Julian Anderson
Julian Anderson
Biography
Anderson was born in London. He studied at Westminster School, then with John Lambert at the Royal College of Music, with Alexander Goehr at Cambridge University, privately with Tristan Murail in Paris, and on courses given by Olivier Messiaen, Per Nørgård and György Ligeti.
From 2000 to 2004 he was Head of Composition at the Royal College of Music, and from 2004 to 2007 Fanny P. Mason Professor of Music at Harvard University. He is currently Professor of Composition and Composer in Residence at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.[1] He was Composer-in-Association with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 2001 to 2005 and Daniel R. Lewis Fellowship Composer with the Cleveland Orchestra from 2005 to 2007. From 2002 to the end of the 2010–11 concert season, he was artistic director of the 'Music of Today' concert series run by the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. From 2013 to 2016 he was Composer in Residence with Wigmore Hall.
Anderson was appointed
Music
Anderson's former publisher, Faber Music, describes his music as:
... characterised by a fresh use of melody, vivid contrasts of texture and lively rhythmic impetus. He has a continuing interest in the music of traditional cultures from outside the Western concert tradition. He has a special love for the folk music of Eastern Europe–especially of the Lithuanian, Polish and Romanian traditions–and has also been much influenced by the modality of Indian ragas.[3]
These influences combine with elements of modernism, spectral music and electronic music to make up what Gramophone has called "the composer's vivid, transfixing sound worlds".[4]
Anderson's first orchestral piece, Diptych, was completed in 1990, and achieved great success, as did
His first work written for the
In the last decade, Anderson has written a large amount of unaccompanied
Anderson has also used both live and pre-recorded electronics in his large-scale
Further choral-orchestral works came in the shape of Alleluia for chorus and orchestra, composed for the reopening of the Royal Festival Hall ("The London Philharmonic Choir, with nowhere to hide in such a revealing acoustic, maintained pitch admirably and delivered a virtuoso cadenza of animated susurration"[8]), and the shorter Harmony, commissioned as the opening work for the 2013 season of the BBC Proms. In between these came Fantasias, a 25-minute orchestral work premiered by the Cleveland Orchestra in November 2009 displaying a new interest in multi-movement structures,[9] and The Discovery of Heaven, commissioned and premiered as part of Anderson's composer residency with the London Philharmonic Orchestra; the latter two works feature on a recent portrait disc of the composer by the same orchestra.
An earlier portrait disc, Alhambra Fantasy, featuring five of Anderson's orchestral and ensemble pieces conducted by
In May 2014 Anderson's first opera, Thebans, received its world premiere at English National Opera, conducted by Edward Gardner. Playwright Frank McGuinness wrote the three-act libretto based on Sophocles' three Theban plays: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. Pierre Audi, Artistic Director of the De Nederlandse Opera, directed the co-production between English National Opera and Theater Bonn.
Works
Dramatic
- Towards Poetry, ballet (1999; extended version for dance pf Poetry Nearing Silence (1997))
- The Comedy of Change, ballet, chamber ensemble (2009), commissioned by Ballet Rambert[10]
- Thebans (2010–14), for English National Opera[11][12]
Orchestral
- Diptych (1988–90)
- Tye's Cry, string orchestra (1995)
- Past Hymns, string orchestra (1996)
- The Crazed Moon (1996–97)
- The Stations of the Sun (1997–98)
- Alhambra Fantasy, chamber orchestra (1998–2000)
- The Bird Sings with its Fingers, four choreographic sketches for chamber orchestra (2000)
- Imagin’d Corners, five horns and orchestra (2001–02)
- Symphony No. 1 (2002–03)
- Eden (2004–05)
- Fantasias (2007–09)
- The Discovery of Heaven (2011)
- In lieblicher Bläue, solo violin and orchestra (2014–15)
- Incantesimi (2015–16)
- The Imaginary Museum, concerto for piano and orchestra (2016–17)
- Litanies, solo cello and orchestra (2018–19)
- Symphony No. 2 Prague Panoramas (2019–21)
Chamber Music
- String Quartet No. 1 Light Music (1984–85)
- Ring Dance, two violins/cellos (1987)
- Scherzo (with Trains), four clarinets (1993)
- Khorovod, chamber ensemble (1988–94, rev. 1995)
- Tiramisù, chamber ensemble (1993–94, rev. 1995)
- The Bearded Lady, oboe/clarinet and piano (1994)
- The Colour of Pomegranates, alto flute and piano (1994)
- Bach Machine, chamber ensemble (1997)
- Poetry Nearing Silence, chamber ensemble (1996–97) (also as ballet Towards Poetry)
- Book of Hours, ensemble and electronics (2002–04)
- Transferable Resistance, brass ensemble (2010)
- String Quartet No. 2 300 Weihnachtslieder (2014)
- Van Gogh Blue, chamber ensemble (2015)
- String Quartet No. 3 Hana no hanataba (2017–18)
