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Benjamin, George (b. January 31, 1960, London). British composer of mostly orchestral, chamber and piano works that have been performed throughout the world; he is also active as a conductor.
Prof. Benjamin studied piano privately with Marguerite Tury from 1967–74 and wrote his first composition at age nine. He studied composition and piano privately with Peter Gellhorn in London from 1974–76 and then composition with Olivier Messiaen and piano with Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris from 1976–78. He finished his studies in composition with Alexander Goehr at King's College Cambridge from 1978–82, where he earned his BMus.
Among his many honors are the Koussevitzky International Critics Award and a Grand Prix du Disque (both 1987), the Contemporary Record of the Year Award from Gramophone (1990) and the Edison Award (1998), all for Nimbus recordings of his music. His other honors include the First Prize of the Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund in Boston (1985), the first Schoenberg-Preis in Berlin (2002) and the Royal Philharmonic Society Award (2003, for Palimpsest I–II). In addition, he was named a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the government of France in 1996 and has been a member of the Bayerische Akademie der Künste since 2000.
Notable among the many performances of his music are the new music festival Carte blanche à George Benjamin at l'Opéra Bastille (1992) and portrait concerts at the Salzburg (1995), Tanglewood (1999) and Ultraschall (2002) festivals. In recent years, the London Symphony Orchestra featured many of his important orchestral works (2002–03), ten works were performed in Tokyo (2003), nine works were performed in Berlin (2004–05) and Hamburg (2000), and he was featured as composer-in-residence at the Salzburger Festspiele (2008).
Though he was initially active as a pianist whose specialties included his own works and those by Frédéric Chopin, Claude Debussy, Olivier Messiaen, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Maurice Ravel, and Robert Schumann, he is better known as a conductor. He has led premières of works by Niccolò Castiglioni, Unsuk Chin, Alexander Goehr, Gérard Grisey, György Ligeti, Magnus Lindberg, and Wolfgang Rihm and served as principal guest artist of the Hallé Orchestra from 1993–96. He has conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, among other orchestras. He regularly conducts Ensemble Modern and the London Sinfonietta.
Prof. Benjamin is also active in other positions. He was active as a researcher at IRCAM from 1984–87 and co-founded the Wet Ink Festival with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in 1992 and the Meltdown Festival in London in 1993. He also served as an advisor to the BBC Radio 3 series Sounding the Century from 1996–99 and as composer-in-residence to the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in 2004–05.
He taught composition at the Royal College of Music in London from 1985–2001, where he was the first Prince Consort Professor of Composition from 1994–2001. He has taught as Henry Purcell Professor of Composition at King's College London since 2001. He also served as composer-in-residence at Tanglewood in 1999 and 2003 and led its composition faculty in 2000.
Faber Music publishes his works.
CONTACT INFORMATION
E-mail address (c/o Robert Witts): robert.witts@kcl.ac.uk
Street address: Prof. George Benjamin, Department of Music, King's College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UK
E-mail address for consulting scores: promotion@fabermusic.com
COMPLETE LIST OF WORKS
STAGE: Into the Little Hill (2 part lyric tale, text by Martin Crimp), high soprano, alto, flute (+ piccolo, bass flute), 2 basset horns, contrabass clarinet, 2 cornets, trombone, cimbalom (+ percussion), 2 violins (2nd + mandolin), 2 violas (2nd + banjo), 2 celli, double bass, 2006
