Editing George Benjamin (composer) (section)

==Biography==
Benjamin was born in London and attended [[Westminster School]]. He studied piano privately with Marguerite Tury from 1967–1974.  He wrote his first composition at the age of nine, and took piano and composition lessons with [[Peter Gellhorn]] until age 15,<ref>[https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000045767?rskey=8DChUf&result=1 Anderson, Julian. 'Benjamin, George (William John)' in ''Grove Music Online'']</ref> after which Gellhorn arranged for Benjamin to continue his lessons in Paris with [[Olivier Messiaen]], whom he had known for many years.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/feb/16/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries Obituary, 'Peter Gellhorn' in ''The Guardian'', 16 February 2004]</ref> Messiaen was reported to have described Benjamin as his favourite pupil.<ref>Angelique Chrisafis, [https://www.theguardian.com/france/story/0,,1956703,00.html "British composer's 20-year opera quest ends with Paris premiere"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719201506/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/nov/25/france.classicalmusic |date=19 July 2020 }}. ''The Guardian'' (London), 25 November 2006</ref> He then read music at [[King's College, Cambridge]], studying under [[Alexander Goehr]] and [[Robin Holloway]].

Benjamin's orchestral piece ''Ringed by the Flat Horizon'' (written for the [[Cambridge University Musical Society]] and premiered in [[Cambridge]] under the baton of [[Mark Elder]] on 5 March 1980) was performed at [[The Proms]] that August, while he was still a student, making him the then-youngest living composer to have had music performed at the Proms.<ref name="GT">{{cite web|url=http://www.compositiontoday.com/articles/benjamin.asp|publisher=online at Composition:Today|title=George Benjamin: Overview|author=Gavin Thomas|access-date=10 March 2013|archive-date=28 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428021453/http://compositiontoday.com/articles/benjamin.asp|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[London Sinfonietta]] and [[Simon Rattle|Sir Simon Rattle]] premiered ''At First Light'' two years later.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lso.co.uk/more/blog/691-rattle-the-exhibition.html?showall=&start=1|title=London Symphony Orchestra – Rattle: the exhibition|website=lso.co.uk|access-date=23 October 2019|archive-date=23 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023210454/https://lso.co.uk/more/blog/691-rattle-the-exhibition.html?showall=&start=1|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Antara'' was commissioned by [[IRCAM]] for the 10th anniversary of the Pompidou Centre in 1987<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fabermusic.com/repertoire/antara-765|title=Antara|website=www.fabermusic.com|access-date=23 October 2019|archive-date=23 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023161047/https://www.fabermusic.com/repertoire/antara-765|url-status=live}}</ref> and ''Three Inventions for chamber orchestra'' were written for the 75th [[Salzburg Festival]] in 1995.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fabermusic.com/repertoire/three-inventions-for-chamber-orchestra-2526|title=Three Inventions for Chamber Orchestra|website=www.fabermusic.com|access-date=23 October 2019|archive-date=23 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023161049/https://www.fabermusic.com/repertoire/three-inventions-for-chamber-orchestra-2526|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[London Symphony Orchestra]] under [[Pierre Boulez]] premiered ''Palimpsests'' in 2002 to mark the opening of ‘By George’, a season-long portrait which included the first performance of ''Shadowlines'' by [[Pierre-Laurent Aimard]].<ref>George Benjamin,[http://arts.guardian.co.uk/fridayreview/story/0,,794831,00.html "My heroes and I"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070524033200/http://arts.guardian.co.uk/fridayreview/story/0,,794831,00.html |date=24 May 2007 }}, ''The Guardian'' (London), 20 September 2002: He was artistic consultant to the BBC's 3-year retrospective of 20th-century music for the Millennium, 'Sounding the Century'. There have been major retrospectives of his work in London, Pris, Tokyo, Brussels, Berlin, Strasbourg, San Francisco and Madrid.</ref> More recent celebrations of Benjamin's work have taken place at [[Southbank Centre]] in 2012 (as part of the UK's Cultural Olympiad) and at the Barbican in 2016.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/f1a5b354-ef5c-11e5-9f20-c3a047354386 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/f1a5b354-ef5c-11e5-9f20-c3a047354386 |archive-date=10 December 2022|title=Benjamin at the Barbican, Barbican, London — 'The power of suggestion' |website=Financial Times|date=21 March 2016 |language=en-GB|access-date=23 October 2019 |url-access=subscription |last1=Nepilova |first1=Hannah }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/may/14/benjamin-weekend-review|title=Jubilation: The Music of George Benjamin – review|last=Clements|first=Andrew|date=14 May 2012|work=The Guardian|access-date=23 October 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

[[File:"Written_on_Skin"_at_Opera_Philadelphia_(38770669300).jpg|alt=|thumb|300x300px|A scene from a 2018 performance of Benjamin's opera ''[[Written on Skin]]'' by [[Opera Philadelphia]]]]

