Duncan Ward was winner of the 2005 BBC Young Composer of the Year competition, and for three years was the Principal Composer and Keyboard player of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.
He has received various commissions and had premieres by groups such as the Endymion Ensemble, The Sixteen, and Brass 10 at venues including the Barbican, Symphony Hall Birmingham, Cadogan Hall, and the Tate Modern. At 13 he directed a school production of his own musical, and in 2006 he was asked by the Philharmonia Orchestra to compose a piece for their interactive electronic chair orchestra at the South Bank Centre. He has composed the music for two short films that were shown as part of the BBC Proms, and has recently been appointed as Composer for Coutts bank.
August 2006 saw him performing on the Royal Albert Hall organ for a BBC Prom concert under Sir Colin Davis. In increasing demand as a solo pianist and organist, last year he performed concertos with the Fulham Symphony Orchestra, St Paul's Sinfonia, and Junior Trinity Symphony Orchestra. Formerly School Captain at Dartford Grammar School, he is now a composer on the Joint Course between the Royal Northern College of Music and Manchester University. He has recently been appointed as Conductor of the University of Manchester Symphony Orchestra for the 2008/9 season.
In the summer of 2006 he spent a month in Kerala, Southern India, teaching piano to the students of four different music schools. With the support of Trinity College of Music, the English Speaking Union, Coutts and the British Council, he is currently establishing WAM (Worldwide Appreciation of Music), a charity to encourage other young British musicians to teach in India