Powers

Born in London in 1953, Anthony Powers studied at Oxford, in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, and at York with David Blake and Bernard Rands. He taught for two years at Dartington College of Arts before being appointed Composer-in-Residence to Southern Arts. Since then he has moved to Herefordshire where he continues to divide his time between composing and teaching, currently at Cardiff University, where he has been Professor of composition since 2004. Between 1995-97 he was the Chairman of the Association of Professional Composers.

Anthony Powers's music has been widely performed in the UK and overseas. Important works include the orchestral pieces Stone, Water, Stars (1987) and Terrain (1993), both BBC commissions. He has written concertos for the cellist Stephen Isserlis and the horn player Michael Thompson and his chamber music is frequently performed and broadcast by Britain's top ensembles.

The Memory Room (1990) was commissioned by the pianist William Howard who has since performed it worldwide and recorded it on CD for the NMC label. Other works include Capricci (1994) for the Haffner Wind Ensemble and High Windows for counter-tenor and piano, first performed at the 1995 Spitalfields Festival by Michael Chance and Julius Drake. In November 1995 the Highcliffe Junior Choir and Bournemouth Sinfonietta gave the first performance of Zlata's Diary, an intensely moving setting of diaries by the 13-year-old Bosnian, Zlata Filipović.

At the 1998 Aldeburgh Festival Memorials of Sleep was premiered by tenor John Mark Ainsley and the Britten-Pears Orchestra under Siân Edwards. The English Chamber Orchestra gave the London premiere in February 1999. The String Quartet No.3 was premiered as the test piece in the prestigious London International String Quartet Competition in April 2000. A Picture of the World, a cantata for countertenor, clarinet and chorus, was performed by the Michael Chance (countertenor), Artur Pachlewski (clarinet) and the BBC singers in the Autumn Warsaw festival in September 2001. Symphony No. 2 was premiered in London by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in June 2002.

Recent premieres include Air and Angels, a major choral work first performed at the Three Choirs Festival in Hereford in August 2003, and Vista, a second piece for the pianist William Howard, which received its first performance at the Cheltenham Festival in July 2003. In October 2003, Ensemble Musica Viva Hannover gave the first performance of From Station Island, a setting of Seamus Heaney for speaker, baritone, and small ensemble.

Powers' String Quartet No. 4 received its world premiere performance by the Sorrel Quartet, for whom the work was commissioned, at Cardiff University's School of Music in April 2005. This performance followed a series of public workshops at which the piece was 'tested out' during the 2004 - 2005 season.

Powers's music is characterized by strong architectonic frameworks that support a language of poetic intensity and magical sonorities. His music often takes its inspiration from the tension between different states, be they physical properties, landscapes, seasons or emotions.

Soundclip:
In Sunlight, courtesy of NMC Recordings (NMC D098)