ORCHESTRAL: Altitude, brass band, 1977; Ringed by the Flat Horizon, large orchestra (93 players), 1979–80; At First Light, small orchestra (14 players), 1982; Fanfare for Aquarius, small orchestra (15 players), 1983; Antara, 2 flutes (both + piccolo), 2 synthesizers, small orchestra (2 trombones [both + bass trombone], 2 percussion, 3 violins, 2 violas, 2 celli, double bass), 1985–87; Sudden Time, large orchestra (85 players), 1989–93; Three Inventions for Chamber Orchestra, small orchestra (7 winds, 2 French horns, trumpet [+ flügelhorn, piccolo trumpet], trombone [+ euphonium], harp, piano [+ celesta], 2 percussion, 3 violins [3rd + viola], 2 violas, 2 celli, 2 double basses), 1993–95; Palimpsest I, orchestra (9 winds, 11 brass, 2 harps, piano [+ celesta], 3 percussion, 5 violins, 3 violas, 8 double basses), 1998–99; Palimpsest II, orchestra (9 winds, 11 brass, 2 harps, piano [+ celesta], 3 percussion, 5 violins, 3 violas, 8 double basses), 2002; Dance Figures, large orchestra (minimum 76 players), 2004
CHAMBER MUSIC: Sonata for Violin and Piano, 1976–77; Octet, flute (+ piccolo), clarinet, violin, viola, cello, double bass, celesta, percussion, 1978; Flight, flute, 1979; Duo, cello, piano, 1980; Viola, Viola, 2 violas, 1997; Three Miniatures for Solo Violin, 2001; Olicantus, 2 flutes, 2 bass clarinets (1st + clarinet), 2 French horns, harp, string quartet, double bass, celesta, vibraphone, tubular bells, 2002
CHORAL: Jubilation (vocalise), 60–100 children's voices, youth orchestra (10 sopranino recorders [any 3 + garklein (very small recorder)], 10 soprano recorders [any 3 + garklein], 4 French horns, 3 trumpets, piccolo trumpet, 4 trombones, 7 steel drums, 10 or more percussion), large orchestra, 1985; Sometime Voices (text by William Shakespeare), baritone, mixed chorus, large orchestra, 1996
VOCAL: A Mind of Winter (text by Wallace Stevens), soprano, orchestra, 1981; Upon Silence (text by William Butler Yeats), mezzo-soprano, treble viol (+ bass viol), 2 tenor viols, 2 bass viols, 1990 (also version for mezzo-soprano, 2 violas, 3 celli, 2 double basses, 1991)
PIANO: Sonata for Piano, 1977–78; Sortilèges, 1981; Three Studies, 1982–85 (each of the studies may be performed separately: Meditation on Haydn's Name, 1982; Relativity Rag, 1984; Fantasy on Iambic Rhythm, 1985); Shadowlines, 2001
ELECTROACOUSTIC: Panorama, 2-track tape, 1985
ARRANGEMENTS: Fantasia VII (Henry Purcell), clarinet, violin, cello, celesta, 1995; Récit de Tierce en Taille (Nicolas de Grigny), small orchestra, 2004
DISCOGRAPHY
Viola, Viola. Sachiko Suda, Shota Yanase, violas (BIS Records: 1379-80)
Sudden Time; Three Inventions for Chamber Orchestra; Viola, Viola. Susan Knight, Geneviève Strosser, violas; George Benjamin/Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Modern Orchestra (Ensemble Modern Medien: EMCD-002)
Sortilèges. Markus Bellheim, piano (Jade: 198 775)
Olicantus. George Benjamin/London Sinfonietta (London Sinfonietta: SINF CD1-2004)
Flight. Ingrid Culliford, flute (Lontano Records Ltd. [Lorelt]: LNT 107)
Sonata for Piano. George Benjamin, piano (Nimbus Records: NI 1415)
At First Light; A Mind of Winter; Ringed by the Flat Horizon. Penelope Walmsley-Clark, soprano; George Benjamin/London Sinfonietta; Sir Mark Elder/BBC Symphony Orchestra (Nimbus Records: NI 5075)
Antara. Sebastian Bell, Richard Blake, flutes; Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Ichiro Nodaira, synthesizers; George Benjamin/London Sinfonietta (Nimbus Records: NI 5167)
Upon Silence (both versions); Three Inventions for Chamber Orchestra; Sudden Time; Octet. Susan Bickley, mezzo-soprano; Fretwork; George Benjamin/London Sinfonietta, London Philharmonic Orchestra (Nimbus Records: NI 5505)
Ringed by the Flat Horizon; A Mind of Winter; At First Light; Panorama; Antara. Penelope Walmsley-Clark, soprano; Sebastian Bell, Richard Blake, flutes; Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Ichiro Nodaira, synthesizers; George Benjamin/London Sinfonietta; Sir Mark Elder/BBC Symphony Orchestra (Nimbus Records: NI 5643)
Shadowlines; Three Studies; Viola, Viola; Sonata for Piano. Antoine Tamestit, Tabea Zimmermann, violas; Pierre-Laurent Aimard, George Benjamin, pianos (Nimbus Records: NI 5713)
Palimpsest I–II; At First Light; Sudden Time; Olicantus. George Benjamin, Oliver Knussen/Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Modern Orchestra (Nimbus Records: NI 5732)
Altitude. Bramwell Tovey/Foden's Richardson Band (NMC Recordings: D142)
At First Light. Kunitaka Kokaji/Tokyo Sinfonietta (Tokyo Sinfonietta: TS95001)
At First Light. Lorraine Vaillancourt/Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (UMMUS: UMM102)
Panorama. (Unknown Public: upcd 6220086)
(Last updated on August 4, 2008)
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