Robert Tapsfield M.A.(Cantab)
Robert was born in Ramsgate, Kent in 1947 and sang as a boy chorister in the choir of Canterbury Cathedral. He began training as an organist there with Dr Sydney Campbell (as soon as his feet would reach the pedals!) before going to Clifton College as a Music Scholar from 1959-66, studying organ there with Evan Prentice; he then became Organ Scholar of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge 1966-69 under the directorship of Peter Tranchell.

On leaving university, he became interested in commercial and theatre music, and, after two world cruises on P & O's Canberra as the cocktail pianist, he became Principal Conductor of Jesus Christ, Superstar for the last eighteen months of its original West End run. During that time he was also Musical Director of Joe Solley's Great American Backstage Musical and made a brief appearance as an atomic scientist/pianist (!) in BBCTV's Oppenheimer series, starring Sam Waterston.

He was Principal Conductor of Superstar's subsequent national tour, leaving this at the invitation of the late Anthony Bowles to take the same job on Tony Macaulay and Dick Vosburgh's musical Windy City. On the closure of this show, he moved to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance as Deputy Musical Director, becoming Musical Director of its three subsequent tours. During this time, he worked as a keyboard player on Jerry Goldsmith's film scores for Under Attack and Supergirl, and took over from Howard Goodall on Rowan Atkinson's show at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

Two productions at Windsor's Theatre Royal, Nola York's Love Match and Ned Sherrin's Sloane Ranger Revue, together with the revival of Tom Stoppard's Jumpers at the Aldwych, were followed by the Musical Directorship of the RSC's 1986 production of Kiss Me, Kate with renowned Broadway choreographer Ron Field and RSC director Adrian Noble. After the UK/Scandinavia tour of Chess as Deputy Musical Director in 1990 came eighteen months' work on the Zürich production of Cats in various guises (Deputy MD, MD and all three keyboard parts).

Robert was involved with Noel Gay's Me and My Girl from its inception at the Leicester Haymarket through its West End run and was the Assistant Musical Director for two years of its UK tour. He was the keyboard player in the revival of the musical She Loves Me at the Savoy; one of the piano duo in Ned Sherrin's revival of Julian Slade's Salad Days; Deputy Musical Director of the UK tour of Gershwin's Crazy for You, Sam Mendes' production of Sondheim's Company at the Donmar Warehouse and Cy Coleman's Sweet Charity at the Victoria Palace. Other keyboard work has included Sweeney Todd, Summer Holiday, Doctor Doolittle, Chicago (with accordion!), West Side Story, The Lion King and Gershwin's My One and Only at Chichester Festival Theatre and the West End; also Opera Box's productions of The Pearl Fishers and Madam Butterfly. He has accompanied artists as diverse as the late Sir Harry Secombe (on ITV's Highway and his Welsh album Songs of my Homeland), Larry Adler and José Carreras, whom he prepared for his album with Sir George Martin of Andrew Lloyd Webber songs.

Robert began work in London as a copyist for the BBC Radio Orchestra, finally achieving an ambition to write for it when he conducted for Radio 2's Round Midnight nearly twenty years later - just in time for it to be disbanded!

He has now written orchestrations for Top C's and Tiaras and Vivian Ellis' 90th birthday commemoration programme, both for Harry Rabinowitz / Channel 4; Hollywood Cavalcade, Friday Night is Music Night (for various artists) and Lorna Dallas' 6-part series My Musical World for Alan Boyd/ Radio 2; for the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield's production of Annie, the UK tour of Salad Days and, most recently, Janie Dee's one-woman show at the Donmar Warehouse.

His arrangement of the main title from Gone with the Wind was played for the opening night of the Aldeburgh Festival by the Radio Orchestra; and, since the sad demise of the orchestra itself, his orchestrations continue to be borrowed from the BBC's library for various freelance light music concerts.

Robert has remained as active in the organ field as possible; he was the organist of St Vedast, Foster Lane in the City for two years, during which time he researched and conducted Handel's Messiah with Anthony Bowles' Actors' Choir at St Paul's Covent Garden and also performed Messiaen's La Nativité du Seigneur complete at St Dunstan-in-the-West, Fleet Street.

He is now the Assistant Organist at St Clement's in Sandwich and the rehearsal pianist for the Deal & Walmer Handelian Society. On the "lighter" side, he is an enthusiastic member of the Cinema Organ Society and was recorded for Radio 2's original series of The Organist Entertains at the Wurlitzer of the Granada, Kingston, introduced by the late Robin Richmond. He has also played the gigantic "Duchess" Compton theatre organ at the Odeon, Leicester Square for the London Film Festival and the premières of An Ideal Husband, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. and, most recently, You, Me and Dupree.

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