Bob Bickerton

After emigrating to New Zealand from Birmingham in 1974, Bob joined the Chamber Music Federation in Dunedin, from which he was appointed general manager of the Southern Sinfonia. In the late 1980s he took up the role as the director of the Nelson School of Music. Bob was instrumental in the development of the Adam Chamber Music Festival of which he is currently the manager. He founded a number of Celtic music associations and he has toured primary schools around the country with his educational music show. One of his greatest achievements was performing to more than 300,000 children over the last 20 years, he said.

"If only one kid got into music because of what I was doing then it'd be worthwhile. That's what it's about."

"I gave up music in the third form, I couldn't stand it it was just awful, but that's more of a reflection on the music teaching in schools in England at that stage than of my desire to play music."

He remained an avid music listener throughout his teens and took inspiration from any genre he could get his hands on.

As well as considerable engineering experience, Bob has developed cutting edge recording facilities to provide outstanding sonic quality which has been critically accliamed in the media. Video production has been a natural extension to Bob's content creation.

In the collaborative exhibitions along with Brian Flintoff and Robin Slow, Bob plays Taonga Puoro, produces the audio and video for the multimedia video and dvd component and creates the book which accompanies the exhibitions.

In recognition of more than 40 years involvement in the music scene and for his long standing contribution, Bob was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

You can learn more about Bobs work by visiting his website at http://www.bickerton.co.nz