John Hopkins (born in 1949, at

Polegate Polegate is a town and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England, United Kingdom.OS Explorer map Eastbourne and Beachy Head Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It i ...

in East Sussex) is a British composer.

Education

Hopkins studied at University College Cardiff. There his teachers included

Alun Hoddinott Alun Hoddinott CBE (11 August 1929 – 11 March 2008) was a Welsh composer of classical music, one of the first to receive international recognition. Life and works Hoddinott was born in Bargoed, Glamorganshire, Wales. He was educated at Go ...

and

Arnold Whittall Arnold Whittall (born 1935, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England) is a British musicologist and writer. He is Professor Emeritus at King's College London. Between 1975 and 1996 he was Professor at King's. Previously he lectured at Cambridge, Nottingham ...

. He also took composition lessons with

Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Mus ...

. He graduated in 2000 from

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

with a D.Phil.

Career

Hopkins was elected as a regional composer-in-residence by the Eastern Arts Association (no
Arts Council England East
in 1979. After several teaching positions, including being co-ordinator of Practice-Based Studies at the Faculty of Music (

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

), and Director of Studies for Music at

Homerton College, Cambridge Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Its first premises were acquired in Homerton, London in 1768, by an informal gathering of Protestant dissenters with origins in the seventeenth century. In 1894, the col ...

, he is now Composer in Residence at Homerton College, Cambridge.

Works

His ''For the Far Journey'' (1981) was commissioned and premièred by th
Geminii Ensemble
and has been described as illustrating characteristics of Hopkin's music, namely 'attractive textures and effective pacing'.David Wright, 'English Song', in ''The Musical Times'', Vol. 131, No. 1774 (Dec., 1990), p. 652. ''White Winter, Black Spring'' is a composition for two voices and large instrumental ensemble; Hopkins used poems by

Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the '' Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects ...

for this work commissioned by 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. ...

Some major pieces

* ''For the Far Journey'' (1981) * ''The Magic Mountain'' (1983) * ''White Winter, Black Spring'' (1985) * ''Faustus'' (1986) * ''Double Concerto for trumpet and saxophone'' (1994) * ''Akhmatova Songs'' (2005) * ''The Floating World'', for mezzo-soprano and orchestra (2008) * ''Watching the Perseids'' (2008)

References

External links

UHRecordings, John Hopkins, Composer

Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, John Hopkins

John Hopkins - Homerton College
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkins, John 1949 births Living people British composers People from Polegate Fellows of Homerton College, Cambridge Members of the University of Cambridge Faculty of Music