Fergus Byett is a pianist, composer, conductor and organist based in Sussex, UK. Originally from New Zealand, he studied Classical Performance (piano) under Katherine Austin and Dr. Rae de Lisle at the University of Waikato Conservatorium of Music. While completing his studies, Fergus won all major instrumental competitions at the University of Waikato, including the Concerto, Chamber Music and Bach Competitions. He was a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholar from 2019-2022 and graduated with a Masters of Music with First-Class Honours in 2023.
His choral and instrumental compositions have won national awards, including in the ‘Compose Aotearoa!’ and the OCT Composition competitions. In 2024, he was an Emerging Composer with the Auckland Youth Choir and Composer-in-Residence with Choirs Aotearoa New Zealand. As well as winning the SOUNZ-Westlake Community Project in 2020, he is a two-time winner of the SOUNZ-NZCF Choral Composition Competition at the Big Sing. While co-directing the choirs at St Paul’s Collegiate alongside Ian Campbell, he composed two works (‘The Kraken’ ‘Whakarongo ki tāku inoi’) which the school’s choirs took to the Big Sing Regionals in 2025. His work for ANZAC Day, ‘Te Ngākau, ē!’ was commissioned by Cantando Choir, Hamilton in 2022, and has also been performed by Supertonic Choir in Wellington. During his tenure as a chorister and organist at St Peter’s Cathedral, Hamilton, Fergus wrote a mass setting in te reo Māori as well as numerous acapella motets which have all been presented in services at the cathedral. In 2022, his ‘Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis’ for Southwell School was warmly received by students and the wider school community.
A versatile musician, Fergus has performed as a concerto soloist, chamber musician collaborative pianist, as well as a continuo player for Opus Orchestra. He worked as an accompanist at the University of Waikato, and attended the 2025 NZ Opera School as an intern pianist. In 2025, he was Musical Director for ‘Mamma Mia!’ at John Paul College in Rotorua, Guest Conductor for Tauranga Civic Choir and Guest MD at St Peter’s Cathedral in Hamilton, where he also served as a chorister and assistant organist during his studies.
Just before relocating to the UK, he recorded his setting of ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’, scheduled for release in late 2025. His 2025 cantata, entitled ‘Pukerangiora’, was composed for the Patronal Festival at St. Peter’s Cathedral, Hamilton, and it was described as “so compellingly engaging […] at once both simple and richly complex”. Fergus hopes to bring the sounds and stories of his home country into the concert halls and cathedrals of the UK. He has just taken up a teaching position in the music department at Ardingly College, UK, where has already become involved with the Esterhazy Choir in Lewes as a guest conductor for their upcoming concerts.
