Sir George William John Benjamin, CBE (born 31 January 1960) is an English composer of

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included se ...

. He is also a

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, j ...

and teacher. He is well known for operas ''

Into the Little Hill ''Into the Little Hill'' is a 2006 chamber opera by British composer George Benjamin. Described by the composer as a "lyric tale in two parts", the libretto is by playwright Martin Crimp and it is Benjamin's first stage work. They have since co ...

'' (2006), '' Written on Skin'' (2009–2012) and ''

Lessons in Love and Violence ''Lessons in Love and Violence'' is an opera with music by George Benjamin and libretto by Martin Crimp. The opera, which is based on the story of King Edward II and Piers Gaveston, was premiered at the Royal Opera House London on 10 May 2018, co ...

'' (2015–2017)—all with librettos by

Martin Crimp Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Au ...

. In 2019, critics at ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' ranked ''Written on Skin'' as the second best work of the 21st-century.

Biography

Benjamin was born in London and attended

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It derives from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the 1066 Norman Conquest, as d ...

. He began composing from the age of seven, and took piano and composition lessons with

Peter Gellhorn Peter Gellhorn (born Hans Fritz Gellhorn, October 24, 1912 – February 13, 2004) was a German conductor, composer, pianist and teacher who settled in London and made a career in Britain that lasted unbroken until his death. Life Gellhorn, the ...

until the age of 15, after which Gellhorn arranged for Benjamin to continue his lessons in Paris with

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonical ...

, 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 King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

, studying under

Alexander Goehr Peter Alexander Goehr (; born 10 August 1932) is an English composer and academic. Goehr was born in Berlin in 1932, the son of the conductor and composer Walter Goehr, a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg. In his early twenties he emerged as a centra ...

and Robin Holloway. His orchestral piece ''Ringed by the Flat Horizon'' (written for the Cambridge University Musical Society and premiered in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

under the baton of

Mark Elder Sir Mark Philip Elder (born 2 June 1947) is a British conductor. He is currently music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England. Life and career Elder was born in Hexham, Northumberland, the son of a dentist. He played the ...

on 5 March 1980) was performed at

The Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert H ...

that August, while he was still a student, making him the youngest living composer to have had music performed at the Proms. 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—gi ...

and Sir Simon Rattle, premiered ''At First Light'' two years later. ''Antara'' was commissioned by

IRCAM IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of avant garde and electro-acoustical art music. It is ...

for the 10th anniversary of the Pompidou Centre in 1987 and ''Three Inventions for chamber orchestra'' were written for the 75th

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Ama ...

in 1995. The

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

under

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mon ...

premiered ''Palimpsests'' in 2002 to mark the opening of ‘By George’, a season-long portrait which included the first performance of ''Shadowlines'' by Pierre-Laurent Aimard. More recent celebrations of Benjamin's work have taken place at

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nati ...

in 2012 (as part of the UK's Cultural Olympiad) and at the Barbican in 2016. Benjamin's first operatic work ''

'', written with playwright

, was commissioned in 2006 by the Festival d'Automne in Paris. It received its London premiere at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal ...

in February 2009. Their second collaboration, '' Written on Skin'', premiered at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in July 2012. Benjamin conducted the UK premiere at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in March 2013. ''

'', a third collaboration with Martin Crimp, premiered at the Royal Opera House in 2018. As a conductor, he regularly appears with some of the world's leading ensembles and orchestras, amongst them the

Ensemble Modern Ensemble Modern is an international ensemble dedicated to performing and promoting the music of modern composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in Frankfurt, Germany, and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countries. Hi ...

, the

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...

and Concertgebouw orchestras, and the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie. In 1999, he made his operatic debut conducting ''Pelléas et Mélisande'' at la Monnaie, Brussels, and he has conducted numerous world premieres, including works by

Wolfgang Rihm Wolfgang Rihm (born 13 March 1952) is a German composer and academic teacher. He is musical director of the Institute of New Music and Media at the University of Music Karlsruhe and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the ...

, Unsuk Chin, Gérard Grisey, and

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century" ...

