Composer

Gregory began composing at a young age but it was studying ‘12-note music’ with Hanns Jelinek, a former pupil of Schoenberg in Vienna which became the turning point in his future direction. Subsequently he read music at Magdalen College, Oxford. Whilst at Oxford he studied under Egon Wellesz, another former pupil of Schoenberg, and his father, the acclaimed choral conductor and composer Bernard Rose. It was this combination of the English Choral Tradition, mixed with the ideas of the Second Viennese School, which would prove to be a huge influence on his compositions. His enthusiasm for the avant garde of the 1960s and 70s also played a major part.

Gregory has composed orchestral, instrumental and choral music. For orchestra and ensemble notable pieces include Birthday Ode for Aaron Copland, Violin Concerto, Tapiola Sunrise and Suite pour Cordes. His music-theatre piece Danse macabre, was described as “…an absorbing musical masterpiece”, and was released on a much acclaimed CD in 2015. His most recent work, Boudica, for percussion and piano (George Barton and Siwan Rhys) was premiered at the Presteigne Festival in August 2019 and his Violin Concerto was recorded in Autumn 2019 for release in 2020.

In the choral field Gregory has composed 20 masses to date and 10 song cycles as well as much other sacred and secular music. His Missa Sancta Pauli Apostoli won a British Composer Award in 2006 while in 2018 a CD was released of his selected choral music with the Latvian Radio Choir. This included It’s snowing, Dum transisset, and Stabat Mater. His motet, Ut queant laxis, was premiered on October 30th 2019, in the chapel of Merton College, Oxford by the Chapel Choir under Benjamin Nicholas and in 2020 his song cycle Sigiri Mirror Wall for baritone and piano will receive its premiere.

Gregory was composer-in-residence at Texas Wesleyan University, USA, in 2014 & 2015, and the Southwestern Oklahoma State University in April 2016.

He is a house composer for the Berlin publishing house of Verlag Neue Musik. Other publishers include OUP, Boosey & Hawkes, Novello and Colla Voce Music.