Fudge, Roland

Composer

b Bristol 1947. Bristol Univ (BMus with Theology, 1968); RAM 1968–71 (ARCM). He began composing at 15; from 1970 to 1975 he played in the Sartori String Quartet based in London, Sussex Univ, then Lancaster Univ; in 1975 he became a fully believing Christian. He gave up a performing career to give time for his job as a violin teacher while also Director of Music at St Thomas’ Ch, Lancaster. He now teaches music at Casterton Sch (nr Kirkby Lonsdale), having learned to love teaching which he formerly found difficult. He has had a music ministry at various churches and currently belongs to Sedbergh Christian Centre, part of the Lakes Christian Centre family of churches. Since the mid-1990s he has returned to serious composing, with ‘a continuous stream of all kinds of music’ (RF), from large-scale orchestral work to solo violin meditations on hymn tunes; ‘much, but not all, of my music has a strongly Christian theme’. This includes Narnian Genesis (concerto for trombone and orchestra), Whitehaven Psalms (adult and children’s choir and orch) and Prince of Peace (choir, soloists, orch). Earlier work appeared in 1986 in Songifts (in collaboration with Jeanne Harper and including Kingsway recordings), MP (13 arrangements in the first 100 items, 1990 edn) and Spring Harvest collections. 9 items feature in the final ‘Songs and Choruses’ section of CH (2004 edn) and 3 in the Scottish Church Hymnary 4th edn. He was a joint editor of MP’s 1st edn in 1983. He lives at Austwick, nr Settle, N Yorks. Nos.286*, 565*, 757*.