COMPOSER Henry Marsh can add another accolade to his award-winning collection after scooping the best original music in a play at a prestigious awards ceremony in America.

The 66-year-old, who lives near Trowbridge with hid wife Dee Dee Wilde of Pans People fame, has previously hit the big time when playing in his band Sailor in the 1970s and since then has gone on to produce a number of songs for directors across the globe.

At the Joseph Jefferson Awards in Chicago in October, Mr Marsh won the best original music in a play for his work in David Bell’s adaptation of Pericles.

“I have done writing for David for his Shakespeare plays for a number of years and the last one was 11 years ago and it was wonderful to be recognised and win again,” Mr Marsh said.

The music for the play, which featured at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, was composed to incorporate dramatic percussive elements.

He said: “When you do music that is quite cinematic like this case, it is very difficult to imagine how it will be taken and every time I get presented with a new project, my first thought is that I can’t do it. If it is quite a change, which this was, then you have to do a bit of research and try to do what is current but still make sure it is music as you know it to be.”

Mr Marsh has previously received the Joseph Jefferson Award for best original music in a play in 1998 for The Comedy of Errors and in 1999 for Much Ado About Nothing.

Describing the award as “the Chicago version of the Tony’s”, Mr Marsh attended the ceremony with his wife Ms Wilde who he lives with in Rood Ashton, near Trowbridge.

“I’m not in retirement and I have still been working on my music but the main reason why I was so pleased is because I have won it for a collection of music that I made in between being a full-time carer for my mum. To win under those circumstances is lovely,” he added.

“I really wasn’t expecting to win and I was up against stiff competition particularly being in America and so I was thrilled when they called my name.”

While Mr Marsh is keen to keep his latest project under wraps, he said he is thoroughly enjoying making music from his Wiltshire home for a number of upcoming plays and television series.