University News Last updated 03 February 2009
Contemporary composer, Professor Jonathan Harvey, will tomorrow receive an honorary doctorate from Birmingham City University in recognition of his distinguished contribution to music.
Born in Sutton Coldfield in 1939, Prof Harvey studied with Erwin Stein and Hans Keller and at St John's College, Cambridge, where he obtained his D.Mus.
An invitation from Pierre Boulez to work at IRCAM in the early 1980s resulted in eight realisations at the Institute, and two for the Ensemble Intercontemporain, including the celebrated tape piece Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco, Bhakti for ensemble and electronics, Advaya for cello, live electronics and pre-recorded sounds and String Quartet No.4, with live electronics.
Professor Harvey has also composed for many other genres: orchestra (Tranquil Abiding, White as Jasmine and Madonna of Winter and Spring - the latter performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker and Simon Rattle in 2006), chamber (four string quartets, including Soleil Noir/Chitra, and Death of Light, Light of Death,) as well as works for solo instruments.
He has written many widely-performed unaccompanied works for choir - as well as the large-scale cantata for the BBC Proms Millennium, Mothers Shall Not Cry (2000). His church opera, Passion and Resurrection (1981), was the subject of a BBC television film and has received twelve subsequent performances.
His opera, Inquest of Love, commissioned by ENO, was premiered under the baton of Mark Elder in 1993 and repeated at Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels in 1994. His third opera, Wagner Dream, commissioned by Nederlandse Oper in association with the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, the Holland Festival and IRCAM, was premiered to great acclaim in 2007. 2008 saw the premiere of Messages (for the Rundfunkchor Berlin and the Berlin Philharmoniker) and Speakings (co-commission with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, IRCAM and Radio France); Speakings was the culmination of his residency (2005-8) with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from which Body Mandala and ...Towards a pure land have also emerged.
Professor Harvey is now in constant demand from a host of international organisations, attracting commissions far into the future, and his music is extensively played and toured by the major ensembles of our time. Some 150-200 performances are given or broadcast each year and about 80 recordings of his music are available on CD.
His award is due to be conferred at 10.30am tomorrow (Wednesday 4th February) at the Awards Congregation ceremony in Symphony Hall which will celebrate the work and achievements of students graduating from the School of English, the Birmingham School of Media, the departments of Art, Fashion, Textiles and 3DD, the Birmingham School of Architecture, Birmingham Conservatoire and Birmingham School of Acting.