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Stephen McNeff

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Stephen McNeff (born September 6, 1951) is an award-winning British composer.

Biography

Stephen McNeff studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music and undertook post-graduate research at the University of Exeter. He was Associate Director of Manchester University's Contact Theatre in 1979−80. From 1980−84, as Composer in Residence and Associate Director of the Music Theatre Studio Ensemble of the Banff Centre and then Comus Theatre Canada he won a Dora Mavor Moore Award[1] for his opera The Secret Garden (1985) based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. His theatre music in the 1990s saw McNeff receive a Scotsman award for the National Youth Music Theatre production of Aesop at the 1991 Edinburgh Festival before an unconventional[2] staging of T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland by the Donmar for the BOC Covent Garden festival in 1994 brought him wider attention.[3] He was appointed 'Composer-in-the-House' with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 2005.[4] During his two-year tenure, he wrote a number of works for the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and its contemporary counterpart Kokoro.

Since 2002 McNeff has been a Visiting Artist of Dartington International Summer School, South West Music School and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

Selected works

Operas

  • The Last King of Scotland (for 2013) after the novel by Giles Foden has been commissioned by Banff and Trinity Laban. An extract was performed by the commissioning conservatoire's students at the ROH2's Exposure series in 2012[5]
  • The Chalk Legend (2012) a Dorset-based community opera[6]
  • Daughter Of The Elements (2011) based on the life and work of Marie Curie, first performed at the 2011 Tête à Tête Opera Festival [7]
  • A Voice Of One Delight (2010) scena for mezzo-soprano, to a text by Percy Bysshe Shelley and Edward John Trelawny, premiered at the Presteigne festival [8]
  • Pelléas et Mélisande (2008) a chamber re-orchestration of Claude Debussy's opera for the Independent Opera Company.[9]
  • Tarka The Otter (2007) based on the novel by Henry Williamson, winner of the 2007 British Composer Award for Stage Work [10]
  • Gentle Giant (2007) based on the novel Michael Morpurgo
  • What I Heard About Iraq (2006) settings of Eliot Weinberger's aphoristic poems on the post 9/11 Iraq conflict for Opera North [11]
  • Clockwork (2004) based on the children's novel by Philip Pullman
  • Names Of The Dead (2003)
  • Matins for the Virgin of Guadalupe (2001)
  • The Secret Garden (1985)

Other Vocal

  • Madrigali dell'Estate (2009) for mezzo-soprano to poems by Gabriele d'Annunzio
  • Near Avalon: An Ancient Journey (2008) for the Ulster Orchestra and Ulster Youth Choir [12]
  • Dissolve me into Ecstasies (2008) for soprano, tenor and baroque ensemble to a text by John Milton
  • Weathers (2007)
  • The Unknown (2006) five poems by Edward Thomas
  • Four Tales from Beatrix Potter (2002–05) adapted by Adrian Mitchell
  • More Need (2002) for soprano to a text by John Hegley

Orchestral and Chamber Works

  • Seven For A Secret (2011) adaptation of Maurice Ravel's L’Enfant et les sortilèges for the Rambert Dance Company[13]
  • Concert Duo (2010) percussion concerto for the Borletti-Buitoni Trust [14] and BBC Symphony Orchestra
  • LUX (2008)
  • Savage Amusements(No. 1) (2007)
  • Counting 1 & 2 (2007)
  • Sinfonia (2007)
  • Echoes and Reflections (2006)
  • Reeling (2005)
  • Secret Destinations (2005)
  • Heiligenstadt (2005)
  • Clarinet Concerto (2005)[15]
  • Cello Sonata (Falling Man) (2003)
  • Piano Quintet (2002)
  • Ghosts (2001) for wind ensemble[16]

References

  1. ^ Dora Award recipients
  2. ^ Independent report on The Wasteland
  3. ^ Independent review of The Wasteland
  4. ^ Royal Philharmonic Society report of BSO Composer in the House appointment
  5. ^ Trinity Laban masterclass report
  6. ^ Chalk Legends official site
  7. ^ Tête à Tête Opera Festival 2011 Website
  8. ^ BBC News Report on 2010 Presteigne Festival
  9. ^ Independent Opera production notice
  10. ^ British Composer Award shortlist and winners 2007
  11. ^ BBC report on fuseleeds06
  12. ^ BBC Ulster report
  13. ^ Daily Telegraph report on Seven For A Secret
  14. ^ Works performed: The Borletti-Buitoni Trust
  15. ^ Clarinet Concerto commission notice
  16. ^ Article on performing 'Ghosts' in 'Winds' magazine, 2008

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