Derek is a graduate of the Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide and the Qld. Conservatorium and made his musical theatre debut as Monsieur Reyer in the original Australian cast of The Phantom of the Opera in 1990.
He has enjoyed a long career as a performer, appearing in many professional productions including Chess, Grease, as Timothy in the original Australian cast of The Secret Garden, Tobias in the QTC production of Sweeney Todd and Hugh the Iron in the Australian musical, Crusade.
In 1998 he received critical acclaim for his performance as Mary Sunshine in the Australian/Asian tour of Chicago, before being invited to play the role in the London West End production at the Adelphi Theatre.
On returning to Australia, Derek played Padre Perez in Man of La Mancha for GFO, Mr Snow in Carousel and Artie Green in Sunset Boulevard, for The Production Company, Bustopher Jones/Gus/Growltiger in the new Asian tour of CATS, Monsieur Andre in the 2007-2009 Australian production of The Phantom of the Opera and The Rabbi in Fiddler on the Roof.
As well as being a performer Derek has been teaching Singing and Music Theatre for the last 20 years. He is currently an Academic Lecturer in Voice and Music Theatre at The Australian Institute of Music (AIM), Melbourne and recently directed AIM’s student production of Urinetown – The Musical
Derek has also directed several productions for the Victorian Opera including The Pied Piper, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, and The Elixir of Love for the Yarra Valley Opera Festival.
