Derek Hobbs (08/07/1943) is an English (from Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumbrian) composer and musician, many of whose works have a local flavour. His two largest works in recent years have been the cantatas Fell ’em Doon – the story of a pit village - for soloists, adult and children’s choirs and brass band (the first performance involved 450 performers!) and With the Ebb and the Flow for baritone solo, mixed chorus and orchestra which tells of the Venerable Bede and the Northumbrian saints Oswald, Aidan and Cuthbert. One of his earliest works, the Christmas musical The Greatest Show on Earth (written in 1975) has been performed several times every year since then. His interest in the Northumbrian pipes led to eight volumes of The Piper’s Companion series, a collection of duet and trio arrangements of mainly traditional material. He plays piano, organ, French horn and Northumbrian pipes and has conducted choirs, wind bands and orchestras. He currently conducts the Northumbrian branch of the Cobweb Orchestra, an amateur orchestra linked to the Northern Sinfonia.