George Benjamin (composer)

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 Conservatoire, where he distinguished himself as one of the favorite pupil of Messiaen. Later he continued his composition studies at King's College, Cambridge continued with Alexander Goehr.

Since the 1980s, emerged in rapid succession a number of large-scale compositions such as Sudden Time ( for orchestra ), or Three Inventions ( for chamber orchestra). Antara ( for ensemble and electronics), realized at IRCAM, was the first published composition, which was developed using the notation program Sibelius. His first chamber piece titled Into the Little Hill was premiered in 2006. In 2004 he created his Dance Figures - Nine Chreographic Scenes of 15 minutes duration. Benjamin's first great opera Written on Skin - a parable about the limits of power on a text by Martin Crimp - was premiered in 2012 at the Festival d' Aix -en- Provence.

George Benjamin lives in London where she teaches at the Royal College of Music and King's College London. He is a regular guest conductor of the London Sinfonietta.

Awards

2002 Benjamin received the Music Award for Large Scale Compositions of the Royal Philharmonic Society in London for Palimpsest and again in 2008 for the composition Into the Littele Hill from the year 2006. The American Classic Musical America magazine distinguishes him as a composer of 2014.