Simon Bainbridge

Simon Bainbridge (born 30 August 1952) is a British composer, and a professor and former head of composition at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and visiting professor at the University of Louisville, Kentucky in the United States.

Biography

Simon Bainbridge was born in London. He had his first major break with Spirogyra, written in 1970 while he was still a student. This work displays a passion for intricate and sensuous textures that remain the hallmark of Bainbridge’s style today. He was educated at Highgate School and the Royal College of Music. After graduating from the Royal College of Music, he studied with Schuller at Tanglewood; his fondness for American culture is occasionally portrayed in works such as Concerto in Moto Perpetuo (1983), which contains echoes of American minimalism, and the be-bop inspired For Miles (1994). In the 1990s his work took on a new expressive dimension such as in Ad Ora Incerta (1994) which earned him the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in 1997.

Bainbridge was Head of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music from 1999 to 2007, and was one of the first four Professors to be appointed in 2000 with the Academy's status as a constituent college of the University of London.

He is married to English soprano and vocal coach Lynda Richardson, and father to the actress Rebecca Bainbridge. In 1985, Bainbridge played the saxophone solo on Simon May's theme tune to popular TV programme "Howards' Way".

Career highlights

• 1969-74 – Studied at Royal College of Music, London then at Tanglewood with Gunther Schuller
• 1976-8 – Forman Fellow in Composition at the University of Edinburgh
• 1983-5 – Composer-in-Residence at Southern Arts
• 1997 – University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for Ad Ora Incerta
• 2001 – Appointed Head of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music
• 2002 – Fiftieth birthday events in Cheltenham, Huddersfield and London

• "Rebecca Bainbridge In Profile article by Julie Robinson". Retrieved 20 June 2015. 
• "1997- Simon Bainbridge". 

Key works

• Clarinet Quintet (1993)
• For Miles for trumpet and chamber ensemble (1994)
• Ad Ora Incerta, Four Orchestral Songs from Primo Levi for mezzo-soprano, bassoon and orchestra (1994); poems by Primo Levi
• Four Primo Levi Settings for mezzo-soprano, clarinet, viola and piano (1996); poems by Primo Levi
• Guitar Concerto for guitar and chamber ensemble (1998)
• Chant for amplified chorus and large ensemble (1999)
• Voiles for bassoon and string ensemble (2001)

Selected recordings

• Ad Ora Incerta; Four Primo Levi Settings - NMC D059
• Herbsttag - USK 1224CD