Lionel Sainsbury (born 1 January 1958) is an English pianist and classical composer, noted for his stylistic combination of South American music, jazz blues and flamenco with the Western classical tradition.

Biography

Born in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

in 1958, he started playing piano as a child, and soon started to compose his music. Later, he studied at 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 ...

in London, with

Patric Standford Patric Standford (5 February 1939 – 23 April 2014) was an English composer, supporter of composers' rights, educationalist and author. Early life and education Patric John Standford (real name John Gledhill) was born in Barnsley, moved to t ...

(composition) and Edith Vogel (piano). In 1979 he received the British

Mendelssohn Scholarship The Mendelssohn Scholarship () refers to two scholarships awarded in Germany and in the United Kingdom. Both commemorate the composer Felix Mendelssohn, and are awarded to promising young musicians to enable them to continue their development. Hi ...

and met with

Edmund Rubbra Edmund Rubbra (; 23 May 190114 February 1986) was a British composer. He composed both instrumental and vocal works for soloists, chamber groups and full choruses and orchestras. He was greatly esteemed by fellow musicians and was at the peak o ...

John McCabe John McCabe may refer to: *John McCabe (composer) (1939–2015), British composer and classical pianist *John McCabe (writer) (1920–2005), Shakespearean scholar and biographer *Christopher John McCabe Christopher John McCabe (born 20 Oc ...

and

Henri Dutilleux Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer of late 20th-century classical music. Among the leading French composers of his time, his work was rooted in the Impressionistic style of Debussy and R ...

in Paris. He lives in Oxfordshire.

Music

As an active pianist himself, a significant amount of his composition work is for solo piano. The Twelve Preludes were completed in 1987 and premiered by

Jack Gibbons Jack Gibbons (born 2 March 1962) is an English-born American classical composer and virtuoso pianist. Biography Gibbons was born in England. His father was a scientist and his mother a visual artist. He began his piano studies in Stockton-o ...

at St. John's, Smith Square in London. The ''Two Cuban Dances'' (1991) have also been arranged for other forces, including versions for violin and piano, piano duet, strings and wind quintet.

Tasmin Little Tasmin Elizabeth Little (born 13 May 1965) is an English classical music, classical violinist. She is a concerto solo (music), soloist and also performs as a Concert#Recital, recitalist and chamber musician. She has released numerous albums, winn ...

has used the second dance as an encore piece. The Dances were followed by the ''Cuban Fantasy'', op. 22 (1994) and the ''South American Suite'', op. 23 (1996). Sainsbury has issued three albums of his own performances: ''Lionel Sainsbury'' (1999, featuring the Twelve Preludes, ''Cuban Fantasy'', Nocturne, ''Andalusian Fantasy'' and the ''South American Suite''); ''Sunlight and Storms'' (2014); and ''Andalusian Fantasy'' (2015). Sainsbury's orchestral work includes his Violin Concerto of 1989, which received a BBC studio performance in 1995 but was not premiered at a public concert until 2002: at the

Three Choirs Festival 200px, Worcester cathedral 200px, Gloucester cathedral The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held annually at the end of July, rotating among the cathedrals of the Three Counties (Hereford, Gloucester, and Worcester) and originally fe ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

, with soloist Lorraine McAslan and the

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an English orchestra, founded in 1893 and originally based in Bournemouth. With a remit to serve the South and South West of England, the BSO is administratively based in the adjacent town of Poole, s ...

, conducted by

Adrian Lucas Adrian Paul Lucas, b. 1962 is an English organist, tutor and composer. He became organist and director of music at Worcester Cathedral in 1996 and artistic director of the Worcester Three Choirs Festival. Previously he had been assistant organi ...

. It was later recorded by the same soloist with the

BBC Concert Orchestra The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British concert orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five BBC orchestras which is not a full-scale sym ...

under

Barry Wordsworth Barry Wordsworth (born 20 February 1948) is a British conductor. Biography Wordsworth was appointed assistant conductor to the touring orchestra of The Royal Ballet in 1972. In 1973, he became principal conductor of the Sadler's Wells Royal Ba ...

. A recording of the Cello Concerto (1999) followed in 2011 with soloist

Raphael Wallfisch Raphael Wallfisch (born 15 June 1953 in London) is an English cellist. Background Wallfisch was born into a family of distinguished musicians; his father was the pianist Peter Wallfisch and his mother is the cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisc ...

and the

Royal Scottish National Orchestra The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) () is a Scottish orchestra, based in Glasgow. It is one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Throughout its history, the Orchestra has played an important part in Scotland’s ...

conducted by

Martin Yates Martin Yates (born in London) is a British conductor. After attending Kimbolton School, he studied at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music, London, where his teachers included Bernard Keeffe (conducting), Richard Arnell (co ...

Malcolm MacDonald Malcolm John MacDonald (17 August 1901 – 11 January 1981) was a British politician and diplomat. He was initially a Labour Party (UK), Labour Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP), but in 1931 followed his father ...

has described these two concertos as using "unabashedly tonal and opulent melodic language, recalling the neo-romantic idiom of great 20th century composers such as

William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...

and

Samuel Barber Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor (music), conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the mid-20th century. Principally influenced ...

."Malcolm MacDonald
Notes to Dutton Epoch CDLX7284 (2012)
/ref> Another orchestral work, ''Time of the Comet'', was premiered in the Czech Republic by the Moravian Philharmonic under Petr Vronský in 2017.

Selected works

References

External links

Official site

Lionel Sainsbury on Allmusic.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sainsbury, Lionel 1958 births Living people Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama English male classical composers Mendelssohn Prize winners Musicians from Wiltshire