Bryan Kelly was born in Oxford in 1934. He studied at the Royal College of Music with Gordon Jacob and Herbert Howells, then with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. After some years on the staff of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, he was appointed to a post at the Royal College of Music in 1963, and taught there for twenty-two years. One year was spent in Washington DC, teaching at the American University. During a subsequent spell of livingin Umbria, he taught and gave recitals in Rome, as well as conducting the United Nations Choir. More recently, he has developed a career in Egypt as accompanist and teacher of orchestration, has worked at the Cairo Opera and taken part in projects sponsored by the American University in Cairo. Recent compositions include a forty-minute cantata, 'Look, Stranger at this Island' (a Millennium commission); 'Don Quixote', a suite for saxophone and piano; and 'Umbrian Variations', for eight cellos. Bryan Kelly currently divides his time between France, the UK and the Middle East.