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John Harle
John Crofton Harle OBE FRSA FGS FCL (born 20 September 1956) is an English saxophonist, composer, record producer, conductor and educator. He is an Ivor Novello Award winner, has been the recipient of two Royal Television Society awards and has contributed directly and indirectly to a number of charting songs and albums.
Harle served as artistic advisor to Sir Paul McCartney for six years, and has also collaborated with Elvis Costello, Marc Almond, Herbie Hancock, Michael Nyman, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Stanley Myers and Elmer Bernstein. In May 1998, he was the castaway on BBC Radio 4's long- running Desert Island Discs programme. In October 2020, Harle released The John Harle Collection - a 20 Album retrospective of his career as composer and saxophonist. All proceeds from the collection were donated to the Help Musicians Coronavirus Appeal.
He is currently Director of The Guildhall Bauhaus and Professor of Music & Interdisciplinary Practice at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. He was awarded the OBE in the King’s New Year Honours List in 2025 for services to music, and is an FRSA (Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.)
Harle was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1956, and from 1974 to 1977 was solo clarinettist in the band of the Coldstream Guards under the direction of Lt Col Trevor le Mere Sharpe OBE and Lt Col Richard Ridings OBE. At the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall, he won the Cousins Memorial Medal for the best Army Instrumentalist in 1975.
He was awarded a Foundation Scholarship to enter the Royal College of Music in London to study the saxophone in 1977. He won the Dannreuter Concerto Competition in 1978, and in 1979 he was the first student in the history of the Royal College to graduate with a mark of 100%. Postgraduate studies were as a French Government Music Scholar in Paris with Daniel Deffayet, during which he won the 1984 AMCOM Award of The American Concert Artists Guild in New York.
Between 1978 and 1983 and he was a member of the National Theatre Music Department under the direction of Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Dominic Muldowney, performing in many productions as actor-musician including The Orestia (Sir Peter Hall/Harrison Birtwistle/Tony Harrison.) In 1989 he won the John Dankworth/Cleo Laine All-Music Musician of the Year at the Wavendon Music Awards. He was lead saxophonist with the band of composer Michael Nyman from 1979 to 2000, and Principal Saxophone of The London Sinfonietta from 1986 to 1995.
Harle was the premier saxophone soloist in concert music from 1984 to the early 2000’s. Widely experienced, his work also included collaborations with major jazz artists such as Herbie Hancock, John Dankworth and Andy Sheppard.
As a solo performer he has worked in concert and in the recording studio with conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Riccardo Chailly, Sir Neville Marriner, Elmer Bernstein and Sir Andrew Davis, and has given performances throughout the UK, Europe, The US, Australasia and Japan.
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John Harle
John Crofton Harle OBE FRSA FGS FCL (born 20 September 1956) is an English saxophonist, composer, record producer, conductor and educator. He is an Ivor Novello Award winner, has been the recipient of two Royal Television Society awards and has contributed directly and indirectly to a number of charting songs and albums.
Harle served as artistic advisor to Sir Paul McCartney for six years, and has also collaborated with Elvis Costello, Marc Almond, Herbie Hancock, Michael Nyman, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Stanley Myers and Elmer Bernstein. In May 1998, he was the castaway on BBC Radio 4's long- running Desert Island Discs programme. In October 2020, Harle released The John Harle Collection - a 20 Album retrospective of his career as composer and saxophonist. All proceeds from the collection were donated to the Help Musicians Coronavirus Appeal.
He is currently Director of The Guildhall Bauhaus and Professor of Music & Interdisciplinary Practice at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. He was awarded the OBE in the King’s New Year Honours List in 2025 for services to music, and is an FRSA (Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.)
Harle was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1956, and from 1974 to 1977 was solo clarinettist in the band of the Coldstream Guards under the direction of Lt Col Trevor le Mere Sharpe OBE and Lt Col Richard Ridings OBE. At the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall, he won the Cousins Memorial Medal for the best Army Instrumentalist in 1975.
He was awarded a Foundation Scholarship to enter the Royal College of Music in London to study the saxophone in 1977. He won the Dannreuter Concerto Competition in 1978, and in 1979 he was the first student in the history of the Royal College to graduate with a mark of 100%. Postgraduate studies were as a French Government Music Scholar in Paris with Daniel Deffayet, during which he won the 1984 AMCOM Award of The American Concert Artists Guild in New York.
Between 1978 and 1983 and he was a member of the National Theatre Music Department under the direction of Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Dominic Muldowney, performing in many productions as actor-musician including The Orestia (Sir Peter Hall/Harrison Birtwistle/Tony Harrison.) In 1989 he won the John Dankworth/Cleo Laine All-Music Musician of the Year at the Wavendon Music Awards. He was lead saxophonist with the band of composer Michael Nyman from 1979 to 2000, and Principal Saxophone of The London Sinfonietta from 1986 to 1995.
Harle was the premier saxophone soloist in concert music from 1984 to the early 2000’s. Widely experienced, his work also included collaborations with major jazz artists such as Herbie Hancock, John Dankworth and Andy Sheppard.
As a solo performer he has worked in concert and in the recording studio with conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Riccardo Chailly, Sir Neville Marriner, Elmer Bernstein and Sir Andrew Davis, and has given performances throughout the UK, Europe, The US, Australasia and Japan.