Bayan Northcott

Born in Harrow on the Hill, London to Roy and Cecilia Northcott (née Venning) on 24 April 1940 he was educated at Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith.{{cite news|title=Bayan Northcott, composer and Sunday Telegraph music critic of the 1970s and 1980s – obituary|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/12/20/bayan-northcott-composer-learned-sunday-telegraph-music-critic/|work=The Telegraph|date=20 December 2022}} {{subscription required}} Northcott read English at Oxford University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oxford in 1962.Williamson, Rosemary. 'Northcott, Bayan', in Grove Music Online (2001) He then taught English from 1964 to 1970 at Chichester High School For Boys. Northcott developed an interest in composition and was encouraged by Alexander Goehr and Hans Keller.Don Michael Randel (editor) (1999). The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Belknap Press (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA). {{ISBN|0674000846}}. p 454. Subsequently he read music at the University of Southampton, where his instructors included Goehr and Jonathan Harvey. Northcott earned a BMus degree from Southampton in 1971. He mentored other composers such as Robin Holloway and Julian Anderson.{{Cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/06/arts/flexibility-is-this-orchestra-s-hallmark.html | title=Flexibility is this orchestra's hallmark | work=The New York Times | author=Nicholas Kenyon | date=6 November 1983 | accessdate=7 June 2016}}{{Cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/jun/08/classicalmusicandopera | title=First night nerves | work=The Guardian | author=Julian Anderson | date=8 June 2007 | accessdate=7 June 2016}}

Northcott served as a music critic for the New Statesman, for the Sunday Telegraph from 1976 to 1986, and he was chief music critic of The Independent from 1986 to 2009, where he worked alongside Anthony Payne and Tess Knighton.Julian Andreson, Programme note to Prom 62, BBC Proms, 31 August 2016, pp 6-7. He also wrote on music for Tempo and BBC Music Magazine. He was a director of the independent recording company NMC.{{cite news | title=Bayan Northcott (1940-2022) | url=https://www.nmcrec.co.uk/discover/bayan-northcott-1940-2022 | work=NMC Recordings | author=Colin Matthews | date=14 December 2022 | access-date=18 December 2022}}

He died in London on 13 December 2022, aged 82.{{cite news | title=British music critic and composer Bayan Northcott has died | url=https://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical%20music%20news/article/british-music-critic-and-composer-bayan-northcott-has-died | work=Gramophone | author=Peter Quantrill | date=15 December 2022 | access-date=16 December 2022}}{{cite web|title=Bayan Northcott (1940–2022)|url=https://stainer.co.uk/composer/bayan-northcott/|website=Stainer & Bell}}

As a composer, Northcott's output was modest and mainly scored for small forces. Notable chamber works include the Oboe Sonata (1978), Guitar Fantasia (1982) and the Piano Sextet (1985, premiered by the Fires of London).[https://www.nmcrec.co.uk/composers/bayan-northcott#recordings Bayan Northcott biography, NMC] Choral pieces include Hymn to Cybele (1983, performed at the 2010 Proms),[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndROmkFdxPw Hymn to Cybele, BBC Singers, Endymion, conducted by David Hill] the Four Votive Antiphons, Op. 7 (2003, a cumulative cycle), and Canticle: The Doubting of Thomas (2007).

But there were also orchestral works. The Horn Concerto, which took eight years to complete, was first performed in 1998 by Speculum Musicae in New York, and subsequently by the London Sinfonietta. His Concerto for Orchestra, a 17 minute symphonic piece in one movement, was performed at the Proms in 2016.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p046hn7s BBC Proms performance archive]

