Roderick Watkins, DL (born 1964) is a

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 ...

and the Vice Chancellor (and former Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation)) at

Anglia Ruskin University Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public research university in the region of East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins date back to the Cambridge School of Art (CSA), founded by William John Beamont, a Fellow of Trinity College at the Unive ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He was appointed to the University in 2014 and served briefly as Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences. He was appointed as Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Anglia Ruskin in 2015 before becoming

Vice Chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth countr ...

in 2019. He was previously Professor of Composition and Contemporary Music at

Canterbury Christ Church University Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) is a Public university, public research university located in Canterbury, Kent, England. Founded as a Church of England college for teacher training in 1962, it was granted university status in 2005. ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

from 2005 to July 2014, where he was Programme Director for undergraduate Music and taught composition and contemporary music. Watkins was educated at

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a private school (English fee-charging boarding and day school) in Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Baccalaureate schools in England. The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a f ...

and then took a degree in Philosophy and Composition at Oberlin in the US before studying at 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 ...

, where he won all of the Academy's main prizes for composition, completed his doctorate and became a Leverhulme Fellow. His teachers included

Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large List of compositions by Hans Werner Henze, oeuvre is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Igor Stravinsky, Stravinsky, Mu ...

, Richard Hoffmann, and Paul Patterson. He also spent a year at

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 ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and later returned to

as a “compositeur en recherche” (research composer). He was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire in 2021.

Compositions

Watkins' compositions include a full-length opera, ''The Juniper Tree'', premiered at the

Munich Biennale The Munich Biennale () is a contemporary opera and music theatre festival in the city of Munich. The full German name is ''Internationales Festival für neues Musiktheater'', literally: International Festival for New Music Theater. The biennial f ...

in April 1997, and given its UK premiere at the Almeida festival in July of that year by 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 ...

conducted by

Markus Stenz Markus Stenz (born 28 February 1965, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate) is a Germans, German conducting, conductor. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik Köln with Volker Wangenhein and at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seij ...

. In 2003 he produced the electronic material for Henze's opera ''L’Upupa''. Orchestral compositions include ''Red Light'', ''Who Walked Between'', ''Still'', and ''Light's Horizon''. Electro-acoustic compositions include ''The Looking Glass'' and ''Sound in Space''. Chamber music includes ''A Valediction: of Weeping'', ''Last Light'' (for clarinet and piano), and ''At the Horizon'' (for flute and piano), a ''Clarinet Quintet'' and ''Breath''. A piece for harpsichord and electronics, entitled ''After Scarlatti'', was premiered on 29 April 2009 at the Sounds New Festival in Canterbury.

References

Sources

Independent review of Watkins' ''The Juniper Tree'' (3 July 1997), accessed 5 February 2010Review of Watkins' ''The Juniper Tree'' in ''The Musical Times'', Vol. 138, No. 1852 (Jun., 1997), pp. 42-44, accessed 5 February 2010

External links

Staff profile at Anglia Ruskin University, accessed 11 May 2016Staff profile at Canterbury Christ Church University, accessed 5 February 2010Munich Biennale page on ''The Juniper tree'', accessed 5 February 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watkins, Roderick 1964 births Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Academics of Canterbury Christ Church University People educated at Gresham's School 20th-century English classical composers 21st-century English classical composers Living people Musicians from Kent English male classical composers 20th-century English male musicians 21st-century English male musicians