Arthur Benjamin

Arthur Benjamin travelled from Australia to London in 1911 to study with Stanford at Royal College * Taught piano at Royal College in 1920s and 30s where his pupils included the young Britten * First came to prominence as composer in 1932 with Violin Concerto and comic opera The Devil Take Her * Cheltenham Festival premieres of Symphony (now recorded on CD by Marco Polo) and Viola Concerto * Dickens opera A Tale of Two Cities staged at Sadler's Wells and recently revived by BBC * Popular light music hits include Jamaican Rumba, and the Cotillon suite of English folk tunes * Works performed by leading figures of the day including Sir Thomas Beecham, Sir Malcolm Sargent, Jascha Heifetz, William Penrose, Leon Goossens and Larry Adler

Works by Arthur Benjamin include:
Romantic Fantasy (1935) for violin, viola and orchestra
Jamaican Rumba (1938) for orchestra
Symphony (1944-45)
A Tale of Two Cities (1949-50) Romantic melodrama in six scenes

"I am absolutely certain that the only music which can last is that which is the outcome of one's emotional reactions to the ultimate realities of Life, Love and Death." — Arthur Benjamin