- Fanfare SC-GH, two trumpets (2018)
Instrumental
Piano:
- Piano Études Nos. 1–4 (1995–99)
- Somewhere near Cluj, solo piano (1998)
- Quasi una passacaglia, solo piano (2002)
- Steps, solo piano (2003)
- Old Bells, solo piano (2004)
- Sensation, solo piano (2015–16)
- Capriccio, solo piano (2017)
Other:
- Prayer, solo viola (2009)
- Another Prayer, solo violin (2012)
- Catalan Peasant with Guitar, solo guitar (2015)
- Mime, solo clarinet (2020)
Vocal
- Seadrift, soprano and chamber ensemble (1988–93)
- I'm nobody, who are you?, tenor, violin and piano (1995)
- Shir Hashirim, soprano and orchestra (2001)
- Lucretius, soprano and percussion (2008)
- Tombeau, soprano and piano trio (2017)
Choral
- SING, unaccompanied chorus (1981–82, rev. 2019)
- O Sing Unto the Lord, SATB chorus (1999)
- Four American Choruses, mixed voices (2002–2003)
- I Saw Eternity, unaccompanied chorus (2003)
- My Beloved Spake, SATB chorus and organ (2006)
- Heaven is Shy of Earth, mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra (2005–06, rev. 2009–10)
- Alleluia, choir and orchestra (2007)
- Bell Mass, choir and organ (2010)
- Harmony, choir and orchestra (2013)
- Magnificat, unaccompanied chorus (2016)
- Nunc dimittis, unaccompanied chorus (2016–17)
- Evening canticles, choir and organ (2018)
- Exiles, soprano, choir and orchestra (2021)
Anderson's music is published by Schott Music. Works written before 2014 are published by Faber Music.[13]
Awards
- 1993 Royal Philharmonic Society's Young Composer Prize
- 2001 South Bank Show Award for the Best New Dance Work for The Bird Sings with its Fingers
- 2004 British Composer Award for Symphony
- 2006 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award for Large-Scale Composition for Book of Hours[14]
- 2007 Best of Category (Contemporary) Gramophone Award Winner for the recording Alhambra Fantasy (BBC Sinfonietta / Oliver Knussen)
- 2011 British Composer Awards for Fantasias and Bell Mass
- 2013 South Bank Show Award for The Discovery of Heaven and for education work with the London Philharmonic Orchestra[15]
- 2015 British Composer Awards for Thebans and String Quartet No. 2[16]
- 2016 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award for Chamber-Scale Composition for Van Gogh Blue[17]
- 2017 BBC Music Magazine Premiere Award for In lieblicher Bläue and Alleluia (LPO Label)[18]
- 2023 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for Litanies[19][20]
References
- ^ "Guildhall School of Music and Drama staff pages". Archived from the original on 26 October 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
- ^ "No. 63218". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2020. p. N8.
- ^ Julian Anderson at Faber Music Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Gramophone Awards 2007". Gramophone.co.uk. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
- ^ "Culture". The Daily Telegraph. 8 March 2017. Archived from the original on 9 December 2008. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
- ^ John Fallas, booklet notes to the CD Book of Hours (NMCD 121) (2006)
- ^ "BBCSO/Knussen – review". The Guardian. 29 November 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
- ^ "Barry Millington, "The five-star Festival Hall". Evening Standard, 12 June 2007". Archived from the original on 30 January 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
- ^ "Website Error". Clevelandorchestra.com. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
- ^ "A new ballet score inspired by Charles Darwin". Financial Times. 21 August 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
- ^ Higgins, Charlotte (20 April 2010). "Julian Anderson among new work at the English National Opera". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
- ^ "Guildhall School of Music & Drama | The Creative Stage". Archived from the original on 25 November 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
- ^ "Schott Music". En.schott-music.com. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
- ^ "Large-Scale Composition: Winners to date". Royal Philharmonic Society. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
- ^ "Anderson's 'Discovery of Heaven' wins South Bank Award". Faber Music. 13 March 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
- ^ "BRITISH COMPOSER AWARDS". Britishcomposerawards.com. Archived from the original on 10 July 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
- ^ "Chamber-Scale Composition: Winners to date". Royal Philharmonic Society. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
- ^ "Classical-Music.com | the official website of BBC Music Magazine". awards.classical-music.com. Archived from the original on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
- ^ Hernández, Javier C. (5 December 2022). "Music Inspired by Notre-Dame Fire Wins a Top Prize". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
- ^ Butterworth, Hattie (9 December 2022). "British composer Julian Anderson wins Grawemeyer Award 2023". Gramophone. Retrieved 11 December 2022.