Composers
Robert Saxton
© Richard E Smith
Born: 1953
Robert Saxton was born in London in 1953. After early advice from Benjamin Britten, he studied with Elisabeth Lutyens. Whilst at Cambridge University he studied with Robin Holloway and, as a post-graduate at Oxford, with Robert Sherlaw Johnson, at the same time having lessons with Luciano Berio.
In 1975 he was awarded first prize at International Gaudeamus Music Week in Holland and, from 1985-86, was a visiting fellow at Princeton, USA, as holder of the Fulbright Arts Award. In 1992 he received a D.Mus from the University of Oxford.
Having been a lecturer at Bristol University and Head of Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal Academy of Music respectively, he has, since 1999, been a university lecturer and tutorial fellow of Worcester College, Oxford. He is President of The Brunel Ensemble and is a director of the South Bank Centre, London.
He has written commissioned works for: the LSO, the Fires of London, the London Sinfonietta, the LPO, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Nash Ensemble, BBC (Radio, TV and the Proms), the Cheltenham, Aldeburgh, Harrogate and Lichfield festivals and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival/Opera North and the Chilingirian String Quartet. He has also written works for: Mstislav Rostropovich, Teresa Cahill, Steven Isserlis, Leon Fleisher, Paul Silverthorne and John Wallace. His music has been recorded by: Collins Classics, EMI, Sony Classical, Hyperion and NMC.
Recent works include: RING,TIME (1994) commissioned by BASBWE for Sir Michael Tippett's 90th birthday and premiered by the GSMD Wind Ensemble and Peter Gane at the Barbican Centre; A YARDSTICK TO THE STARS (1995) for the Nash Ensemble; CANTICUM LUMINIS (1995) for Teresa Cahill and the Cambridge University Musical Society directed by Stephen Cleobury; PRAYER BEFORE SLEEP (1997) commissioned by David Gryn in memory of Rabbi Hugo Gryn, first performed at the Barbican Centre, London, by Teresa Cahill, Raphael Wallfisch and John York; MUSIC FOR St CATHARINE (1998) for organ, written for the 525th anniversary of St Catharine's College, Cambridge; THE DIALOGUE OF ZION AND GOD (1999) commissioned by Edward Wickham and The Clerks' Group and premiered at the Wigmore Hall, London; SONATA FOR SOLO CELLO ON A THEME OF WALTON (2000) commissioned by Steven Isserlis, premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival 2000; ALTERNATIVE CANTICLES (2002) for the choir of Christ Church, Oxford commissioned by the Friends of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and Stephen Darlington; FIVE MOTETS (2003) commissioned by the BBC and premiered at the Proms by The Clerks’ Group. Future projects include THE WANDERING JEW, a dramatic radio myth commissioned by BBC Radio 3.
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