Mark-Anthony Turnage

British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage (b. 1960) is one of the most admired and widely performed composers of his generation. Mr. Turnage's highly inventive compositional style—which incorporates his love of jazz and themes inspired by a wide range of interests and concerns, including literature, the arts, politics, and everyday life—results in works with a dramatic musical language that is distinctly his own.

A former student of Oliver Knussen and John Lambert at London's Royal College of Music, Mr. Turnage has achieved recognition both in the concert hall and the opera house, first attracting attention for the premiere of his opera Greek at the Munich Biennale Festival in 1988. He has served as composer-in-association with the City of Birmingham Orchestra, English National Opera, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and has worked closely with a long list of conductors, classical music groups, and jazz musicians with whom he has made significant recordings of his works.

His collaborators have included conductors Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Andrew Davis, and Leonard Slatkin; jazz musicians John Scofield and Peter Erskine; saxophonist Martin Robertson; soloists Evelyn Glennie, Håkan Hardenberger, Christian Lindberg, and Yuri Bashmet; as well as the Berlin Philharmonic, Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta, and the Nash Ensemble.

Mr. Turnage's music is recorded on the Decca, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, Chandos, and Black Box labels. His recent recording, Scorched, cowritten with John Scofield and released by Deutsche Grammophon, was nominated for two 2005 Grammy Awards.

MusicNOW
Hear new and recent works by some of the most important composers of our day. You will discover the special experience of the MusicNOW series, sharing these cutting-edge performances with others who truly love and appreciate new music.
Read more »