Composer
Biography:
| Jonathan Harvey, born in Warwickshire in 1939, was a chorister at St. Michael's College and later a music scholar at St. John's College, Cambridge. He received his doctorate from the Universities of Glasgow and Cambridge and (on the recommendation of Benjamin Britten) undertook private studies with Erwin Stein and Hans Keller. In 1969-70 he was a ›Harkness Fellow‹ in Princeton. An invitation from Pierre Boulez to IRCAM in the early 1980s has so far led to eight realizations at this institute and two works for the Ensemble Intercontemporain – including Mortuo's Plango, Vivo's Voco for tape, and bhakti for ensemble and electronics, Advaya for cello, live electronics and pre-produced sounds, and String Quartet No. 4 with live electronics. Harvey composes works of almost every genre: for orchestra (Tranquil Abiding, White as Jasmine and Madonna of Winter and Spring – the latter was performed by the Berlin Philharmonic under Simon Rattle in 2006); Chamber music (including four string quartets, Soleil Noir/Chitra and Death of Light, Light of Death) and works for solo instruments. He wrote works for a cappella choir and the large-scale cantata Mothers shall not Cry (2000) for the BBC Proms Millennium. His church opera Passion and Resurrection (1981) was the subject of a BBC television film and led to twelve further performances. The opera Inquest of Love, commissioned by ENO, premiered in 1993 under the baton of Mark Elder and was repeated at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in 1994. His third opera, Wagner Dream, commissioned by the Nederlandse Opera in cooperation with the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, Holland Festival and IRCAM, premiered in 2007 with great success Speakings (commissioned by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, IRCAM and Radio France). Jonathan Harvey receives numerous composition commissions from international institutions, his music is performed by important ensembles (including Musikfabrik, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain, ASKO, Nieuw Ensemble Amsterdam, Ictus Ensemble) and is performed at the Musica Strasbourg, Ars Musica Brussels, Musica Nova Helsinki festivals , Festival Acanthes, Agora Festival and performed in many contemporary music centres. Harvey holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Southampton, Sussex, Bristol and Huddersfield, is a member of the Academia Europaea and received the prestigious Britten Award for composition in 2008. From 1993-1977 he was a professor at Sussex University, where he is currently an honorary professor. From 93 to 1995 he was a professor at Stanford University (USA), a visiting professor at Imperial College in London, an honorary fellow at St. John's College in Cambridge and from 2000 to 2005 a composer in association with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. |
Albums:
Works for piano – Works flute and piano:
