Sir George William John Benjamin, CBE (born 31 January 1960) is an English

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, conductor,

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and teacher.

Biography

Benjamin was born in London and attended

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...

. 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, after which Gellhorn arranged for Benjamin to continue his lessons in Paris with

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...

, whom he had known for many years. Messiaen was reported to have described Benjamin as his favourite pupil. He then read music at

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

, studying under

Alexander Goehr Peter Alexander Goehr (; 10 August 1932 – 26 August 2024) was a German-born English composer of contemporary classical music and academic teacher. A long-time professor of music at the University of Cambridge, Goehr influenced many notable c ...

and

Robin Holloway Robin Greville Holloway (born 19 October 1943) is an English composer, academic and writer. Early life Holloway was born in Leamington Spa. From 1953 to 1957, he was a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral and was educated at King's College School, ...

. Benjamin's orchestral piece ''Ringed by the Flat Horizon'' (written for the Cambridge University Musical Society and premiered in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

under the baton of Mark Elder on 5 March 1980) was performed at

The Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

that August, while he was still a student, making him the then-youngest living composer to have had music performed at the Proms. The

London Sinfonietta The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber music, chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert ...

and Sir Simon Rattle premiered ''At First Light'' two years later. ''Antara'' was commissioned by

IRCAM IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of Avant-garde music, avant garde and Electroacoustic ...

for the 10th anniversary of the Pompidou Centre in 1987 and ''Three Inventions for chamber orchestra'' were written for the 75th

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

in 1995. The

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

under

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...

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. 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. 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 The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

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. '' Lessons in Love and Violence'', their third collaboration over the period 2015–2017, premiered at the Royal Opera House in 2018. Their fourth opera collaboration, ''Picture a Day like this'', 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. As a conductor, Benjamin made his operatic debut in 1999 conducting ''Pelléas et Mélisande'' at La Monnaie, Brussels, and he has conducted numerous world premieres, including works by Wolfgang Rihm,

Unsuk Chin Unsuk Chin ( ; born July 14, 1961) is a South Korean composer of contemporary classical music, who is based in Berlin, Germany. Chin was a self-taught pianist from a young age and studied composition at Seoul National University as well as with ...

, Gérard Grisey, and

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde music, avant-garde composers in the latter half of the ...

. In 1993, he curated the first Meltdown music festival in London and in 2010 he was the

Music Director A music director, musical director or director of music is a person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert ...

of the Ojai Music Festival in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. For the 2018–2019 season, Benjamin was composer-in-residence with the

Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic () is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. Throughout the 20th century, the orchestra was led by conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler (1922� ...

Orchestra. In January 2025, the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...

announced the appointment of Benjamin as its next composer-in-residence, effective September 2025. For sixteen years, Benjamin taught composition at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

, London, where he became the first Prince Consort Professor of Composition before succeeding Sir

Harrison Birtwistle Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his many compositions, his better known works include '' T ...

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, Dido and Aeneas, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version o ...

Professor of Composition at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

in January 2001. His pupils include Luke Bedford, Robin de Raaff, and Dai Fujikura.

Honours

In 2019, Benjamin was awarded the Golden Lion Award for lifetime achievement from the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

. Other awards include the 2001 Arnold Schönberg Prize, the 2015 Prince Pierre of Monaco composition prize (for his opera ''Written on Skin''), and 2023 the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize. In 2022, Benjamin received the

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...

for Outstanding Works Collection. For 2023, he received the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award. In 2019, critics at ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' ranked ''Written on Skin'' as the second best work of the 21st-century. In 2024, ''Picture a day like this'' received an

nomination for Best Stage Work Composition. An honorary fellow of King's College Cambridge, the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...

, the

and the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

, Benjamin is also an Honorary Member of the

Royal Philharmonic Society The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) is a British music society, formed in 1813. Its original purpose was to promote performances of instrumental music in London. Many composers and performers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a memb ...

. He is foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Music The Royal Swedish Academy of Music (), founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in ...

. He was awarded a C.B.E. in 2010, made a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2015, and was knighted in the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Personal life

Benjamin lives in northwest London with his partner, the filmmaker Michael Waldman, whose credits include ''The Day John Lennon Died'', ''The Scandalous Adventures of Lord Byron'', and the TV miniseries ''Musicality''.

Works

Source

Opera

* '' Into the Little Hill'' (2006): libretto by Martin Crimp * '' Written on Skin'' (2009–2012): libretto by Martin Crimp * '' Lessons in Love and Violence'' (2015–2017): libretto by Martin Crimp * ''Picture a day like this'' (2023): libretto by Martin Crimp

Orchestral

*''Ringed by the Flat Horizon'' for orchestra (1979–1980) *''A Mind of Winter'' for soprano and orchestra (1981, text: Wallace Stevens) *''Sudden Time'' for large orchestra (1989–1993) *''Three Inventions'' for chamber orchestra (1993–1995) *''Sometime Voices'' for baritone, chorus and orchestra (1996, text:

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

) *''Palimpsests'' for orchestra (2000–2002) *''Dance Figures'', nine choreographic scenes for orchestra (2004) * Duet for piano and orchestra (2008) *''Dream of the Song'' for countertenor, female chorus and orchestra (2014–2015, texts:

Solomon Ibn Gabirol Solomon ibn Gabirol or Solomon ben Judah (, ; , ) was an 11th-century Jews, Jewish poet and Jewish philosopher, philosopher in the Neoplatonism, Neo-Platonic tradition in Al-Andalus. He published over a hundred poems, as well as works of biblical ...

and Samuel HaNagid, trans. Peter Cole;

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27, a g ...

) * Concerto for Orchestra (2021)

Ensemble

* Octet for 8 players (1978) *''At First Light'' for 14 players (1982) *''Antara'' for 16 players and electronics (1987) *''Upon Silence'' for mezzo-soprano and viols/strings (1990, text: William Butler Yeats) *''Olicantus'' for 15 players (2002)

Chamber and instrumental

* Piano Sonata (1977–1978) *''Flight'' for solo flute (1979) *''Three Studies'' for piano (1982–1985) *''Viola, Viola'' for viola duo (1997) *''Shadowlines'' – six canonic preludes for piano (2001) *''Three Miniatures'' for solo violin (2001–2002) *''Piano Figures'' – ten short pieces for piano (2004)