Mark-Anthony Turnage receives CBE
Mark-Anthony Turnage awarded CBE in Queen's Birthday Honours.
Mark-Anthony Turnage (b.1960), the composer of Blood on the Floor and the operas Greek and Anna Nicole, has been awarded a CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in the Queen's Birthday Honours, announced on 12 June 2015, for "services to music".
Mark-Anthony Turnage made this statement following the announcement:
"I'm really pleased to have been given this honour. I would never have believed this was possible when I started life as a composer. I put my life into my music and it’s great to have the recognition - it means a lot to me."
Turnage’s music has done much to break down barriers and attract new audiences. His works absorb jazz elements within a highly distinctive personal idiom that has made Turnage a stand-out international figure in his generation of contemporary classical composers.
Future highlights include his viola concerto On Opened Ground performed at the BBC Proms, the world premiere of Dialogue, a concerto for violin and cello at Yehudi Menuhin’s Gstaad Festival, a new ballet score for Christopher Wheeldon at The Royal Ballet and two new operas for The Royal Opera, Covent Garden.
About Mark-Anthony Turnage
Born near Tilbury in Essex in 1960, Turnage studied with Oliver Knussen and John Lambert and with the encouragement of Hans Werner Henze composed the opera Greek, which proved to be his breakthrough piece at the Munich Biennale in 1988. He collaborated for four years with Simon Rattle at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, composing major works including Three Screaming Popes and Drowned Out. His passion for jazz took wing in an influential sequence of scores created with jazz performers John Scofield, Peter Erskine, Dave Holland and Joe Lovano, combining notated and improvisational elements, including Blood on the Floor and Scorched.
Operas by Turnage demonstrate his theatricality and skill at bringing human life and emotions to the stage. Following Greek’s blending of classical tragedy and social humour, The Silver Tassie set Sean O’Casey’s passionate anti-war play, while Anna Nicole explored the light and dark sides of celebrity culture. His output covers an enormous range, from large-scale orchestral works such as Chicago Remains and Speranza, through concertos for trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger and violinist Christian Tetzlaff, to works for dance, song-cycles and chamber music.
As well as holding residencies/associations with leading UK organisations including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, English National Opera, BBC Symphony Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra, he has also been one of Britain’s most successful cultural exports, including a residency with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and performances by leading orchestras and ensembles in Europe, the USA and Australia. His music is recorded on labels including Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Warner Classics and Chandos.
Mark-Anthony Turnage has an exclusive publishing contract with Boosey & Hawkes, with works written before 2003 published by Schott Music.
> Read the full press release as a PDF
> Further information about Mark-Anthony Turnage
> View a video interview with Mark-Anthony Turnage about his music
> Further information on Work: Anna Nicole
Photo: Philip Gatward
