Jonty Harrison is anelectroacoustic music composer born 27 April 1952 inScunthorpe, and currently[when?] living inBirmingham, England.
Jonty Harrison studied withBernard Rands at theUniversity of York, graduating with a DPhil in Composition in 1980. Between 1976 and 1980 he lived in London, working at theNational Theatre (where he produced the tape components for many productions, includingTamburlaine the Great,Julius Caesar,Brand andAmadeus) andCity University. In 1980 he joined the music department of theUniversity of Birmingham, where he was Professor of Electroacoustic Composition, as well as Director ofBEAST (Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre) and the Electroacoustic Music Studios; for ten years he was Artistic Director of the department's annual Barber Festival of Contemporary Music. He has played an active role in musical life, making conducting appearances with theBirmingham Contemporary Music Group (most notably conductingStockhausen'sMomente in Birmingham, Huddersfield and London), the University New Music Ensemble and the University Orchestra (most recently inStravinsky'sLe sacre du printemps andVic Hoyland'sVixen). He was a board member ofSonic Arts Network (SAN) for many years (and Chair between 1993 and 1996). He has also been on the Council and Executive Committee of theSociety for the Promotion of New Music and was a member of the Music Advisory Panel of theArts Council of Great Britain.
As a composer he has received several prizes and mentions in theBourges International Electroacoustic Music Awards (including a Euphonie d'or forKlang in 1992 cited as one of the most significant works in the Bourges competition's history), two Distinctions and two Mentions in the Prix Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria), First Prize in the Musica Nova competition (Prague), a Lloyds Bank National Composers' Award, a PRS Prize for Electroacoustic Composition, an Arts Council Composition Bursary and research grants from the Leverhulme Trust and from the Arts and Humanities Research Board.
Commissions have come from many leading performers and studios, including two each from theGroupe de recherches musicales (Ina-GRM, Paris) and the Institut international de musique électroacoustique de Bourges (IMEB – formerly the Groupe de musique expérimentale de Bourges), the International Computer Music Association (ICMA),MAFILM/Magyar Rádió (Budapest),IRCAM/Ensemble intercontemporain (Paris), theBBC, Birmingham City Council, theBirmingham Contemporary Music Group, theFine Arts Brass Ensemble, theNash Ensemble,Singcircle,John Harle,Beverly Davison,Harry Sparnaay, andJos Zwaanenburg. Despite renouncing instrumental composition in 1992, he wroteAbstracts, a work for 8-channel tape and large orchestra, in 1998. His 60-minute multi-channel piece Going/Places was premiered at the Huddersfield Festival in November 2015.
His music is performed and broadcast worldwide, and several works are available on empreintes DIGITALes, SAN/NMC, Cultures électroniques/Mnémosyne Musique Média, and CDCM/Centaur.
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