Cleophas Adderley

Cleophas Adderley was born in Nassau, Bahamas. He received his elementary education at Western Junior School and secondary education at the Government High School. He went on to study at the University of the West Indies where he received his L.L.B (Hons). He was called to the Bahamas Bar in 1980. Adderley also studied orchestration. He tutored as a private student of Nancy Patterson-Strelau at the University of Miami, Florida, and studied orchestral conducting as a private student of Harold Glickman of New City. Mr. Adderley is a pillar in the cultural development of The Bahamas. After some 14 years working the field of law, first in the private practice and then as the legal advisor at the offices of the Attorney General, he became the Founder/Director of the Bahamas National Youth Choir. The Bahamas National Choir has become one of the foremost Bahamian cultural organizations representing The Bahamas and entertaining audiences nationally and internationally. Diocesan Chorale director Andrew Curry describes the choir as exemplifying “all that is good, vibrant and brilliant in music in The Bahamas – or anywhere else for that matter.” Mr. Adderley also serves as the Director of the Senior Choir of the Parish Church of the Most Holy. Trinity, Founder and Director of the National Choir of The Bahamas, former Director of Culture and the Executive Director of National Musical Heritage and Research. Mr. Adderley is also an accomplished composer. He is the composer of the first Bahamian grand opera “Our Boys,” which is also the first opera to have been written and performed in the English-speaking Caribbean. He is also the composer of the first Bahamian Concert Mass, “Missa Caribe”. Mr. Adderley has also produced numerous commercial compact discs of choral music. Additionally, he produced and conceived the cultural show for the Opening Ceremonies of the 1995 and 1998 Bahamas Games. He is a founding Board Member of the National Art Gallery, a founding Member of the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Board, a member of the National Cultural Heritage Commission. Mr. Adderley is the recipient of many awards, including the Distinguished Citizen Award, the Charles H. Fisher Award, the Men of Distinction Award, Bahamas Government Silver Jubilee Award, the Bahamas Association of Artistic Performers Lifetime Achievement Award and the Certificate of Recognition for outstanding work in the arts from the Gabriel Mistral International Awards of the Organization of American States.