Role

:

Composer Conductor  

Country

:

United Kingdom

Birth

:

January 31, 1960 in London, England

Period

:

Contemporary

Genre

:

Chamber

 

 

Orchestral

 

 

Vocal

 

George Benjamin is a British composer who has made a significant contribution to the world of classical music. Born on January 31, 1960, in London, England, Benjamin showed an early interest in music and began playing the piano at the age of seven. He was also interested in composition from a young age and began writing his own music when he was just nine years old. Benjamin's musical education began at the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied with Peter Gellhorn. He later went on to study with Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatoire, where he was greatly influenced by the French composer's use of color and harmony. Benjamin also studied with Alexander Goehr at Cambridge University, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1980. Benjamin's early works were heavily influenced by the music of Messiaen, as well as by the works of other modernist composers such as Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. His first major work, Ringed by the Flat Horizon, was written when he was just 20 years old and was premiered at the BBC Proms in 1980. The piece was well-received and helped to establish Benjamin as a promising young composer. Throughout the 1980s, Benjamin continued to write music that was characterized by its complex harmonies and intricate textures. His works from this period include At First Light, Three Inventions for Chamber Orchestra, and Antara, which was written for the London Sinfonietta and features a solo part for the Indian instrument of the same name. In the 1990s, Benjamin's music began to evolve, becoming more lyrical and expressive. His works from this period include the orchestral piece Palimpsests, which was commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and premiered in 1991, and the opera Into the Little Hill, which was premiered at the Festival d'Automne in Paris in 2006. One of Benjamin's most significant works is his opera Written on Skin, which was premiered at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2012. The opera, which features a libretto by Martin Crimp, tells the story of a wealthy medieval lord who commissions a book to be written about his life, only to have his wife fall in love with the book's illustrator. The opera was a critical and commercial success, and has since been performed at opera houses around the world. In addition to his work as a composer, Benjamin is also a respected conductor and has worked with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the New York Philharmonic. He has also served as a professor of composition at the Royal College of Music and at King's College London. Throughout his career, Benjamin has been recognized with numerous awards and honors. In 2001, he was awarded the prestigious Arnold Schoenberg Prize for his contributions to contemporary music. He was also awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society's large-scale composition award in 2013 for his work on Written on Skin. Today, George Benjamin is widely regarded as one of the most important composers of his generation. His music is characterized by its intricate harmonies, expressive melodies, and innovative use of orchestration. His works have been performed by some of the world's leading orchestras and have been praised for their beauty, complexity, and emotional depth.

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