Causton's works often engage with political themes (Millennium Scenes, The Flight), and his search for new sounds has led him to build new instruments and seek out new playing techniques.
- Date(s)
- February 21, 2024
- Location
- McMordie Hall, Music Building
- Time
- 13:00 - 14:00
Richard Causton has been described as 'one of the most courageous and uncompromising artists working today'. He has worked with artists including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken, Ensemble Recherche, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, and the Nash Ensemble. His work is recorded on Metier, Delphian, Orchid, Regent and NMC, whose disc - Millennium Scenes NMC D192 - was No.1 in the Sunday Times' 100 Best Records of the Year (Contemporary Music section). He has been the recipient of a Royal Philharmonic Society Award, a British Composer Award and First Prize at the International 'Nuove Sincronie' Competition.
His works also include a Nocturne for 21 Pianos and a Concerto for Percussion and Gamelan, commissioned by Evelyn Glennie. Recent pieces include Ik zeg: NU, premiered by Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and recorded alongside his song-cycle La Terra Impareggiabile (described in Gramophone Magazine as 'surely a masterpiece') on NMC 273. This recording was Shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in October 2023.
Causton is holder of a 2023 Artistic Research Residency at IRCAM in Paris where he is working with composer Per Bloland to create a new electromagnetic preparation for the piano. He is currently Professor of Composition at the University of Cambridge.