Boosey & Hawkes signs composer Mark Simpson
Boosey & Hawkes has signed a publishing agreement with 24-year-old composer Mark Simpson, born in Liverpool in 1988.
Boosey & Hawkes is pleased to announce a new publishing agreement with British composer Mark Simpson. His orchestral work sparks was commissioned by the BBC to open the Last Night of the Proms last year and A mirror-fragment… receives its London premiere by the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican on 19 April. Simpson recently won a Sky Arts Futures Fund bursary worth £30,000, awarded to five of the most exciting young creative talents, to nurture future projects including a new commission.
Mark Simpson has in recent years emerged as a major new musical talent, establishing successful twin careers as composer and clarinettist. He first came to attention in 2006 aged 17, winning both the BBC Young Musician of the Year and BBC Proms/Guardian Young Composer of the Year competitions. He studied music at St Catherine's College Oxford followed by Masters studies in composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with Julian Anderson. He has appeared as soloist with UK orchestras including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and National Youth Orchestra. Simpson is a BBC Radio 3 Young Generation Artist and performs on 30 April in a live broadcast of Magnus Lindberg’s Clarinet Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Mark Simpson commented on his new publishing agreement: "It is a huge honour and an absolute privilege to be signing with Boosey & Hawkes. I grew up studying the scores of the great composers in the B&H catalogue and to now be included alongside some of my compositional heroes is a dream come true. I'm really looking forward to developing our relationship further and to what the future has in store."
Janis Susskind, Managing Director of Boosey & Hawkes, said: "We have been working with Mark Simpson in a mentoring capacity since he was 18 years old, and I am delighted that the moment is now right for us to embark on a full publishing relationship with him. His remarkable musical gifts, as both composer and performer, were evident from an early age, and my colleagues and I look forward to helping him develop his already flourishing career in the years ahead."
Simpson's recent premieres include Exile, a choral setting of poetry by Hart Crane for the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain unveiled at the Royal Albert Hall on 14 April. Forthcoming first performances include Salvator Mundi for the Choir of Christchurch Cathedral Oxford commissioned by the Newbury Spring Festival on 25 May. Future projects include the Sky Arts Futures Fund commission of a 30-minute score for an ensemble of instruments and voices, an orchestral work, an operatic collaboration with writer Melanie Challenger resulting from the award of a Jerwood Opera Writing Fellowship, and a new work for the winds of the Britten Sinfonia scheduled for premiere in February 2014.
For further information on Mark Simpson and his music visit www.boosey.com/simpson.
> Further information on Work: A mirror-fragment...
Photo: Elisabeth Blanchett
