Albert William Ketèlbey (9 August 1875 - 26 November 1959) was an English composer, conductor and pianist. Ketèlbey was born in Birmingham, England, as son of George Ketelbey [no accent], and Sarah Aston. At the age of eleven he wrote a piano sonata that won praise from Edward Elgar. Ketèlbey attended the Trinity College of Music in London, where he showed his talent for playing various orchestral instruments reflected in the masterfully colourful orchestration, especially of oriental inspiration, that became his trademark, and beat the runner-up, Gustav Holst, for a musical scholarship. He used the pseudonyms Raoul Clifford and Anton Vodorinski for some of his earlier works (some reference books mistakenly give Vodorinski as his true name and Ketèlbey as the pseudonym). His name is frequently misspelt Ketelby. Being appointed musical director of London's Vaudeville Theatre, he continued writing diverse vocal and instrumental music. Later, he became famous for composing lightweight, popular music, much of which was used as accompaniments to silent films, and as mood music at tea dances. Success enabled him to relinquish his London appointments He was active in several other fields including being music editor to some well-known publishing houses and for some years Musical Director of the Columbia Graphophone Company. Ketelbeys music is frequently heard on radio. In a 2003 poll by the BBC radio programme Your hundred best tunes, 'Bells across the meadow' was voted 36th most popular song of all time. His most famous compositions include: * The Heart's Awakening (1908) * In a Monastery Garden (1915) — at age 40, the hit that made his name. Ronnie Ronalde would make it famous again in 1938. * Phantasy for String Quartet Listed but never found (1915) * In the Moonlight (1919) * In a Persian Market (1920) — in 2006, a syncopated arrangement of this tune was used in a TV commercial for TomTom automotive navigation systems - this tune was also adapted for one of the songs by Taiwanese girl band S.H.E. * Romantic Suite (1922) * Bank Holiday (Appy 'Ampstead) (1924) from Cockney Suite * In a Chinese Temple Garden (1925) * By the Blue Hawaiian Waters (1927) * In the Mystic Land of Egypt (1931) * From a Japanese Screen (1934) * Italian Twilight (1951) <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Albert+William+Ketelbey">Read more on Last.fm</a>. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.