David Sawer

David Sawer (born September 14, 1961) is a British composer of opera and choral, orchestral and chamber music.

Biography

Sawer was born in Stockport, England. He studied music at the University of York where he began composing for contemporary music-theatre pieces. He continued his studies with Mauricio Kagel in Cologne. Even from this point his career, Sawer's music tends to define each piece within theatrical terms. Indeed, Sawer has described himself as a "theatre person who writes music". His works often reference the visual arts, and in particular surrealist imagery. For example, his piano piece, The Melancholy of Departure was inspired by the shadowy and irrational perspectives of a De Chirico painting.

In 1992 Sawer was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship. His compositional career was supported by further awards and fellowships, including a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award in 1993, and a residence with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 1996. He currently teaches composition at the Royal Academy of Music, London.

Sawer has received numerous commissions that have resulted in impressive works for the concert hall, dance, film, theatre and radio. His 50-minute radio composition Swansong (1989), a collage of orchestral, choral and electronic sounds, conjuring the musical utopia envisioned by the dying Berlioz, was the BBC's entry for the Prix Italia and subsequently won a Sony Award.

If Sawer's early work reflected a variety of influences – from Igor Stravinsky to György Ligeti and Luciano Berio – these have been shed, gradually, as he matured. Certain characteristics remain from his early music: for instance the blurring of background and foreground in his first orchestral work, Trompe l'oeil (1982; since withdrawn), was later put to good use in Byrnan Wood, commissioned for the 1992 Proms.

Selected works

Stage works

• The Panic, a chamber opera, premiered in 1991
• From Morning to Midnight, an opera in seven scenes, based on Georg Kaiser's play, premiered in 2001 by English National Opera, for which he a received Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.
• Skin Deep, a satirical operetta to a libretto by Armando Iannucci, co-commissioned by Opera North, Bregenz Festival, Royal Danish Opera Copenhagen and Komische Oper Berlin, premiered on 16 January 2009.^[1]
• Rumpelstiltskin, a ballet in eight scenes, for six dancers and thirteen players, commissioned by BCMG, premiered on 14 November 2009 at the CBSO Centre, Birmingham, and toured to Tramway, Glasgow the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and the 2010 Spitalfields Summer Music Festival.^[2] Future works include Flesh and Blood, a dramatic scene for two voices and orchestra, to be premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ilan Volkov, with soloists Christine Rice and Marcus Farnsworth, a concert suite of Rumpelstiltskin , to be premiered by BCMG, conducted by George Benjamin, and Lighthouse Keepers, a radio opera, for the 2013 Cheltenham Festival.

Orchestral works

• Byrnan Wood (1992)
• Trumpet Concerto (1994)
• Tiroirs, for chamber ensemble (1996)
• the greatest happiness principle (1997)
• Piano Concerto (2002) winner of British Academy British Composer Award in the orchestra category.
• Rebus, for chamber ensemble (2004)

Choral works

• Songs of Love and War (1990)
• Sounds: Three Kandinsky Poems (1996-9)
• Stramm Gedichte (2002)

Chamber works

• Cat's-eye for 2 clarinets, trumpet, trombone, harp, piano, viola and violoncello (1986)
• Take Off for flute, 2 clarinets, piano, violin, viola and violoncello (1987)
• Between for harp; first performed by Osian Ellis in 1989
• Good Night for alto flute/piccolo, harp, violin, viola and violoncello (1989)
• Satz for violin, violoncello and piano (2007)

External links

• David Sawer biography and works on the UE website (publisher)

Sources

• "Sawer, David in Oxford Music Online". www.oxfordmusiconline.com. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/46228?q=Sawer%2C+David&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit. Retrieved 2010-03-04.  (Requires login or UK library card)

References

1. ^ Review in The Times
2. ^ Review in The Guardian, 16 November 2009

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Name	Sawer, David
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Date of birth	September 14, 1961
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