Michael Zev Gordon
{{short description|British composer of Jewish ancestry (born 1963)}}
{{EngvarB|date=June 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{BLP sources|date=March 2010}}
{{Infobox musical artist
|name=Michael Zev Gordon
|background = non_performing_personnel
|birth_date={{birth year and age|1963}}
|birth_place=London, England, United Kingdom
|death_date=
|death_place=
|occupation=Composer
|genre=Classical
}}
Michael Zev Gordon (born 1963, London) is a British composer of Jewish descent.{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2002/jun/28/shopping4 | title=Red Sea blues | work=The Guardian | author=Michael Zev Gordon | date=28 June 2002 | accessdate=3 October 2010}}
A past oboe player,{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/aug/11/classicalmusicandopera | title=Britten Sinfonia/Watkins (Snape Proms, Aldeburgh) | work=The Guardian | author=Rian Evans | date=11 August 2006 | accessdate=3 October 2010}} Gordon studied composition at King's College, Cambridge with Robin Holloway, and subsequently with Oliver Knussen and John Woolrich, and in Italy with Franco Donatoni. He was a composition pupil of Louis Andriessen from 1989 to 1990.{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2002/sep/27/classicalmusicandopera.artsfeatures | title=Why we love Louis | work=The Guardian | author=Michael Zev Gordon | date=27 September 2002 | accessdate=3 October 2010}} His work has often involved a deep engagement with the subject of memory, with the use of quotation of, or allusion to, other music, sometimes explicit, sometimes more buried. He has himself also spoken of his work in terms of 'turbulence seeking serenity'. Stylistically, this could be seen in the relationship between tonal and more dissonant materials in his music.
Key works include the oboe concerto The Fabric of Dreams (2006), premiered by Nicholas Daniel and the Britten Sinfonia, The Impermanence of Things for piano, ensemble and electronics (2009), a London Sinfonietta commission, Allele for 40 voices (2010), a project involving the science of genetics, Bohortha for large orchestra (2012), a BBC Symphony Orchestra commission, Seize the Day (2016), a Birmingham Contemporary Music Group Sound Investment commission, his Violin Concerto (2017), a BBC Symphony Orchestra commission, Touch (1990), a virtuosic piano piece written for the Indonesian virtuoso pianist and composer Ananda Sukarlan and Raising Icarus (2022), a chamber opera for six singers and eight instrumentalists, premiered at the Birmingham Rep.
Gordon was the recipient of the Prix Italia 2004 for his composition for radio A Pebble in the Pond, and two British Composer Awards, for Allele and for This Night for choir and solo cello (2009), a commission for the choir of King's College, Cambridge. He has taught at the universities of Durham, Southampton and at the Royal College of Music. Since 2012 he has been Professor of Composition at the University of Birmingham. His music is published by Wise Music and Composer's Edition.{{Cite news|url=http://www.michaelzevgordoncomposer.com/composers-edition/|title=MICHAEL ZEV GORDON Composers Edition -|work=MICHAEL ZEV GORDON|access-date=2018-08-01|language=en-US}}
Worklist
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References
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External links
- [http://michaelzevgordoncomposer.com Official Website]
- [https://composersedition.com/michaelzevgordon Publisher's Website]
- [https://soundcloud.com/michael-zev-gordon SoundCloud page with recordings of Gordon's compositions]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110716232536/http://www.nmcrec.co.uk/composer/gordon-michael-zev NMC Recordings biography of Gordon]
- [https://www.bcmg.org.uk/seize-the-day BCMG commission]
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Category:British male classical composers
Category:20th-century British classical composers
Category:21st-century British classical composers
Category:Composers from London
Category:Academics of the University of Southampton
Category:Pupils of Louis Andriessen
Category:Academics of the University of Birmingham
Category:20th-century British male musicians
Category:21st-century British male musicians