Ivan Moody

Ivan Moody, British composer, was born in London in 1964, and studied composition with Brian Dennis at London University, William Brooks at York University and privately with John Tavener. He also studied Orthodox theology at the University of Joensuu, Finland. Moody is active as a conductor, directing ensembles such as Voces Angelicae, the Kastalsky Chamber Choir (Britain), Capilla Peña Florida (Spain), Cappella Romana (USA) and Ensemble Alpha (Portugal).

Moody's compositions show the influences of Eastern liturgical chant and the Orthodox Church, of which he is a member. His "Canticum Canticorum I", written for the Hilliard Ensemble, was a great success, and in 1990 he won the Arts for the Earth Festival Prize for "Prayer for the Forests", subsequently premièred by the renowned Tapiola Choir of Finland. One of his most important works is the oratorio "Passion and Resurrection" (1992), based on Orthodox liturgical texts, premièred in 1993 by Red Byrd and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under Tõnu Kaljuste at the Tampere Festival. In 1996 it was given its North American premiere by Cappella Romana. "The Akathistos Hymn" (1998), the composer’s largest work to date, was written for Cappella Romana following these performances.

Other significant works include the ‘cello concerto "Epitaphios" (1993), the cantata "Revelation" (1995), "Endechas y Canciones" (1996) the recorder concerto "Pnevma" (1998) "Lamentations of the Myrrhbearer" (2001) for string quartet, "Lumière sans déclin" (2000) for string orchestra, and the choral triptych written for Trio Mediaeval - "Words of the Angel" (1998) "Troparion of Kassiani" (1999) and "A Lion’s Sleep" (2002). Later compositions include a large-scale BBC commission, "The Dormition of the Virgin" (2003), and concertos for double-bass ("The Morning Star", 2003), piano ("Linnunlaulu", 2003) and bassoon ("Arise", 2004). Amongst recent works are "Passione Popolare", premièred at the Antidogma Festival in Italy in June 2005, and "Ossetian Requiem", written for the Amsterdam-based‘Cello Octet Conjunto Ibérico. He is currently writing a new work for ‘cello and orchestra and a large-scale choral work for the St George’s Cathedral Choir, Novi Sad, Serbia.

He currently lives in Lisbon, Portugal, where he was until 1998 Professor of Composition at the Academia de Artes e Tecnologias, Lisbon. He has been involved in the construction of a database for the Portuguese Contemporary Music Centre, and is a member of the CESEM research unit at the Universidade Nova in Lisbon. In 2005 he was elected the first Chairman of the International Society for Orthodox Church Music ( [http://www.isocm.com ISOCM] ).

Ivan Moody’s music is recorded on the Hyperion, ECM, Sony, Telarc, Gothic and Oehms labels. Website: [http://www.ivanmoody.co.uk ivanmoody.co.uk]