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The London Sinfonietta
The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert in 1968—giving the world premiere of Sir John Tavener’s '' The Whale''—the London Sinfonietta's commitment to making new music has seen it commission over 300 works, and premiere many hundreds more. The core of the London Sinfonietta is its 18 Principal Players. In September 2013 the ensemble launched its Emerging Artists Programme. The London Sinfonietta's recordings comprise a catalogue of 20th-century classics, on numerous labels as well as the ensemble's own London Sinfonietta Label. Directors David Atherton and Nicholas Snowman founded the orchestra in 1968. Atherton was its first music director, from 1968 to 1973 and again from 1989 to 1991. Snowman was its general manager from 1968 to 1972. Michael Vyner served as the artistic directo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chamber Orchestra
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers, with one performer to a part (in contrast to orchestral music, in which each string part is played by a number of performers). However, by convention, it usually does not include solo instrument performances. Because of its intimate nature, chamber music has been described as "the music of friends". For more than 100 years, chamber music was played primarily by amateur musicians in their homes, and even today, when chamber music performance has migrated from the home to the concert hall, many musicians, amateur and professional, still play chamber music for their own pleasure. Playing chamber music requires special skills, both musical and social, that differ from the skills required for playing solo or symphonic works. J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Tavener
Sir John Kenneth Tavener (28 January 1944 – 12 November 2013) was an English composer, known for his extensive output of choral religious works. Among his best known works are '' The Lamb'' (1982), '' The Protecting Veil'' (1988), and ''Song for Athene'' (1993). Tavener first came to prominence with his cantata ''The Whale'', premiered in 1968. Then aged 24, he was described by ''The Guardian'' as "the musical discovery of the year", while ''The Times'' said he was "among the very best creative talents of his generation". During his career he became one of the best known and popular composers of his generation, most particularly for ''The Protecting Veil'', which as recorded by cellist Steven Isserlis became a best-selling album, and ''Song for Athene'' which was sung at the funeral of Princess Diana. ''The Lamb'' featured in the soundtrack for Paolo Sorrentino's film ''The Great Beauty''. Tavener was knighted in 2000 for his services to music and won an Ivor Novello Award. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Django Bates
Django Bates (born Leon Bates, 2 October 1960) is a British jazz musician, composer, multi-instrumentalist, band leader and educator. He plays the piano, keyboards and the tenor horn. Bates has been described as "one of the most talented musicians Britain has produced... his work covers the entire spectrum of jazz, from early jazz through to bebop and free jazz to jazz-rock fusion." In additional to his jazz work, he is also a noted classical composer (writing both large- and small-scale compositions on commission), theatre composer, and has taught as a professor at various European music schools. As a leader, his bands have included Human Chain, Delightful Precipice, Quiet Nights, Powder Room Collapse Orchestra and Belovèd, and he was also a leading figure in Loose Tubes and Bill Bruford's Earthworks. Early life Bates was born in Beckenham, Kent, England, and attended Sedgehill School. While at this school, he also attended the Centre for Young Musicians in London (1971 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonny Greenwood
Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood (born 5 November 1971) is an English musician and composer. He is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the alternative rock band Radiohead, and has written numerous film scores. Along with his elder brother, the Radiohead bassist Colin, Greenwood attended Abingdon School in Abingdon near Oxford, England, where he met the future band members. The youngest of the group, Greenwood was the last to join, first playing keyboards and harmonica but soon becoming lead guitarist. He abandoned a degree in music when the band signed to Parlophone; their debut single, " Creep", (1992) was distinguished by Greenwood's aggressive guitar work. Radiohead have since achieved critical acclaim and sold over 30 million albums. Along with the other members of Radiohead, Greenwood was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. Greenwood was named the 48th greatest guitarist of all time by ''Rolling Stone.'' A multi-instrumentalist, he also uses instrument ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dai Fujikura
Dai Fujikura ( ja, 藤倉 大 ''Fujikura Dai''; born 27 April 1977) is a Japanese-born composer of contemporary classical music. Biography Dai Fujikura was born in 1977 in Osaka, Japan. He moved to London when he was 15 to study at Dover College as a music scholar to complete his secondary education. His initial ambition was to compose music for cinema. Studying the music of Pierre Boulez, György Ligeti and Tōru Takemitsu at Trinity College of Music provoked a gestalt shift: Dai became an aspiring contemporary composer whose extensive knowledge of cinematography gave his music a fresh, individual voice. Imagining sounds as image produced music with considerable dramatic structure and strength. By the end of his second year he had already won the Serocki International Composers Competition. Before graduating, Dai's music had been broadcast on many European radio stations, won several other prizes, and had been performed by a list of illustrious ensembles and soloists including: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tansy Davies
Tansy Davies (born 29 May 1973, Bristol) is an English composer of contemporary classical music. She won the BBC Young Composers' Competition in 1996 and has written works for ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Early life Tansy Davies started out singing and playing guitar in a rock band. She developed an interest in composition in her teens and studied composition and French horn at the Colchester Institute followed by further study with Simon Bainbridge at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and with Simon Holt. Tansy Davies has been Composer-in-Residence at Royal Holloway, University of London (where she gained a PhD) and currently teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She also worked for three years as a freelance horn player and was a member of the Moon Velvet Collective. Commissions Davies was a prize winner in the 1996 BBC Young Composers' Competition. She has received a nu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich describes this concept in his essay, "Music as a Gradual Process", by stating, "I am interested in perceptible processes. I want to be able to hear the process happening throughout the sounding music." To do so, his music employs the technique of phase shifting, in which a phrase is slightly altered over time, in a flow that is clearly perceptible to the listener. His innovations include using tape loops to create phasing patterns, as on the early compositions ''It's Gonna Rain'' (1965) and '' Come Out'' (1966), and the use of simple, audible processes, as on ''Pendulum Music'' (1968) and ''Four Organs'' (1970). The 1978 recording ''Music for 18 Musicians'' would help entrench minimalism as a movement. Reich's work took o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Benjamin (composer)
Sir George William John Benjamin, CBE (born 31 January 1960) is an English composer of contemporary classical music. He is also a conductor, pianist and teacher. He is well known for operas '' Into the Little Hill'' (2006), '' Written on Skin'' (2009–2012) and '' Lessons in Love and Violence'' (2015–2017)—all with librettos by Martin Crimp. In 2019, critics at ''The Guardian'' ranked ''Written on Skin'' as the second best work of the 21st-century. Biography Benjamin was born in London and attended Westminster School. He began composing from the age of seven, and took piano and composition lessons with Peter Gellhorn until the age of 15, after which Gellhorn arranged for Benjamin to continue his lessons in Paris with Olivier Messiaen, whom he had known for many years. Messiaen was reported to have described Benjamin as his favourite pupil. He then read music at King's College, Cambridge, studying under Alexander Goehr and Robin Holloway. His orchestral piece ''Ringed by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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