John Webb (composer)
John Webb is an English composer.Biography
He was educated in Essex where he started playing the piano and viola. He began to compose at 14, and two years later attended Colchester Institute. Here he studied piano with Frank Wibaut and composition with John Joubert at the Birmingham Conservatoire.
As a founding member of the Thallein Ensemble, he performed works by Berio, Messiaen, Finnissy, Ives and Schnittke. In his final year he completed a dissertation on Schnittke's polystylism and was the soloist in his piano concerto.
After graduating from Birmingham Conservatoire with a first class degree, he studied for three years at the Royal Academy of Music with Christopher Brown. In his last year he was Leverhulme Composition Fellow and won the major composition prizes; he graduated with MMus and DipRAM.
He went on to develop contacts with period instrument performers and has written works for 'old' instruments which have recently been revived, including viols, harpsichord, and baroque orchestra.
He lectures at Birmingham Conservatoire and runs education projects for English National Opera, The Stables, Milton Keynes and the Wigmore Hall. He taught composition and general studies at the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music until leaving at the end of the 2005-2006 academic year. He has since returned to cover David Knotts' timetable whilst his colleague was in America.Selected works
Orchestral works
- Concerto for classical accordion, strings and clarinet 20 mins
- White Stones 8 mins; orchestra
- Barcarolle 9 mins; orchestra
- A Caribbean Dawn and Celebration 12 mins; orchestra and steel band
- The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman 13 mins; orchestra and narrator. From the book by Raymond Briggs
Choral works
- Into His Marvellous Light 5 mins; choir, solo viola and organ
Chamber works
- Cries of London 25 mins; string quartet
- Prelude, Waltz and Tambourin 7 mins; 4 violins
- Four Bagatelles 14 mins; free bass accordion, two violins, cello
- On Christmas Night... 9 mins; 3 baroque oboes, 3 oboes da caccia, 2 baroque bassoons, 1 baroque contra-bassoon, harpsichord, percussion
- Masque 5 mins; treble viol, two tenor viols, bass viol
- Calm 9 mins; flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, cello
- PUMP 7 mins; 4 bassoons
- Sextet for Piano and Wind
- Prelude and Chaconne; baroque orchestra
Instrumental works
- Sans Noir 9 mins; piano; also versions for harpsichord and wind quintet
- Here's Fine Rosemary, Sage and Thyme... 3 mins; viola
- Pastorale 5 mins; organ
- Five Atmospheres 9 mins; piano
- Chromatic Rhapsody 5 mins; two pianos
- Hop-bodee-boody's Last Will and Testament for soprano, 4 violas and harpsichord
Vocal works
- Love Songs 15 mins; tenor and guitar. Texts by Roger McGough and Tony Harrison