Karl Jenkins
• Composer of the million-selling album Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary
• Karl Jenkins trained as classical musician at Cardiff University and Royal Academy of Music in London
• In 1970s played with Ronnie Scott's jazz band and jazz-rock fusion band Soft Machine
• Topped record charts with Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary, which hauntingly evokes choral and world music
• Sequels Adiemus: Cantata Mundi and Adiemus: Dances of Time also rapidly topped the charts
• Music is widely familiar through advertising usage, including Adiemus for Delta Air Lines and Palladio for De Beers Diamond campaign
• Choral works include his 'Mass for Peace'The Armed Man which has received over 2750 performances, together with Requiem, Stabat Mater and The Peacemakers all of which have rapidly entered the repertoire of choral groups worldwide
• Music is recorded on the Decca Classics and Deutsche Grammophon labels
• Autobiography Still with the Music published in 2015
• Awarded a Knighthood in the 2015 Queen's Birthday honours
• Tros y Garreg from harp concerto Over the Stone included in music for Coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey in May 2023
Works by Karl Jenkins include:
Palladio (1992-95) for strings
Adiemus I: Songs of Sanctuary (1994) for soprano, chorus and orchestra
The Armed Man: A Mass for peace (1999) for soloists, chorus and orchestra
Looking Ahead: final events in 80th birthday year; conducts London Mozart Players at Grayshott Concerts in Stabat Mater and music from One World (28 Sep); first North American performance of One World with DCINY at Carnegie Hall in New York (20 Jan).
Video: View an interview with Karl Jenkins talking about his life and music.
"As a composer, he recognises no boundaries - musical, commercial, geographical or cultural. His is a way of thinking and composing that is perfectly in tune with the spirit of the times..." — Classic FM Magazine
