Bryn Harrison

Harrison initially studied at the Leeds College of Music (1988–91), before completing a master's degree under composer Gavin Bryars at De Montfort University, Leicester. In 1999 he was selected to compete for the Gaudeamus International Composers Award in the Netherlands. He also studied briefly with Christian Wolff and Alvin Lucier in 2001 at the Ostrava Days in the Czech Republic. He was awarded a PhD degree by the University of Huddersfield in 2007.

Harrison established an early relationship with the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, where his music was presented in 1993 and 1995, before he received festival commissions in 1999 and was the festival's featured composer in 2008.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nmcrec.co.uk/composer/harrison-bryn|title=Harrison, Bryn {{!}} NMC Recordings|website=www.nmcrec.co.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-09-08}} Ensembles and soloists who have performed his music include Ensemble recherche, Klangforum Wien, the London Sinfonietta, the London Symphony Orchestra, Apartment House, Plus-Minus, Asamisimasa, ELISION, EXAUDI, the pianists Philip Thomas and Mark Knoop, and the violinist Aisha Orazbayeva.

Harrison's work is influenced by the music of Morton Feldman.{{Cite book|title=The Ashgate research companion to experimental music|date=2009|publisher=Ashgate|others=Saunders, James, 1972 December 12-|isbn=9780754662822|location=Farnham, England|pages=223|oclc=311310354}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/nov/18/classicalmusicandopera.music|title=Lost in music|last=Fox|first=Christopher|date=2006-11-17|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-09-08}} Feldman and Harrison's works share a general quietness and contemplativeness,{{Cite news|title=All rubbish? On yer bike|last=Driver|first=Paul|date=30 November 2008|work=The Sunday Times}}{{Cite web|url=https://bachtrack.com/en_GB/review-songs-by-strauss-de-falla-novello-leeds-lieder|title=Made in Yorkshire at Leeds Lieder+|website=bachtrack.com|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-09-08}} a static texture{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jul/14/bryn-harrison-receiving-approaching-memory-cd-review-orazbayeva-knoop|title=Harrison: Receiving the Approaching Memory CD review – a perfect slice of gossamer music|last=Molleson|first=Kate|date=2016-07-14|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-09-08}} and a concern with repetition or, in Harrison's words, "use of recursive musical forms which challenge our perceptions of time and space by viewing the same material from different angles and perspectives."{{Cite web|url=https://research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cerenem/brynharrison/|title=Time, Memory and Recursive Structures - University of Huddersfield|website=research.hud.ac.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-09-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180908164938/https://research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cerenem/brynharrison/|archive-date=2018-09-08|url-status=dead}} Other composers for whom Harrison has expressed an admiration include John Cage, Laurence Crane, Tim Parkinson, James Saunders, Richard Glover, Howard Skempton, Christopher Fox, Linda Catlin Smith, Martin Arnold, and Cassandra Miller.

Harrison has also been influenced by visual artists such as Brice Marden, Agnes Martin, James Hugonin and the painter and printmaker Mike Walker, with whom he has collaborated.{{Cite book|title=The Ashgate research companion to experimental music|date=2009|publisher=Ashgate|others=Saunders, James, 1972 December 12-|isbn=9780754662822|location=Farnham, England|pages=289|oclc=311310354}} The artwork of Bridget Riley has been an especially important source for Harrison's work, in works such as Six Symmetries (2004), in which Harrison traced musical notation from geometric contours similar to those in Riley's 1960s paintings.{{Cite book|title=The Ashgate research companion to experimental music|date=2009|publisher=Ashgate|others=Saunders, James, 1972 December 12-|isbn=9780754662822|location=Farnham, England|pages=287–290|oclc=311310354}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/may/31/london-sinfonietta-review|title=London Sinfonietta/Collon – review|last=Jeal|first=Erica|date=2011-05-31|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-09-08}}

• Passing Light (2014) for ensemble and electronics. 40-minute work commissioned by the London Sinfonietta for the Spitalfields Festival.{{Cite web|url=http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/30059/|title=Passing Light (2014)|last=Harrison|first=Bryn|date=2014|website=eprints.hud.ac.uk|language=en|access-date=2019-05-05}}
• Receiving the Approaching Memory (2014) for violin and piano. 40-minute work for violinist Aisha Orazbayeva and pianist Mark Knoop, released on the label Another Timbre.
• Vessels (2012) for piano. Revised to a 76-minute version in 2013, released on the label Another Timbre.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cookylamoo.com/boringlikeadrill/2014/05/bryn-harrisons-vessels.html|title=Boring Like A Drill. A Blog. » Bryn Harrison's "Vessels"|access-date=2019-05-05}}
• Surface forms (repeating) (2009) for ensemble. Written for ELISION.{{Cite web|url=https://johnsonsrambler.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/10-for-10-bryn-harrison/|title=10 for '10: Bryn Harrison|date=2010-04-05|website=The Rambler|language=en|access-date=2019-05-05}}
• Repetitions in Extended Time (2008) for ensemble. 43-minute work commissioned by Plus Minus.

{{Cite web|url=http://www.brynharrison.com/works.html|title=Bryn Harrison - Works List|website=www.brynharrison.com|access-date=2018-09-08}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|http://www.brynharrison.com/|Bryn Harrison}} – official site

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Category:1969 births

Category:Living people

Category:Experimental composers

Category:21st-century British composers