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Biography
Oliver Knussen Commander of the Order of the British Empire|CBE (born 12 June 1952) is a United Kingdom|British composer and conducting|conductor .
Biography
Oliver Knussen was born in Glasgow , Scotland . His father, Stuart Knussen, was principal double bass of the London Symphony Orchestra , and also participated in a number of premieres of BenjaminBritten 's music.Reed, Philip & Mervyn Cooke. Letters from a Life: The Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, 1913-1976: Vol. 5: 1958-1965 . Boydell Press, 2010: p. xxxviiiOliver Knussen studied composition with John Lambert between 1963 and 1969, and also received encouragement from Britten. He spent several summers studying with Gunther Schuller at Tanglewood in Massachusetts and in Boston.GroveOnline|Knussen, Oliver|Julian Anderson|14 June|2007 He later became the Head of Contemporary Music Activities at Tanglewood between 1986 and 1993.
He was married to Sue Knussen, a United States|US -born producer and director of music programmes for BBC television and for the United Kingdom|UK 's Channel 4 & ndash; for which she made Leaving Home , an introduction to 20th Century music presented by Simon Rattle in a series of seven one-hour programmes, which won the 1996 British Academy of Film and Television Arts|BAFTA award for Best Arts Series. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117884775.html? categoryid=25& cs=1/ Sue Knussen & ndash; obituary, Variety, 16 April 2003.Accessed on 19 August 2007. She ran the Los Angeles Philharmonic 's education department in the late 1990s. Oliver and Sue Knussen had a daughter, Sonya, who is a mezzo-soprano.
Sue Knussen died of a blood infection in London in 2003. The Sue Knussen Composers Fund (previously, the Sue Knussen Commissioning Fund ) "honours her memory and professional legacy...and...commissions works from emerging composers to be performed by contemporary music ensembles worldwide." http://www.singsthings.com/page8.htm/ Singsthings , Sonya Knussen's website.Accessed on 19 August 2007.
Knussen lives in Snape, Suffolk , Benjamin Britten's base during one of his most creative periods. http://www.snapevillage.org.uk/contribs/britten/bbritten.html/ ''Benjamin Britten's long association... & ndash; John Waddell, snapevillage.org.uk.Accessed on 19 August 2007 Snape Maltings concert hall is the home of the Aldeburgh Festival.
Musical life
Oliver Knussen began composing at about the age of six & ndash; but it was an ITV programme about his father's work with the London Symphony Orchestra that prompted the commissioning for his first symphony (1966–1967). Aged 15, Knussen stepped in to conduct his symphony's première at the Royal Festival Hall , London, on 7 April 1968 after István Kertész (conductor)|István Kertész fell ill. After that debut, Daniel Barenboim asked him to conduct the work's first two movements in New York a week later.Bryan Northcott, 'Oliver Knussen', The Musical Times , Vol. 120, No. 1639. (Sep., 1979), pp. 729-732 In this work and his Concerto for Orchestra (1968–1970), he had quickly and fluently absorbed the influences of modernist composers Benjamin Britten|Britten and Alban Berg|Berg as well as many mid-century (largely American) symphonists, whilst displaying an unusual flair for pacing and orchestration. It was as early as the Second Symphony (1970–1971), in the words of Julian Anderson , that "Knussen's compositional personality abruptly appeared, fully formed".Anderson, Julian, 'The later Music of Oliver Knussen. Catching up with Knussen in his 40th Year', The Musical Times , Vol. 133, No. 1794. (Aug., 1992), pp. 393-394.
Knussen has been Principal Guest Conductor of The Hague 's Het Residentie Orkest ( Residentie Orchestra ) between 1992 and 1996, the Aldeburgh Festival 's co-Artistic Director between 1983 and 1998 and the London Sinfonietta 's Music Director between 1998 and 2002 & ndash; and is now that ensemble's Conductor Laureate.
Since September 2006, Knussen has been Artist-in-Association to the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group , and since 2009 to the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
His major works from the 1980s are his two " child ren's opera s", Where the Wild Things Are (opera)|Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop! , both libretto|libretti by Maurice Sendak & ndash; and based on Sendak's own eponymous children's books. http://www.compositiontoday.com/articles/oliver_knussen_interview.asp Oliver Knussen interview, Classic CD , February 1999.Accessed on 19 August 2007. Where the Wild Things Are received its New York premiere by New York City Opera in November 1987 and the company will revive the work in concert in April 2011.
