Paul Reade was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 composer. Born in Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, he studied at the Royal Academy of Music

Royal Academy of Music

The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...

 and worked at English National Opera

English National Opera

English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...

 as a repetiteur

Répétiteur

Répétiteur , repetitore , or Korrepetitor / Repetitor , originally from the French verb répéter meaning "to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse"....

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Reade was active as a composer for television, with credits including the series The Victorian Kitchen Garden

The Victorian Kitchen Garden

The Victorian Kitchen Garden was a 13-part television series produced in 1987 by Jennifer Davies for BBC2. It recreated a kitchen garden of the Victorian era at Chilton Foliat in Wiltshire, although at the time the series was made Chilton Foliat was in the county of Berkshire...

(published in various arrangements, this music continues to be played in recitals and music examinations). He arranged the Beethoven extracts heard by millions of children in the surreal animated series 'Ludwig'; his other children's television credits include The Flumps

The Flumps

The Flumps is a children's programme which was produced in 1976 by David Yates. It was broadcast by the BBC many times from 1977 to 1988.-Overview:...

. He was also the composer, with Tim Gibson, of the theme music for the Antiques Roadshow

Antiques Roadshow

Antiques Roadshow is a British television show in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom to appraise antiques brought in by local people. It has been running since 1979...

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Reade eventually turned to ballet

Ballet

Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...

; among the latter works he scored were Hobson's Choice in 1989 (choreographed

Choreography

Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...

 by David Bintley

David Bintley

David Bintley, CBE, is a former English ballet dancer, the current artistic director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and co-artistic director of the New National Theatre Tokyo ballet company.- About :...

 from the eponymous play), and 1996's Far from the Madding Crowd (after the work

Far from the Madding Crowd

Far from the Madding Crowd is Thomas Hardy's fourth novel and his first major literary success. It originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine, where it gained a wide readership. Critical notices were plentiful and mostly positive...

 by Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...

). Hobson's Choice has been recorded by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia

Royal Ballet Sinfonia

The Royal Ballet Sinfonia is the Orchestra of Birmingham Royal Ballet.The Sinfonia appears with Birmingham Royal Ballet in its home town, in London and around the UK, and frequently appears with The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House and on tour...

 and released on ASV Records

ASV Records

ASV Records is a London-based record label set up by Harley Usill, founder of Argo Records, Decca producer and former Argo General Manager, Kevin Daly, and producer Jack Boyce, after Argo's parent company Decca was bought by Polygram in 1980. ASV stands for "Academy Sound and Vision"...

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Paul Reade's Chants du Roussillon were recorded by the prominent soprano, Virginia Kerr

Virginia Kerr

Virginia Kerr is a prominent Irish soprano who appears frequently in concerts, opera, oratorio and recitals.She has sung with many of the world's leading orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, The Hallé and the Royal...

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