Dr. Arden studied at City University from 1984-87, where he earned his BSc before he studied composition there from 1988-96 and earned his PhD. He also studied composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1987-88 and there received a certificate.

Among his honors is the Creative Dance Artists Trust Scholarship (1995, to attend a course for choreographers and composers). He has received commissions from BAC/National Theatre, BBC Radio 3, the Colourscape Festival/Arts Council, Rosalie Coopman, the Diamond Dance Company, Stephen and Annabel Jeffries, alto Lore Lixenberg, the London Brass Ensemble, percussionist Alonzo Mendoza, Northern Arts, Operate, the Opera Transatlantica Cambridge Festival of Opera and Music Theatre, the Schrek Ensemble, the Society for the Promotion of New Music/Bath Festival, the Sonic Arts Network, and Theatre de Complicite. His music has been performed in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Poland, the UK, the USA, and Venezuela.

Dr. Arden is also active in other positions. He worked as a conductor from 1988-91 and led performances of his own music and works by other contemporary British composers. He has written extensively on the Schillinger System, including the introduction to the revised edition of The Schillinger System of Musical Composition (2005, Clock and Rose Press) and the book How to use the Schillinger System of Musical Composition: A composition manual with exercises and examples (2005, Clock and Rose Press).

He has taught as Lecturer in Composition at the Morley College of Further Education since 1992 and taught composition and studio-based composition at the Royal College of Music from 1993-2000. He has taught aural perception, composition, musicianship, and the psychology of music at the University of Hertfordshire since 2003. In addition, he has worked on music education projects for children since 2002, notably in collaboration with the City of London Sinfonia in 2003.

In addition to the works listed below, Dr. Arden has written music for commercials, films and TV and has made arrangements of popular music.

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