Knussen wrote his Songs for Sue , a setting of four poems for soprano and 15-piece ensemble, as a memorial tribute to his late wife, and the music received its world première in Chicago in 2006. "...I knew there were a number of Dickinson poems addressed to her sister, Sue, so one week I read all 1,700 poems of Emily Dickinson...and I copied out about 35 of them by hand, Knussen told Tom Service in London's The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1925480,00.html I had to write it & ndash; G2 section, The Guardian , London, 19 October 2006.Accessed on 20 August 2007. "I have no idea where the notes for this piece come from...It seemed to want to be written...I wasn't sure whether it...ought to be let out at all...because I didn't want it to be a self-indulgent thing. But actually it's very restrained. It's not a huge work - about 13 minutes - but it's a big piece emotionally."
Compositions
Oliver Knussen's works include the following:
Processionals , Op. 2 (1968/78), for chamber ensemble
Masks , Op. 3 (1969), for solo flute & glass chimes 'ad lib.'
Symphony in One Movement, Op. 5 (1969/2002), for orchestra
Hums and Songs of Winnie-the-Pooh , Op. 6 (1970/83), for soprano solo, flute, cor Anglais, clarinet, percussion & cello
Three Little Fantasies , Op. 6a (1970/83), for wind quintet
Second Symphony, Op. 7 (1970–71), for high soprano & chamber orchestra Winner: Margaret Grant Prize, Tanglewood
''Sonya's Lullaby Op. 16 (1978–79), for piano solo
Coursing , Op. 17 (1979), for large chamber ensemble
Third Symphony, Op. 18 (1973–79), for orchestra
Frammenti da Chiara , Op.19a (1975/86), for two antiphonal 'a cappella' female choirs
Where the Wild Things Are (opera)|Where the Wild Things Are , Op. 20 (1979–83), fantasy opera, libretto by Maurice Sendak
Songs and a Sea Interlude , Op. 20a (1979–81), for soprano & orchestra
The Wild Rumpus , Op. 20b (1983), for orchestra
Higglety Pigglety Pop! , Op. 21 (1984–85, revised 1999), fantasy opera, libretto by Maurice Sendak
Fanfares for Tanglewood (1986), for thirteen brass & three groups of percussion
The Way to Castle Yonder , Op. 21a (1988–90), for orchestra
Flourish with Fireworks , Op. 22 (1988 revised 1993), for orchestra
Four Late Poems and an Epigram of Rainer Maria Rilke|Rilke , Op. 23 (1988), soprano solo
Variations , Op. 24 (1989), for piano solo
Secret Psalm (1990), for violin solo
Walt Whitman|Whitman Settings , Op. 25 (1991), for soprano & piano
Walt Whitman|Whitman Settings , Op. 25a (1992), for soprano & orchestra
Songs without Voices , Op. 26 (1991–92), for flute, cor Anglais, clarinet, horn, piano & string trio
Elegiac Arabesques (in memory of Andrzej Panufnik ), Op. 26a (1991), for cor Anglais and clarinet
Two Organa , Op. 27 (1994), for large chamber ensemble
Horn Concerto, Op. 28 (1994), for horn solo & orchestra
"...upon one note" (fantasia after Purcell) (1995), for clarinet, piano & string trio
Prayer Bell Sketch (in memory of Toru Takemitsu ), Op. 29 (1997), for piano solo
Eccentric Melody (for Elliott Carter|Elliott Carter's 90th birthday) (1998), for cello solo
Violin Concerto, Op. 30 (2002), for violin solo & orchestra
''Ophelia's Last Dance , Op. 32 (2004/2009-10), for piano solo
Requiem: Songs for Sue , Op. 33 (2005-6), for soprano & chamber ensemble
References
reflist|2
External links
http://www.compositiontoday.com/articles/knussen.asp CompositionToday - Oliver Knussen article, review and interview
http://www.fabermusic.com/serverside/composers/Details.asp? ID=KNUSSEN,%20OLIVER Knussen biography at the website of his publisher Faber Music
http://www.bcmg.org.uk/ Birmingham Contemporary Music Group official website
http://www.nashvillesymphony.org/res/program_notes_sfs.pdf Notes on Symphony No. 3 by Thomas May
s-startsuccession box | title= London Sinfonietta|Music Director, London Sinfonietta | before= Markus Stenz | years=1998& ndash;2002 | after=no successor as of 2006s-end Persondata | NAME = Knussen, Oliver | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH = 12 June 1952 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Knussen, Oliver Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:People from Glasgow Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:20th-century classical composers Category:21st-century classical composers Category:British composers Category:Scottish composers Category:English composers Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Philharmonic Society Category:People educated at Purcell School