. In 1993, he curated the first

Meltdown Meltdown may refer to: Science and technology * Nuclear meltdown, a severe nuclear reactor accident * Meltdown (security vulnerability), affecting computer processors * Mutational meltdown, in population genetics Arts and entertainment Music * ...

music festival in London and in 2010 he was the

Music Director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the ...

of the

Ojai Music Festival The Ojai Music Festival is an annual classical music festival in the United States. Held in Ojai, California (75 miles northwest of Los Angeles), for four days every June, the festival presents music, symposia, and educational programs emphasi ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. During the 2018/2019 season, Benjamin was Composer in Residence to the Berliner Philharmoniker. For sixteen years, Benjamin taught composition at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

, London, where he became the first Prince Consort Professor of Composition before succeeding Sir

Harrison Birtwistle Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his many compositions, his better known works include '' T ...

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest En ...

Professor of Composition at King's College London in January 2001. His pupils include

Luke Bedford Luke Bedford (born 25 April 1978) is a British composer. He studied composition with Edwin Roxburgh and Simon Bainbridge at the Royal College of Music, and won the Mendelssohn Scholarship in 2000. This was followed by post-graduate study with S ...

and Dai Fujikura.

Honours

In 2019, Benjamin was awarded the Golden Lion Award for lifetime achievement from the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

. Other awards include the 2001 Arnold Schönberg Prize, and the 2015 Prince Pierre of Monaco composition prize (for his opera ''Written on Skin''). An honorary fellow of

King's College Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city. ...

, the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jaz ...

, the

and the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke ...

, Benjamin is also an Honorary Member of the

Royal Philharmonic Society The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) is a British music society, formed in 1813. Its original purpose was to promote performances of instrumental music in London. Many composers and performers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a mem ...

. He was awarded a C.B.E. in 2010, made a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2015, and was knighted in the

2017 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as pa ...

Personal life

Benjamin now lives in northwest London with his partner, the filmmaker Michael Waldman, whose recent credits include ''The Day John Lennon Died'', ''The Scandalous Adventures of Lord Byron'', and the TV miniseries ''Musicality''.

Selected works

Source

Opera

* ''

'' (2006) text:

* '' Written on Skin'' (2009–2012) text: Martin Crimp * ''

'' (2015–2017) text: Martin Crimp

Orchestral

*''Ringed by the Flat Horizon'' for orchestra (1979–1980) *''A Mind of Winter'' for soprano and orchestra (1981) text:

Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance comp ...

*''Sudden Time'' for large orchestra (1989–1993) *''Three Inventions'' for chamber orchestra (1993–1995) *''Sometime Voices'' for baritone, chorus and orchestra (1996) text:

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

*''Palimpsests'' for orchestra (2000–2002) *''Dance Figures'', nine choreographic scenes for orchestra (2004) * Duet for piano and orchestra (2008) *''Dream of the Song'' for countertenor, female chorus and orchestra (2014–2015) texts:

Solomon Ibn Gabirol Solomon ibn Gabirol or Solomon ben Judah ( he, ר׳ שְׁלֹמֹה בֶּן יְהוּדָה אִבְּן גָּבִּירוֹל, Shlomo Ben Yehuda ibn Gabirol, ; ar, أبو أيوب سليمان بن يحيى بن جبيرول, ’Abū ’Ayy ...

and

Samuel HaNagid Samuel ibn Naghrillah (, ''Sh'muel HaLevi ben Yosef HaNagid''; ''ʾAbū ʾIsḥāq ʾIsmāʿīl bin an-Naghrīlah''), also known as Samuel HaNagid (, ''Shmuel HaNagid'', lit. ''Samuel the Prince'') and Isma’il ibn Naghrilla (born 993; died 1056 ...

, trans.

Peter Cole Peter Cole is a MacArthur-winning poet and translator who lives in Jerusalem and New Haven. Cole was born in 1957 in Paterson, New Jersey. He attended Williams College and Hampshire College, and moved to Jerusalem in 1981. He has been called "o ...

;

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

* Concerto for Orchestra (2021)

Ensemble

* Octet for 8 players (1978) *''At First Light'' for 14 players (1982) *''Antara'' for 16 players and electronics (1987) *''Upon Silence'' for mezzo-soprano and viols/strings (1990) text: Yeats *''Olicantus'' for 15 players (2002)

Chamber and instrumental

* Piano Sonata (1977–1978) *''Flight'' for solo flute (1979) *''Three Studies'' for piano (1982–1985) *''Viola, Viola'' for viola duo (1997) *''Shadowlines'' – six canonic preludes for piano (2001) *''Three Miniatures'' for solo violin (2001–2002) *''Piano Figures'' – ten short pieces for piano (2004)

Biography

Honours

Personal life

Selected works

Opera

Orchestral

Ensemble

Chamber and instrumental

References

Further reading