Darryl  Way

At age 16 won a scholarship to Dartington College of Arts to study violin. At 18 turned down a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music to study under Antonio Brosa at the Royal College of Music. Brosa himself was a pupil of Sarasate, the 19th century virtuoso violinist and composer. After leaving college he teamed up with Francis Monkman, a prize winning harpsichordist and organist from the Royal Academy of Music to form the rock band, Curved Air.

Whilst in Curved Air, he wrote the music for the top 4 hit, "Back Street Luv" and was a major contributor to the writing of three top twenty albums. 
With Curved Air he toured extensively, performing in practically every major venue, in every major city in both America and Europe. 
Before becoming headliners themselves, Curved Air toured with Black Sabbath in the UK and in the USA, Deep Purple, Jethro Tull and Emerson Lake and Palmer. They also appeared on the same bill as, The Doors, Steppenwolf, B.B. King, Johnny Winter, and Dr John. 
After leaving Curved Air he released several solo albums in both "rock", and "classical" genres. Among these, was a "Concerto for Electric Violin" which was premiered on the South Bank Show with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and himself as soloist. He also performed this concerto live on German television with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and in England with the Northern Sinfonia. 
His collaborations include setting the music to two songs by Sir Tim Rice, writing three songs with the renowned playwright and actor, Steven Berkoff and orchestrating and conducting 10 of Sting's songs, for an album recorded by the L.S.O. entitled "Fortress".  
Further work with Sting include arranging two of his pieces for the Imax film and album of the same name, "The Living Sea" and acting as his musical director for a tour of Holland and Belgium. He has also worked with Gary Brooker (Procol Harum) orchestrating and conducting "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and "Salty Dog", once again for the L.S.O. 
In classical genres he has orchestrated Stewart Copeland's ballet "King Lear", for the San Francisco Ballet and Stewart's opera "The Holy Blood and Crescent Moon", premiered by the Cleveland Opera, in the United States.
In 1996 Darryl's own opera "The Master and Margarita" was premiered at The Place Theatre in the West End of London.

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Alongside these projects Darryl has also worked as a film and television composer, writing scores for Roger Corman's "The Finishing Touch", "Rage and Honour I" and "Rage and Honour II". 
Television work includes a thirteen part series for ITV called "Worlds Beyond", a seven part drama for BBC 2, called "Shallom Salaam", the BBC documentary, "Macdonald" and a pan European Xmas extravaganza for the Disney Co.
His work in advertising includes the music written for Jaguar, Lindt Chocolate, Whiskas and Phillips Whirlpool advertising campaigns.
As a violinist he has lead the London based Electric Symphony Orchestra for concerts at the Royal Festival Hall and lead and recorded with The Elektra Ensemble, performing classical and contemporary music. 
As a session musician he has performed solo violin on Nicolas Roeg's film "Bad Timing", the Jethro Tull album, "Heavy Horses", the Sky 2 album and the Marrianne Faithfull single "Broken English". He has also played with the National Philharmonic Orchestra on film scores such as, "Die Hard", "Licensed to Kill" and "Baron Munchausen". Darryl also had the pleasure of performing with Eric Clapton on  two occasions, for charity concerts.
Other work includes being musical director for the soprano Emma Shapplin, for a series of televised UNHCR concerts at the Parthenon in Athens.
Other compositions include a Symphonic Choral work entitled "Siren's Rock", premiered at the Plymouth Guildhall with the South West Sinfonietta, Opera South West, Naomi Harvey (WNO) soprano and Stephen Crook, tenor. 
In 1998 Darryl formed the classical crossover ensemble Verisma with the the operatic tenor Stephen Crook, releasing 3 albums and two DVDs in 5.1 Surround Sound. For this project he also produced and directed four videos, which were broadcast on Classic FM TV. Other videos he has produced for Classic FM TV, include a video for the EMI recording artist, Keedie and a video for a solo project entitled "Farandole". 

In 2008, Darryl along with Sonja Kristina and Florian Pilkington-Miksa took part in a Curved Air reunion, for concerts in the UK and tours of Europe and Japan. To celebrate this reunion, Darryl recorded and produced an album of rerecording's of some of Curved Air's best known tracks called 'Reborn'.

Recent albums include a compilation of re-imagined classical works called 'Ultra Violins', the Rock albums 'Children of the Cosmos' and Myths, Legends and Tales' and most recently, the acclaimed instrumental album 'Destinations'', featuring Darryl as both guitarist and violinist.

'Destinations 2' is due for release in May 2021.