• Sonata for Solo Oboe, Op. 1 (1977–78)
• Six Japanese Lyrics, Op. 2, for Sop, cl, vn (1971/79) (texts translated by the composer)
• Fantasia for Guitar, Op. 3 (1981–82){{Cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/02/arts/recordings-bridge-records-a-haven-for-new-music-honors-the-old.html?pagewanted=all | title=Recordings: Bridge Records: A Haven for New Music Honors the Old | work=The New York Times | author=Allan Kozinn | date=1986-11-02 | accessdate=2016-06-07}}
• Hymn to Cybele, Op. 4, for Mezz, Ten, Bar, chor, 2 perc, db (1983) (text – Catullus, translated by the composer)
• Sextet, Op. 5, for fl/picc, cl/b cl, pno, perc, vn, vc (1984–85)
• Carillon (after Machaut), for 14 players (1987)
• Three English Lyrics, Op. 6, for Sop, cl, va, db (1988) (texts – Anon, 15th-16th century)
• Of All the Instruments (after Purcell), for fl, ob, cl, glock, vn, vc, db (1994)
• Concerto for Horn and Ensemble, for 11 players, Op. 8 (1990–98){{Cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2000/apr/10/artsfeatures3 | title=London Sinfonietta/ Knussen - Queen Elizabeth Hall, London | work=The Guardian | author=Tom Service | date=2000-04-09 | access-date=2016-06-07| author-link=Tom Service }}
• Memento, for Sop, fl (1999) (text – Hilda Morley)
• Four Votive Antiphons Op. 7, for Alt, 3 Ten, Bar, or chor (1997-2003)
• "Salve Regina", Op. 7, No. 1 (1999) (text - Anon Latin)
• "Alma Redemptoris Mater", Op. 7, No. 2 (2000) (text – Anon Latin)
• "Ave Regina Celorum" / "Alleluia", Op. 7, No. 3 (1997) (text – Anon Latin)
• "Regina Celi", Op. 7, No. 4 (2003) (text – Anon Latin)
• Fandango, Op. 9, for Harpsichord (2006)
• Canticle: The Doubting of Thomas, for Mezz, Ten, Bar, chor, org (2007) (text - Bible, Authorized Version)
• Poet and Star, for Sop, Ten, pno (2008) (text – Thomas Hardy)
• Doubles All Round, for fl/picc, cl/b cl, hn, pno, vn, vc (2009)
• Elegy for Solo Viola (2013)
• Concerto for Orchestra (2014–16){{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/01/bbcso-young-review-royal-albert-hall-london-prom-62 | title=BBCSO/Young review – sumptuous variety but balance problems | work=The Guardian | author=Andrew Clements | date=2016-09-01 | accessdate=2016-10-30}}
• Sonata for Flute and Clarinet (2018)

• 2006 – In Search of Mozart (contributor)[https://letterboxd.com/film/in-search-of-mozart/ In Search of Mozart, Letterboxd]
• 2009 – In Search of Beethoven (contributor) {{Cite web |title=Short Redhead Reel Reviews for the week of April 30 |url=https://www.hometownsource.com/sun_thisweek/free/short-redhead-reel-reviews-for-the-week-of-april-30/article_d4b47502-a9cc-11eb-8d6b-c7e8c8144472.html |access-date=2022-04-25 |website=hometownsource.com |date=30 April 2021 |language=en}}
• 2012 – In Search of Haydn (contributor){{Citation |last=Grabsky |first=Phil |title=In Search of Haydn |date=2012-01-19 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2186831/ |type=Documentary, Biography, Music |publisher=PhilGrabskyFilms.com, Seventh Art Productions, Sky Arts |access-date=2022-04-25}}

• 1980 – ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=9fYHAQAAMAAJ The Music of Alexander Goehr : Interviews and Articles]
• 2009 – [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/twentieth-century-music/article/abs/bayan-northcott-the-way-we-listen-now-and-other-writings-on-music-ed-christopher-wintle-london-plumbago-2009-isbn-9780955608735-pb/406E04A1A026A9D31369B1A707B4D043 The Way we Listen Now and Other Writings on Music], ed. Christopher Wintle

• {{cite journal |last=Northcott |first=Bayan |authorlink=Bayan Northcott |date=January 1975 |title=Anthony Payne |journal=The Musical Times |volume=116 |issue=1583 |pages=36–38|doi=10.2307/958865 |jstor=958865 }}
• '[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical-music-as-long-as-the-muse-lives-on-on-elliott-carter-s-85th-birthday-bayan-northcott-inquires-into-the-music-of-composers-who-have-kept-on-writing-to-the-end-1466853.html As long as the muse lives on: On Elliott Carter's 85th birthday]', in The Independent, 11 December 1993
• '[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/modern-music-and-the-tale-of-two-ms-9242811.html Modern music and the tale of two Ms]', in The Independent, 17 November 2001

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.stainer.co.uk/bayan.html Stainer & Bell Ltd, publisher's page on Bayan Northcott]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160806154034/http://saturdaychorale.com/2016/01/19/bayan-northcott-born-1940-salve-regina/ Saturday Chorale blog, 'Bayan Northcott: Salve Regina', 19 January 2016]
• {{discogs artist|Bayan Northcott}}
• {{imdb name|11320896}}
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWHe2BzuBDE Fantasia for Guitar, Op. 3, played by Antonis Hatzinikolaou]
• [https://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/article/british-music-critic-and-composer-bayan-northcott-has-died Obituary (Gramophone, 15 December 2022)]
• [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/12/20/bayan-northcott-composer-learned-sunday-telegraph-music-critic/ Obituary (The Telegraph, 20 December 2022)]

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Category:1940 births

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Category:20th-century British classical composers

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Category:People educated at Latymer Upper School

Category:People from Harrow on the Hill