Benjamin has composed four operas, all with librettos by [[Martin Crimp]].  Their first operatic work was ''[[Into the Little Hill]]'', commissioned in 2006 by the Festival d'Automne in Paris. It received its London premiere at the [[Royal Opera House]] in February 2009. Their second collaboration, ''[[Written on Skin]]'', premiered at the [[Aix-en-Provence Festival]] in July 2012. Benjamin conducted the UK premiere at the [[Royal Opera House, Covent Garden]], in March 2013.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/mar/10/written-on-skin-review|title=Written on Skin – review|last=Jeal|first=Erica|date=10 March 2013|work=The Guardian|access-date=1 November 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> ''[[Lessons in Love and Violence]]'', their third collaboration over the period 2015–2017, premiered at the Royal Opera House in 2018.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/may/11/lessons-in-love-and-violence-review-royal-opera-house-george-benjamin | title=''Lessons in Love and Violence'' review – soaring tale of a brutal royal downfall | work=The Guardian | author=Andrew Clements | date=2018-05-11 | access-date=2025-01-16 | archive-date=20 October 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020172313/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/may/11/lessons-in-love-and-violence-review-royal-opera-house-george-benjamin | url-status=live }}</ref>  Their fourth opera collaboration, ''Picture a Day like this'',<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/sep/24/picture-a-day-like-this-review-george-benjamin-martin-crimp-royal-opera-house | title=''Picture a day like this review'' – Benjamin's modern fairytale of sparse and moving beauty | work=The Guardian | author=Andrew Clements | date=2023-09-24 | access-date=2025-01-16}}</ref> was commissioned by and first produced at the Aix Festival at the Théâtre du Jeu de Paume in 2023; Benjamin conducted with [[Marianne Crebassa]] as the woman.<ref>Allison, John. Report from Aix-en-Provence. ''[[Opera (British magazine)|Opera]]'', September 2023, Vol. 74 No. 9, p1063.</ref>

As a conductor, Benjamin made his operatic debut in 1999 conducting [[Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)|''Pelléas et Mélisande'']] at [[La Monnaie]], Brussels,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nimbusrecords.co.uk/index.php?id=george-benjamin|title=George Benjamin|website=www.nimbusrecords.co.uk|access-date=23 October 2019}}</ref> and he has conducted numerous world premieres, including works by [[Wolfgang Rihm]], [[Unsuk Chin]], [[Gérard Grisey]], and [[György Ligeti]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.schott-music.com/shop/hamburgisches-konzert-no165679.html|title=Hamburg Concerto|website=englisch|language=en|access-date=23 October 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2013/mar/18/gerard-grisey-contemporary-music-guide|title=A guide to Gérard Grisey's music|last=Service|first=Tom|date=18 March 2013|work=The Guardian|access-date=23 October 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/contemporary-composer-unsuk-chin|title=Contemporary composer: Unsuk Chin|last=Dixon|first=Gavin|date=6 February 2018|website=www.gramophone.co.uk|language=en|access-date=23 October 2019|archive-date=23 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023161117/https://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/contemporary-composer-unsuk-chin|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1993, he curated the first [[Meltdown (festival)|Meltdown]] music festival in London and in 2010 he was the [[Ojai Music Festival: Music Directors|Music Director]] of the [[Ojai Music Festival]] in [[California]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Review: eighth blackbird and other new music at Ojai Music Festival|first=Mark|last=Swed|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/06/eighth-blackbird-at-ojai-festival.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=15 June 2009|access-date=15 June 2009|archive-date=9 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160509023955/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/06/eighth-blackbird-at-ojai-festival.html|url-status=live}}</ref>  For the 2018–2019 season, Benjamin was composer-in-residence with the [[Berlin Philharmonic]] Orchestra.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/titelgeschichten/20182019/composer-in-residence-20182019/|title=Composer in Residence 2018/2019 {{!}} Berliner Philharmoniker|last=Philharmoniker|first=Berliner|website=www.berliner-philharmoniker.de|language=en|access-date=23 October 2019|archive-date=6 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606015852/https://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/titelgeschichten/20182019/composer-in-residence-20182019/|url-status=dead}}</ref>  In January 2025, the [[London Philharmonic Orchestra]] announced the appointment of Benjamin as its next composer-in-residence, effective September 2025.<ref>{{cite press release | url=https://lpo.org.uk/london-philharmonic-orchestra-announces-sir-george-benjamin-as-new-composer-in-residence/ | title=London Philharmonic Orchestra announces Sir George Benjamin as new Composer-in-Residence | publisher=London Philharmonic Orchestra | date=14 January 2025 | access-date=2025-01-16 | archive-date=16 January 2025 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250116072447/https://lpo.org.uk/london-philharmonic-orchestra-announces-sir-george-benjamin-as-new-composer-in-residence/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

For sixteen years, Benjamin taught composition at the [[Royal College of Music]], London, where he became the first Prince Consort Professor of Composition before succeeding Sir [[Harrison Birtwistle]] as [[Henry Purcell]] Professor of Composition at [[King's College London]] in January 2001. His pupils include [[Luke Bedford]], [[Robin de Raaff]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robin De Raaff |url=https://brahms.ircam.fr/en/robin-de-raaff |access-date=2023-04-25 |website=brahms.ircam.fr |archive-date=24 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424132103/https://brahms.ircam.fr/en/robin-de-raaff |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Dai Fujikura]].<ref>{{cite web|title= I'm inspired by Stockhausen, Xenakis ... and Seinfeld|url= http://arts.guardian.co.uk/fridayreview/story/0,,1404819,00.html|author= Tom Service|work= [[The Guardian]]|location= London|date= 4 February 2005|access-date= 10 March 2013|author-link= Tom Service|archive-date= 3 May 2012|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120503103948/http://arts.guardian.co.uk/fridayreview/story/0,,1404819,00.html|url-status= live}}</ref>