George Benjamin
Sir George William John Benjamin , CBE (born January 31, 1960 in London ) is a British composer , conductor , pianist and teacher .
biography
In the second half of the 1970s, George Benjamin studied composition with Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatory , where he stood out as one of Messiaen's favorite students. He later continued his composition studies at King's College , Cambridge with Alexander Goehr .
Since the 1980s, a number of large-scale compositions such as Sudden Time (for orchestra) and Three Inventions (for chamber orchestra) have been written in rapid succession . Antara (for ensemble and electronics), realized at IRCAM , was the first published composition that was composed with the help of the Sibelius notation program . His first chamber piece, entitled Into the Little Hill , premiered in 2006. In 2004 he created his Dance Figures - Nine Chreographic Scenes of 15 minutes. Benjamin's first great opera Written on Skin - a parable about the limits of power based on a text by Martin Crimp - premiered in 2012 as part of the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence . In 2016 George Benjamin was the artist in the concert series "Zeitinsel George Benjamin" at the Dortmund Concert Hall. His next opera Lessons in Love and Violence was the result of a joint commission from seven major opera houses. The world premiere took place in 2018 at the Royal Opera Covent Garden in London.
George Benjamin lives in London , where he teaches at the Royal College of Music and King's College London . He is a regular guest conductor of the London Sinfonietta , for which he has also written commissioned compositions.
Awards
- In 2002 Benjamin received the Music Award for large scale compositions from the Royal Philharmonic Society in London for Palimpsests
- 2008 Music Award for large scale compositions for the composition Into the Littele Hill from 2006.
- In 2013 the world premiere of his opera Written on Skin at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence received the International Opera Award
- In 2014 he was named composer of the year by the American classical music magazine Musical America .
- In 2017 he was knighted as a Knight Bachelor ("Sir")
literature
- Hans-Klaus Jungheinrich (Ed.): Sometime Voices - The composer George Benjamin. Edition Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, Mainz 2013, ISBN 978-3-7957-0824-5
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lessons in Love and Violence (2017). Work information from Fabermusic, accessed on June 14, 2018.
- ^ List of the RPS award winners , accessed on February 25, 2011
- ↑ http://www.musicalamerica.com/features/?fid=193&fyear=2014
Web links
- Website of his publisher with biography and discography (English)
- Education project for the piano cycle "Piano Figures" - video explanations by George Benjamin
- Trailer for Written on Skin
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Benjamin, George |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Benjamin, George William John |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British composer, conductor, pianist and teacher |
DATE OF BIRTH | January 31, 1960 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | London |