Richard Rodney Bennett (1936–2012)

There cannot be another contemporary British composer with Richard Rodney Bennett's breadth of musical experience and interests or one whose music has been heard more widely throughout the world. Once a leading figure in the generation of 1960s avant gardistes and student of Pierre Boulez, whose toon meer writings he once translated, he has always been at the heart of British music making, creating works for all the major orchestras, the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet. The composer of a dozen concertos and a large body of orchestral and chamber works, he is also creator of classic scores for film and television, among them Far from the Madding Crowd, Nicholas and Alexandra and the unforgettable Murder on the Orient Express. Bennett is also a jazz composer and pianist possessed of a beguiling baritone voice. toon minder