John Pickard

John Pickard was born in 1963, in Burnley, Lancashire and was one of those slightly annoying geniuses who started composing at a ridiculously early age. He was eventually to study music formally at the University of Wales under William Mathias, and subsequently under Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory in the The Hague, Netherlands. Since 1993, he has been the professor of composition and applied musicology at the University of Bristol.

His output (at the time of writing, obviously: he's my age and still very much with us!) is substantial, with six symphonies under his belt, a large-scale song-cycle for baritone called The Borders of Sleep, and oratorio called Agamemnon's Tomb, six string quartets and a number of symphonic-like pieces for orchestra such as The Flight of Icarus, Sea-Change and Tenebrae. His work is healthily reflected in the catalogues of recording companies such as BIS.

His music is well-regarded by critics, who have noted grand architectural qualities about it. It is essentially tonal, with flashes of jazz or more popular music idioms, somewhat in the style of Bernstein: I find most of it to be very engaging, attractive and exciting. Since he is very much a creature of our times and not a musical fossil in a history book, he of course has his own website!

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