Sir John Manduell was born in 1928 in Johannesburg. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music with William Alwyn and Lennox Berkeley. He joined the BBC as a producer in 1956 and was head of music for the All Day music programme, which is now Radio 3, until 1971. He was created CBE in 1982 and Knight Bachelor in 1989. He was Principal of the RNCM from 1971 to 1996. Since then he has been able to devote his time to composition and has been Director of various music festivals and responsible for the commissioning of over 250 new works from a wide variety of composers.

‘Gradi’ features some of the finest UK-based musicians, such as Craig Ogden, Henry Herford, Claire Bradshaw, the New Ensemble directed by Clark Rundell and the Nossek String Quartet.