GILES SWAYNE was born in Hertfordshire in June 1946. After an early childhood in Singapore and Australia, he grew up in Liverpool and Yorkshire. He began composing at the age of ten, and in his teens was encouraged by his cousin, the composer Elizabeth Maconchy. He studied the piano with Gordon Green, Phyllis Hepburn, James Gibb and Vlado Perlemuter. On leaving Cambridge in 1968 he won a composition scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, London, where he studied with Harrison Birtwistle, Alan Bush and Nicholas Maw. In 1976-77 he visited the Paris Conservatoire to study with Olivier Messiaen. In 1980 his huge piece CRY for twenty-eight amplified voices (which is dedicated to Messiaen) was premièred by the BBC Singers under John Poole. Widely hailed as an important landmark, it has been performed four times in Britain (twice at the London Proms, in 1983 and 1994), and many times in Europe and America. In 1981 Swayne made a field trip to Senegal to record the music of the Jola community of Casamance (southern Senegal); these recordings are now in the British Library's Sound Archive and available online. His interest in Africa and African music has influenced his work both directly and indirectly. Between 1990 and 1996 he lived in the eastern region of Ghana, where he built a beautiful house in the Akuapem Hills. He now lives in London with his wife, violinist Malu Lin, teaches composition at Cambridge University, and is Composer-in-residence at Clare College, Cambridge. The Silent Land for cello and 40-part choir, premièred at the 1998 Spitalfields Festival by Raphael Wallfisch with the choir of Clare College, Cambridge under Tim Brown, was described by The Times as "a masterpiece", and Swayne himself as "the most accomplished choral composer in Britain". After the première of HAVOC at the Proms in September 1999 by the BBC Singers and the Endymion Ensemble under Stephen Cleobury, The Independent commented "Swayne is a master". His Symphony no. 1 - a small world, commissioned by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, was premièred by them in Cardiff under conductor Jac van Steen in November 2007; Leonardo's dream for alto saxophone and piano was premièred at the Purcell Room on London's South Bank by Hannah Marcinowicz and the composer in January 2008; and Agnes Wisley's Chillout Fantasy was first performed at the Barbican Hall, London in March 2008 by the Guildhall Symphonic Wind Ensemble, conducted by Peter Gane. In 2009 Swayne completed his String quartet no. 4 (the turning Year), which was commissioned by Clare College, Cambridge, and premièred by the Solstice String Quartet at the Cambridge Festival in November 2009. Zig-zag for organ, commissioned by Leeds Catholic Cathedral, was premièred at Westminster Abbey by James McVinnie in May 2010. The joys of Travel, a song-cycle for voice and piano celebrating the horrors of package holidays, was commissioned by tenor Benjamin Hulett for a CD which will appear in autumn 2010; and Swayne also composed a setting of Adam lay ybounden for the advent carol service of St. John's College, Cambridge in November 2009. He is currently working on an open-ended series of Bagatelles for piano, and Hubbub, a choral setting of an especially written poem by Kevin Crossley-Holland, commissioned by Linda and Jack Hoeschler of Minnesota for the USA tour by the choir of Clare College, Cambridge under Tim Brown in August 2010. In April 2010, the Dmitri Ensemble under Graham Ross recorded a CD of Swayne's choral music for Naxos, including The silent land of 1997(with Raphael Wallfisch as solo cellist) and the Stabat mater of 2004. This CD will be released in November 2010. In May 2010 Swayne's work was represented at the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music in several performances, including the Stabat mater, and the world première of Zig-zag for organ by James McVinnie at Westminster Abbey on May 16th. Zig-zag was commissioned by Leeds Catholic Cathedral, but rejected by them as unsuitable, and Swayne's work was banned from Leeds Cathedral after he wrote a letter to the Guardian newpaper criticising the religious indoctrination of children in "faith" schools. In the same month, Swayne received the ultimate accolade of an article in Private Eye which described him as "amiably bonkers". In June 2010 Swayne visited Leipzig for the première of Der Wandersmann for 12-part a cappella voices, which was commissioned by the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Choir and their conductor Howard Arman. In August 2010 he will appear as composer and pianist at the Tout petit festival de St Germain de Calberte in the Cévennes, southern France, where he will give the première of a new song-cycle, Complaintes for soprano and piano, with rising star soprano Juliette de Massy, and also give recitals with his wife, violinist Malu Lin, and with cellist Rohan de Saram. Back in Britain, his new choral work Hubbub will be premièred on 4th September in King's College Chapel, Cambridge by the choir of Clare College at the farewell concert of their outgoing Director of Music, Swayne's friend and colleague, Tim Brown. Hubbub will then be taken on tour in the USA, as well as another new choral setting of words by Kevin Crossley-Holland, The Word, for choir and solo flute. In February 2011 the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Choir under conductor Howard Arman will give the world premiere in Leipzig of the extended version of Swayne's Stabat mater with solo cello, which they have commissioned; and in June 2011 the Westdeutscher Rundfunk Choir under Rupert Huber will give two performances of Swayne's 1978 classic, CRY.

Copyright 2010 Giles Swayne