Walter Perkins was born in Blackburn in the UK, and grew up in Rochester, New York. A trumpet player in the Luxembourg Philharmonic (Orchestre de Radio-Télé-Luxembourg) from 1973 to 2003, he also completed some doctoral studies at the Eastman School of Music where he studied composition under Samuel Adler. Walt has arranged and composed many pieces for the American Horn Quartet, the most notable of which is his West Side Story Suite.