Professor Anthony Powers
Overview
Position:
Professor
Email:
Powers@cardiff.ac.ukTelephone: +44(0)29 208 74378
Fax: +44(0)29 208 74379
Extension: 74378
Location: Main Music Building, Corbett Road, Room 1.01
One of the leading British composers of his generation, Anthony Powers studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and at York University with David Blake and Bernard Rands. Prior to joining the staff at Cardiff as Composer-in-Residence (1990), he had been Composer-in-Residence to Southern Arts Board and held teaching appointments at Dartington College of Arts and Exeter University. As Chairman of the Association of Professional Composers (1995-97) he was instrumental in the creation of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. He has also served on the juries of ISCM British Section, Royal Philharmonic Society Award and British Composer Awards. Powers’ music has been widely performed in the UK and overseas by many of the world’s leading artists and ensembles. Major works include the cantatas A Picture of the World (BBC commission 2000-1), and Air and Angels (Three Choirs Fesival commission 2003), the orchestral pieces Stone, Water, Stars (1987) and Terrain (1992), both BBC commissions. He has also written two concertos, for the cellist Steven Isserlis and the horn player Michael Thompson, and two symphonies, the first of which was premiered at the 1996 BBC Proms.
Anthony Powers is published by Oxford University Press. For a full biography, list of works, programme notes and discography, visit his pages at OUP.
See also:
- Burns, Andrew, 'Anthony Powers', The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition (London: Macmillan, 2001), vol.20, 248
- Jones, Nicholas, 'Luminous, but with shadows: Anthony Powers at 50', The Musical Times, vol.144 no.1884 (Autumn 2003), 26-35
- Jones, Nicholas, 'Ranging over the Forest: A Conversation with Anthony Powers', Tempo, vol.58 no.228 (April 2004), 23-31
Publications
Selected Compositions
String Quartet no.4 (25') (2005)
From Station Island [Heaney] for speaker, baritone and small ensemble (25') (2003)
Air and Angels [Donne] for soprano, baritone, SATB chorus and orchestra (30') (2003)
Vista for piano (12') (2003), **William Howard, Cheltenham Festival, 12 July 2003
Symphony no.2 (27') (1998-9, commissioned by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies); **BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rumon Gamba, London, 28 June 2002
A Picture of the World [Wittgenstein] for countertenor, clarinet and 16-part choir (23') (2001, BBC commission); **Michael Chance, Artur Pachlewski and the BBC Singers, conducted by Simon Joly, 'Warsaw Autumn' Festival, 28 September 2001
String Quartet no.3 (10') (1999, commissioned by the London International String Quartet Competition); **participating quartets, London, April 2000
Memorials of Sleep [Lawrence Durrell] for tenor and orchestra (21') (1997-8, commissioned by Aldeburgh Productions); **John-Mark Ainsley, Britten-Pears Orchestra, conducted by Sian Edwards, Snape Maltings, 3 August 1998
Symphony No 1 (40') (1994-6, commissioned by the David N James Trust); **BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Tadaaki Otaka, BBC Proms, London, 9 September 1996
High Windows [Larkin] for countertenor and piano (15') (1995); **Michael Chance and Julius Drake, Spitalfields Festival, London, 22 June 1995
Capricci for wind quintet (14') (1994, commissioned by the Cheltenham Festival); **Haffner Ensemble, Cheltenham Festival, 5 July 1995
Terrain for orchestra (22') (1992, BBC commission); **BBC NOW, conducted by Grant Llewellyn, Cardiff, 17 April 1993
The Memory Room for piano (17') (1990-1, commissioned by the Lichfield Festival), **William Howard, Lichfield Festival, 10 July 1992
Cello Concerto (24') (1990, commissioned by the Kings Lynn Festival); **Steven Isserlis and the Orchestra of St John’s Smith Square, conducted by Steven Kovacevich, Kings Lynn Festival, 28 July 1990
Horn Concerto (24') (1989, commissioned by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society); **Michael Thompson and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/, conducted by Libor Pesek, 16 October 1991
Stone, Water, Stars (23') (1987, BBC commission); **BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir John Pritchard, London, 10 February 1988
Recordings
Fast Colours (1997), Double Sonata (1993), In Sunlight (1993), Quintet (1983), Another Part of the Island (1980), on 'Fast Colours', Psappha, Metier MSV CD92038 (2000)
The Memory Room (1991), on 'William Howard - Piano', NMC D021S
Trio for clarinet, cello and piano (1988), on 'New English Clarinet Music', Mühlfeld Ensemble, Clarinet Classics CC0007
Sea/Air for clarinet (1985), on 'Kate Romano & Alan Hicks', Kate Romano, Metier MSV CD92013
Research
Forthcoming commissions include a work for the Orchestra of the Swan. Anthony Powers's Vanishing Points (2008) for two pianos will be premiered by Melvyn Tan and Ronald Brautigam in 2009 and his song 'Shining Plain' (2008), recorded on 21 August 2008 by Andrew Kennedy and Iain Burnside, will be released as part of the NMC Songbook in 2009.
Research Papers and Public Lectures
Recent
'From Station Island: Setting to Music the Poetry of Seamus Heaney', Queen's University, Belfast, 12 November 2008
Performances
* UK Premiere
** World Premiere
Recent
Second String Quartet; Carducci Quartet, University Concert Hall, Cardiff, 21 April 2009
Nightsongs for piano quartet; Schubert Ensemble, BBC lunchtime concert and Radio 3 recording, St George's , Brandon Hill, Bristol, 13 November 2008
Riverwork for mezzo-soprano and ensemble; **Karina Lucas and Okeanos, BMIC Cutting Edge series, The Warehouse, London, 13 November 2008
Canons Artfully Resolved, Tonally, Even Rhythmically; **London Contemporary Music Group, University Concert Hall, Cardiff, 4 September 2008
A Few Seconds (2008) for unspecified mixed ensemble; **COMA London Ensemble, conducted by Gregory Rose, Spitalfields Festival, London, 12 June 2008
Infunde lumen cordibus (2008) for SSATB choir; **London Festival of Contemporary Church Music, St Pancras Church, London, 18 May 2008. BBC Radio 3 Live Broadcast
Nightsongs (2006) for piano quartet; **Schubert Ensemble, South Bank Centre, London, 29 February 2008; Cardiff University, 4 March 2008
In Sunlight for violin and piano (1993); Fenella Humphries and Helen Reid, PLG Young Artists Series, Purcell Room, London, 11 January 2006; Alexandra Wood (violin), Huw Watkins (piano), Cardiff University, 4 December 2007
Five Philosophical Interludes for clarinet (2001); Kate Romano, BMIC Cutting Edge, London, 17 November 2005
String Quartet no.4 (2005, Cardiff School of Music commission); **Sorrel Quartet, Cardiff, 12 April 2005
Sensing for piano (2003); **Helen Reid, Wigmore Hall, London, 17 November 2003
From Station Island [Heaney] for speaker, baritone and small ensemble (2003, commissioned by the Hannoverische Gesellschaft fur Neue Musik); **Charles Ebert, Sebastian Bluth, Ensemble Musica Viva Hannover, Hannover, 26 October 2003
Air and Angels [Donne] for soprano, baritone, SATB chorus and orchestra (2003, commissioned by the Three Choirs Festival); **Carys Lane, Matthew Brook, Festival Chorus and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Geraint Bowen, Hereford Cathedral, 21 August 2003
Territorial premieres since 2003 include Argentina, Canada, China, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands and USA.