Stimpson was brought up in Hammersmith and Wimbledon. His first degree was in Botany and Zoology, but immediately on completion he turned to music, and more specifically, the classical guitar. His twenties were taken up with study, examinations, concerts, and teaching, and his first contribution to a book was for Cambridge University Press. In 1980 he studied on the Advanced Course at the Royal Academy of Music and later obtained his Associate of the Institute of Education, and his doctorate in composition at the University of Southampton. During this time he published Café Music for solo guitar and edited a book and six-part music series with Oxford University Press which included collaborations with Queen guitarist Brian May and flamenco guitarist Paco Peña.
Career
Stimpson's first major chamber work, Sonata for Piano Trio, was premiered at the Purcell Room by the Dussek Piano Trio in 1997, and was described by The Strad as '...a finely poised, lyrical work...a joy to hear'. In 1999 Concerto for Oboe was premiered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, performed by John Anderson and the London Festival Orchestra, conductor Ross Pople. String Quartet No. 1, composed after the breakdown of apartheid, was premiered in October 2000 by the Allegri Quartet at St. John's Smith Square, London. Also present was Professor Denis Goldberg, who had been on trial with Nelson Mandela, and Cheryl Carolus. The concert benefited the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. The Allegri String Quartet subsequently toured and recorded the work, preceded by a discussion of the work on BBC Radio 3. The recording also contained their commission of Stimpson for a work for tenor and piano quintet, A Walk Into War. Based on the writing of Laurie Lee, and premiered at the Salisbury International Arts Festival. Reflecting his concerns over global climate change, Stimpson wrote The Angry Garden for choir, soli and orchestra, with a libretto by Simon Rae. It was premiered at St. Johns Smith Square in aid of the World Wildlife Fund by the English Concert Singers and English Concert Orchestra, conductor Roy Wales. The beginning of a long-term collaboration with Sioned Williams, principal harp with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, resulted in his first work for harp, The Stars Have Withdrawn Their Shining, premiered at the Purcell Room in 2002. This was followed by Dylan, written to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Dylan Thomas, premiered at the Brangwyn Hall in Swansea and latterly on CD with Roderick Williams. His final work for Sioned Williams, The Drowning of Capel Celyn, was for her 60th birthday concert at the Purcell Room. Dylan and Drowning are published by Creighton's Collection. Stimpson's major work to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, Clouds of War for soli, choir and orchestra, was performed by the English Chamber Orchestra at Cadogan Hall, in the presence of HRH Prince Michael of Kent. This was followed by a four-stage work, Age of Wonders, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. Beginning as a piece for violin and piano, it evolved through string quartet and string orchestra to a work for full orchestra, commissioned by the Darwin Symphony Orchestra in Australia. Stimpson went on to write the opera, Jesse Owens, a work in four Acts for soli, chorus and full orchestra based on the life of the iconic US athlete. Specifically designed so that every lead role was for BME singers, Stimpson collaborated on the libretto with poets Grace Nichols and John Agard. There are four CDs of Stimpson's works to date: Journeymen ; Dylan and The Drowning of Capel Celyn ; Incidental Music and Songs from the opera Jesse Owens and Preludes In Our Time ; and Age of Wonders.
Personal life
Stimpson has been registered blind since 1977 as a result of the virus Guillain-Barré Syndrome. He and his wife and son left London in 1990 to live in the Chalke Valley, near Salisbury.
Selected compositions
Orchestral and choral
Age of Wonders - An Entangled Bank Age of Wonders - Transmutations Clouds of War In Memoriam Jesse Owens - opera Songs of Innocence and Experience The Angry Garden The Ninth Hour: Four Latin Motets
Chamber
A Walk Into War String Quartet No.1 Age of Wonders - String Quartet No.2 Sonata for Piano Trio Suite Gromignana Songs from the opera Jesse Owens The Sun and the Moon
Solo and duo
Cafe Music Dall'Alba al Tramonto Drawings from the Shell Dylan Fanfara per la Vista Faulstone Hollow Five Miniatures L'Ora di Barga Preludes In Our Time Sonatina Pour le Vent Tales from the 15th Floor The Balancing of Opposites The Drowning of Capel Celyn The Haze of Time Age of Wonders - The Man Who Walked With Henslow The Stars Have Withdrawn Their Shining Three Variants on a Blue Two Folk Pieces Variations on Papaver Rhoeas
