David Sawer

In 1992 he was awarded the Fulbright-Chester-Schirmer Fellowship in Composition; a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award followed in 1993 and, in 1995, the Arts Foundation’s Composer Fellowship. In 1996 he was composer-in-association with the Bournemouth Orchestras; in 2006 he was awarded a Civitella Ranieri Fellowship.

Byrnan Wood, his first large-scale orchestral piece, was premièred at the 1992 BBC Proms and subsequently recorded on the NMC label by the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Andrew Davis. The Trumpet Concerto was premiered by the same orchestra in 1995, and in 1997 the BBC National Orchestra of Wales gave the world premiere performances of the ‘greatest happiness principle’ in Cardiff and the BBC Proms. Tiroirs, commissioned by the Michael Vyner Trust for the London Sinfonietta, has been performed throughout Europe, in the USA and at the 1998 ISCM World Music Days.

Drama, or a fascination with theatrical possibilities, is present in many of his works. His radio composition Swansong, a commentary in words and music on a short story by Hector Berlioz, won a Sony Award in 1990. In Byrnan Wood, the image from Macbeth of Malcolm’s disguised army advancing on Dunsinane provided an initial abstract idea — sound transforming itself as it moves through the orchestra. Cat’s-Eye, choreographed by Richard Alston for Ballet Rambert and Hollywood Extra, was written for the Matrix Ensemble to accompany an expressionist silent film and was taken on a Contemporary Music Network Tour by the Asko Ensemble.

In the theatre, he has worked with playwrights Edward Bond, Nick Dear and Paul Godfrey and has written two operas: the one-act The Panic for the Royal Opera’s Garden Venture, and From Morning to Midnight, a full-length work commissioned by English National Opera and premiered at the London Coliseum in 2001, and for which he received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.

Other recent works include a Piano Concerto for Rolf Hind and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, which won the British Academy British Composer Award 2003 in the orchestra category, Stramm Gedichte for the New London Chamber Choir and James Wood, and Rebus commissioned by musikFabrik. A CD of four orchestral works recorded by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group conducted by Martyn Brabbins and Susanna Mälkki was released in 2007 on the NMC label.

David’s operetta Skin Deep, written to a libretto by comedian Armando Iannucci, was premiered in 2009 by Opera North, with performances in Leeds, London, Salford, Newcastle, Glasgow, Bregenz and Copenhagen. In the same year, Rumpelstiltskin, a ballet for dancers and ensemble, was premiered by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

Recent works include Flesh and Blood, a dramatic scene for two voices and orchestra, premiered at the Barbican by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ilan Volkov with soloists Christine Rice and Marcus Farnsworth and Wonder for SATB choir which was included in the Choirbook for the Queen. The Lighthouse Keepers was a radio play for the 2013 Cheltenham Festival and Bronze and Iron was for Onyx Brass/2014 New Music Biennial and the Aurora Orchestra.

www.universaledition.com/David-Sawer/composers-and-works/composer/632