in Watford Colosseum, this time of some of Boughton's Songs of the English, again using a score and orchestral parts which Paul had prepared.

Paul is delighted that his own web site, designed by his son Nicholas of Moondog Designs, appeared on the internet in November 2001 and now regularly has 150 'hits' per month. For those interested, the address is:  

www.pauladrianrooke.com