Welcome to TimBenjamin.com
Biography
Tim Benjamin (b. 1975) is a composer from the United Kingdom, and has studied with Anthony Gilbert at the Royal Northern College of Music, privately with
Steve Martland, and with Robert Saxton at Oxford University.
He is the founder and Director of the critically acclaimed contemporary music group Radius.
Tim Benjamin was winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Composer's Award in 1993, at the age of 17, with his work Antagony. He also won the Stephen Oliver Trust's Prize for Contemporary Opera, for his first opera The Bridge.
Benjamin's music has been widely performed, by groups including the London Sinfonietta, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and at the BOC Covent Garden Festival,
and broadcast on BBC 2 and BBC Radio 3.
Past commissioners include the European Community Chamber Orchestra (Möbius),
the Segovia Trio (Hypocrisy), the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra (Un Jeu de Tarot), and the London Design Festival (his second opera, The Corley Conspiracy).
Tim Benjamin lives and works in London, UK, and also plays the trombone.
MySpace
Tim Benjamin may also be found on MySpace.com, at www.myspace.com/timbenjamin.
Press Kit and Works List
Tim Benjamin press kit (PDF format). Also contains links to high-resolution photographs.
List of works (PDF format). Alternatively, please use the Works Database for full details, scores, recordings and programme notes.
Forthcoming Events
Radius
| When: | Sunday May 25th 2008, 7.45pm, Sunday June 22nd 2008, 7pm |
| Where: | Purcell Room at the QEH, Southbank Centre, London Corsham Festival, Corsham, Wiltshire |
| Includes: |
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| Further details: |
Trillium
| When: |
Monday 19th May 2008, 1.10pm Fri, Sat 20th & 21st June 2008 Friday 11th July 2008 |
| Where: | St Anne & St Agnes, Gresham Street EC2V, London National Trust NCMA, Mussenden Temple, Ireland National Portrait Gallery, London |
| Includes: |
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Gareth Holwill
| When: | Wednesday 28th May 2008, 8.15pm |
| Where: | Christ Church, Oxford |
| Includes: |
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Rarescale
| When: | Friday 5th September 2008, 6.30pm |
| Where: | The National Portrait Gallery, London |
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"Approachable ... punchy writing, with a real rhythmic drive. The sheer spectacle and volume are compelling"
- The Times (read full review)
"Spearheaded by Tim Benjamin ... this concert was brilliantly executed and conceived."
- SPNM / New Notes (read full review)
All of Tim Benjamin's
music
is available for
performance and recording,
whether commercial or not,
free of charge. You may simply
download
scores and parts (they are in
PDF format) from this site and print them
off yourself for your own use. We simply ask that you contact us
to let us know, and so we can help promote your event.
Solo Violin Music
The third movement of Tim Benjamin's Three Preludes and Fugue is ideal as a concert piece for solo violin. This piece - dramatic and impressive yet not requiring an expert performer - has been played on a number of occasions and has been well received.
If you play the cello or the viola, why not try movements 1 or 2 from the same piece? Each works just as well on its own as a concert piece.
Solo Brass Music
Tim Benjamin's Sonata for Solo Tuba was first performed by James Gourlay and is an excellent recital piece for the tuba. It was recently programmed alongside the Capriccio (also for solo tuba) by Penderecki, in a performance by James Longstaffe.
Solo Piano Music
Commissioned by Berenika, Tim Benjamin's Prelude for Solo Piano is a highly charged, 10-15 minute piece for the piano. Although it is a technically difficult piece, it delivers a great performance impact for the aspiring piano virutoso!
More Free Music
To find more free music, and to listen online to recordings of these works, simply click the "Works Database" link above.
Newsletter
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Tim Benjamin
Photo: Gaby Turner
Major premiere at the Southbank Centre followed by festival tour
Sunday 25th May 2008, Purcell Room at the QEH, Southbank Centre
Radius will perform works by four British composers: Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Thomas Adès, Ian Vine, and Tim Benjamin, together with a rare performance of George Crumb's beautiful Eleven Echoes of Autumn. The programme features two world premieres: The Rosenhan Experiment, a one-act music-drama by Tim Benjamin exploring the nature of sanity in the context of insanity, featuring countertenor Robert Ogden and directed by Arne Muus; and Gesso, by Ian Vine.
Daily Telegraph article features Tim Benjamin
February 16th, 2008
Originally published in the Daily Telegraph on 16th February 2008, Ivan Hewett asks whether arts (in the United Kingdom) can thrive without the (UK's) Arts Council. Hewett draws on the example of Tim Benjamin's Radius ensemble to claim that challenging art can indeed survive, even thrive, without (and in fact, deliberately refusing) the support of the Arts Council. Read the full article online at Telegraph.co.uk.
Tim Benjamin's The Corley Conspiracy: Premiere of the Year!
December, 2007
The December edition of the magazine Classical Music featured an end-of-year review of "Premieres of the Year", selected by Classical Music's contributors. The premiere selected by Toby Deller was the London Design Festival production of Tim Benjamin's music theatre work The Corley Conspiracy directed by Sean Starke and performed by Radius, which took place in September at the Southbank Centre, London.
Classical Music magazine is not readable online, but the article has been reproduced on the Radius website: http://www.radiusmusic.org/reviews/.
Two new works by Benjamin receive premieres at Wigmore Hall, London
Radius - January 8th, 2008
Radius performed the world premiere of two new works by Tim Benjamin, at London's Wigmore Hall, on 8th January 2008. The two new works were Three Portraits, for horn, violin, cello, and piano; and In Memoriam Tape Recorder, for flute, clarinet, horn, violin, cello, piano, and percussion, and two cassette tape recorders. The scores are now available on this website. The concert was reviewed in three publications (see the reviews section for details).
