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Stephen McNeff
Stephen McNeff (born 6 September 1951) is an Irish composer, best known for his work in contemporary theatre and opera. Biography Stephen McNeff was born in Belfast and grew up in south Wales. He studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music and undertook post-graduate research at the University of Exeter. He was Associate Director of Manchester University's Contact Theatre in 1979−80. From 1980−84, as Composer in Residence and Associate Director of the Music Theatre Studio Ensemble of the Banff Centre and then Comus Theatre Canada, he won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for his opera ''The Secret Garden'' (1985) based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. His theatre music in the 1990s saw McNeff receive a Scotsman award for the National Youth Music Theatre production of ''Aesop'' at the 1991 Edinburgh Festival before an unconventional staging of T.S. Eliot's ''The Wasteland'' by the Donmar for the BOC Covent Garden festival in 1994 brought him wider attention. He was appoin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Classical music, Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Definition The term is descended from Latin, wikt:compono, ''compōnō''; literally "one who puts together". The earliest use of the term in a musical context given by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' is from Thomas Morley's 1597 ''A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music'', where he says "Some wil be good descanters [...] and yet wil be but bad composers". 'Composer' is a loose term that generally refers to any person who writes music. More specifically, it is often used to denote people who are composers by occupation, or those who in the tradition of Western classical music. Writers of exclusively or primarily songs may be called composers, but since the 20th century the terms 'songwriter' or 'singer-songwriter' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ROH2
ROH2 was the contemporary arm of the Royal Opera House until 2012, commissioning and producing dance and contemporary opera works in the Linbury Studio Theatre, Clore Studio Upstairs, Paul Hamlyn Hall, and various other locations situated both within the Royal Opera House and outside. ROH2 also provided additional artistic resources to partners and associate artists in order to help the organisation realise its strategic aims. Scope ROH2 focused on developing art forms, creating opportunities for emerging artists, and attracting new and diverse audiences to the Royal Opera House. Since the start of the 2012/13 season, the work of ROH2 has been undertaken by the studio programs of the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet. ROH2 had a multi-layered approach, which included: * New productions and commissions in the Linbury Studio Theatre and Clore Studio Upstairs * Co-productions and co-commissions with partner organizations and companies * A contemporary opera development program * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much of his work. Kipling's works of fiction include the ''Jungle Book'' -logy, duology (''The Jungle Book'', 1894; ''The Second Jungle Book'', 1895), ''Kim (novel), Kim'' (1901), the ''Just So Stories'' (1902) and many short stories, including "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888). His poems include "Mandalay (poem), Mandalay" (1890), "Gunga Din" (1890), "The Gods of the Copybook Headings" (1919), "The White Man's Burden" (1899), and "If—" (1910). He is seen as an innovator in the art of the short story.Rutherford, Andrew (1987). General Preface to the Editions of Rudyard Kipling, in "Puck of Pook's Hill and Rewards and Fairies", by Rudyard Kipling. Oxford University Press. His children's books are classics; one critic noted "a versatile and lu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Pullman
Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. His books include the fantasy trilogy '' His Dark Materials'' and ''The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'', a fictionalised biography of Jesus. In 2008, ''The Times'' named Pullman one of the "50 greatest British writers since 1945". In a 2004 BBC poll, he was named the eleventh most influential person in British culture. He was knighted in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to literature. ''Northern Lights'', the first volume in ''His Dark Materials'', won the 1995 Carnegie Medal of the Library Association as the year's outstanding English-language children's book.(Carnegie Winner 1995) . Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eliot Weinberger
Eliot Weinberger (born 6 February 1949 in New York City) is a contemporary American writer, essayist, editor, and translator. He is primarily known for his literary writings (essays) and political articles, the former characterized by their wide-ranging subjects and experimental style, verging on a kind of documentary prose poetry, and the latter highly critical of American politics and foreign policy. His work regularly appears in translation and has been published in more than thirty languages. Life and work Weinberger's books of literary writings include ''Works on Paper'', ''Outside Stories'', ''Written Reaction'', ''Karmic Traces'', ''The Stars'', ''Muhammad'', the "serial essay" ''An Elemental Thing'', which was selected by the Village Voice as one of the "20 Best Books of the Year," ''Oranges & Peanuts for Sale'', ''The Ghosts of Birds'', and ''Angels & Saints'', selected for the Times Literary Supplement "International Books of the Year." His political articles are collect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Morpurgo
Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo ('' né'' Bridge; 5 October 1943) is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as '' War Horse'' (1982). His work is noted for its "magical storytelling", for recurring themes such as the triumph of an outsider or survival, for characters' relationships with nature, and for vivid settings such as the Cornish coast or World War I. Morpurgo became the third Children's Laureate, from 2003 to 2005, and he is also the current President of BookTrust, the UK's largest children's reading charity. Early life Morpurgo was born in 1943 in St Albans, Hertfordshire, as Michael Andrew Bridge, the second child of actor Tony Van Bridge and actress Kippe Cammaerts (born Catherine Noel Kippe Cammaerts, daughter of writer and poet Émile Cammaerts). Both RADA graduates, his parents had met when they were acting in the same repertory company in 1938. His father came from a working-class family, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Williamson
Henry William Williamson (1 December 1895 – 13 August 1977) was an English writer who wrote novels concerned with wildlife, English social history and ruralism. He was awarded the Hawthornden Prize for literature in 1928 for his book '' Tarka the Otter''. He was born in London, and brought up in a semi-rural area where he developed his love of nature, and nature writing. He fought in World War I and, having witnessed the Christmas truce and the devastation of trench warfare, he developed first a pacifist ideology, then fascist sympathies. He moved to Devon after World War II and took up farming and writing; he wrote many other novels. He married twice. He died in a hospice in Ealing in 1977, and was buried in North Devon. Early years Henry Williamson was born in Brockley in south-east London to bank clerk William Leopold Williamson (1865-1946) and Gertrude Eliza (1867-1936; née Leaver). In early childhood his family moved to Ladywell, and he received a grammar school ed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tarka The Otter
''Tarka the Otter: His Joyful Water-Life and Death in the Country of the Two Rivers'' is a novel by English writer Henry Williamson, first published in 1927 by G.P. Putnam's Sons with an introduction by the Hon. Sir John Fortescue. It won the Hawthornden Prize in 1928,Stade and Karbiener (eds). ''Encyclopedia of British Writers, 1800 to the Present, Volume 2'', 2009, p.522 and has never been out of print since its first publication.Gavron, J. "Introduction" to ''Tarka the Otter'', Penguin, 2009, v (all subsequent page references refer to this edition) The novel describes the life of an otter, along with a detailed observation of its habitat in the country of the River Taw and River Torridge in North Devon (the "Two Rivers"); the name "Tarka" is said by Williamson to mean "Wandering as Water" (p. 10). Although not written for children, the book soon became popular with young readers, and also has influenced literary figures as diverse as Ted Hughes and Rachel Carso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claude Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born to a family of modest means and little cultural involvement, Debussy showed enough musical talent to be admitted at the age of ten to France's leading music college, the Conservatoire de Paris. He originally studied the piano, but found his vocation in innovative composition, despite the disapproval of the Conservatoire's conservative professors. He took many years to develop his mature style, and was nearly 40 when he achieved international fame in 1902 with the only opera he completed, ''Pelléas et Mélisande (opera), Pelléas et Mélisande''. Debussy's orchestral works include ''Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune'' (1894), ''Nocturnes (Debussy), Nocturnes'' (1897–18 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Presteigne Festival
The Presteigne Festival is a classical music festival which takes place at the end of August each year in the town of Presteigne situated in the Welsh Marches. The Festival promotes a wide variety of concerts together with many music-related activities. History 1983 Presteigne Festival founded by a small group of local enthusiasts including Adrian Williams, the first artistic director; 1984 Mid Border Arts formed to promote both the Festival and a series of year-round arts events; 1990 Incorporation of Presteigne Festival of Music and the Arts Limited, which separated the Festival from Mid Border Arts; 1992 Tenth anniversary ‘Open Borders’ Festival, which commissioned twelve new works, one from each of the then European Community countries; 1993 Appointment of George Vass as Artistic Director. Presteigne Festival of Music and the Arts Limited registered as a charity; 1994 Establishment of annual composer-in-residence scheme; 1999 The Festival was short listed for one of the annu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward John Trelawny
Edward John Trelawny (13 November 179213 August 1881) was a British biographer, novelist and adventurer who is best known for his friendship with the Romantic poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. Trelawny was born in England to a family of modest income but extensive ancestral history. Though his father became wealthy while he was a child, Edward had an antagonistic relationship with him. After an unhappy childhood, he was sent away to a school. He was assigned as a volunteer in the Royal Navy shortly before he turned thirteen. Trelawny served on multiple ships as a naval volunteer while in his teen years. He traveled to India and saw combat during engagements with the French Navy. He did not care for the naval lifestyle, however, and left at nineteen years of age without becoming a commissioned officer. After retiring from the navy, he had a brief and unhappy marriage in England. He then moved to Switzerland and later Italy where he met Shelley and Byron. He became ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
