Tim Benjamin (born 1975) is an English composer.

Early life and education

Tim Benjamin was born in 1975, grew up in North London and attended

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 155 ...

school. He studied composition at the

Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music educatio ...

under Anthony Gilbert, privately with Steve Martland and with Robert Saxton at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

. He lives in

Todmorden Todmorden ( ; ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. It is north-east of Manchester, south-east of Burnley and west of Halifax, West Yorkshire, Hal ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exis ...

Music

Benjamin composes chamber-sized one-act operas for performance in small theatres and non-standard spaces. His first opera ''The Bridge'' (to a libretto by David Edgar) won the Stephen Oliver Trust's Prize for Contemporary Opera in 1994, resulting in its performance as part of the Covent Garden Festival in 1998. His second opera, '' The Corley Conspiracy'', was performed in September 2007 at the

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nati ...

, London. His opera ''Emily'' (libretto by the composer) was first performed at the

Hippodrome in July 2013. His opera ''Madame X'' (libretto by Anthony Peter) was performed at the Grimeborn 2014 festival. His twin operas ''Rest In Peace'' (libretto translated and adapted by the composer, after

Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career a ...

) and ''Silent Jack'' (libretto by the composer and Anthony Peter) were performed at the 2015 Tête-à-Tête Festival.

Awards and recognition

Benjamin won the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

Young Composer of the Year award in 1993 with his piece ''Antagony''. In 1996 he won the Stephen Oliver Prize, for his first

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...

''The Bridge'' (to a libretto by David Edgar). The prize, which was worth £10,000, was awarded to a young composer for a new work of

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a n ...

. During 1997 and 1998 the

Stephen Oliver Trust Stephen Michael Harding Oliver (10 March 1950 – 29 April 1992) was an English composer, best known for his operas. Early life and education Oliver was born on 10 March 1950 in Chester, the son of (Charlotte Hester) (née Girdlestone, bor ...

worked with the

and the 1998 BOC Covent Garden Festival to achieve the performance of his winning opera, and that of the 1994 winner, David Horne's ''Travellers''. Both operas were brought to the stage in June 1998, as part of the 1998 Covent Garden Festival.

Legacy

In 2015, Benjamin founded the Steve Martland Scholarship for young composers at the

Sound and Music Sound and Music is the UK's national agency for new music, established on 1 October 2008 from the merger of four existing bodies working in the contemporary music field: the Society for the Promotion of New Music (SPNM), the British Music Informa ...

Summer School, in honour of his former mentor.

References

External links

* 1975 births Living people English classical composers English opera composers Male opera composers 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers Musicians from London People educated at Christ's Hospital English male classical composers 20th-century English composers 21st-century English composers 20th-century British male musicians 20th-century British musicians 21st-century British male musicians {{UK-composer-stub