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Michael Berkeley
Michael Fitzhardinge Berkeley, Baron Berkeley of Knighton (born 29 May 1948) is an English composer, broadcaster on music and non-party political member of the House of Lords, speaking as an advocate for the arts, contemporary music and music education.
Berkeley is the eldest of the three sons of Elizabeth Freda (née Bernstein) (1923–2016) and the composer Sir Lennox Berkeley. He was educated at The Oratory School, in Woodcote, and Westminster Cathedral Choir School. He was a chorister at Westminster Cathedral, and he frequently sang in works composed or conducted by his godfather, Benjamin Britten. Berkeley studied composition, singing and piano at the Royal Academy of Music. He also played in a rock band, Seeds of Discord. In his twenties, when he went to study with Richard Rodney Bennett, he concentrated on composition.
Berkeley's compositions include Meditations for Strings (1975), String Trio (1976) and an oratorio Or Shall We Die? (libretto by Ian McEwan, 1982). His orchestral works include Flames (RLPO/Atherton 1981), Gregorian Variations (Philharmonia/Pittsburgh/Previn 1984), Secret Garden (LSO/Davis, Barbican 1997) and The Garden of Earthly Delights (NYO/Rostropovich, Proms 1998) plus concerti for clarinet, violin, oboe, 'cello and organ.
He has written three operas. Baa Baa Black Sheep (libretto by David Malouf) is based on the childhood of Rudyard Kipling and was recorded by the Opera North Chorus and English Northern Philharmonia in 1993. Jane Eyre (2000, libretto also by David Malouf), premiered at the Cheltenham Music Festival by Music Theatre Wales and subsequently toured around the UK. The Australian premiere took place in Canberra and the American in St. Louis where it was directed by Colin Graham. The original drafts for Jane Eyre, representing one year's worth of work and the only copy of them, were stolen from outside his London home in May 1999. The chamber opera For You, with Ian McEwan the librettist, was premiered by Music Theatre Wales in the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. A proposed opera of McEwan's novel Atonement with libretto by Craig Raine for Dortmund Opera was set for premiere in 2013, but was shelved.
Berkeley has written scores for films including Captive (with the Edge of U2, 1986), Goldeneye (1989) and Twenty-One (1991). He arranged the choral sequences for "Hello Earth", a song written by Kate Bush that appeared on her studio album Hounds of Love in 1985.
Berkeley has written a considerable amount of chamber music for artists including Julian Bream (Guitar Sonata, Edinburgh Festival, 1980), the Takacs Quartet (Torque and Velocity, 1997) and Nicholas Daniel with the Carducci Quartet (Into the Ravine). The harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani premiered Berkeley's Haiku 2: Insects, composed for Esfahani, at the Snape Maltings Concert Hall in April 2023.
Berkeley has written much choral music, including the specially commissioned Listen, listen, O my child for the enthronement of Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013 and the Magna Carta Te Deum, for the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta in 2015 in Lincoln Cathedral. He wrote This Endernight for the 2016 King's College Festival of nine Lessons and Carols and Super Flumina Babylonis for the St. Cecilia Day Service in Westminster Cathedral in 2017.
In June 2024, Orchid Classics released Collaborations, a CD of Berkeley's music featuring artists he had worked closely with and written for. These included Mahan Esfahani, Clare Hammond, Madeleine Mitchell, Alice Coote, Julius Drake and the BBC Singers. The album includes a song for Ukraine, Zero Hour, with lyrics and vocals from Neil Tennant and guitar solos from David Gilmour.
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Michael Berkeley
Michael Fitzhardinge Berkeley, Baron Berkeley of Knighton (born 29 May 1948) is an English composer, broadcaster on music and non-party political member of the House of Lords, speaking as an advocate for the arts, contemporary music and music education.
Berkeley is the eldest of the three sons of Elizabeth Freda (née Bernstein) (1923–2016) and the composer Sir Lennox Berkeley. He was educated at The Oratory School, in Woodcote, and Westminster Cathedral Choir School. He was a chorister at Westminster Cathedral, and he frequently sang in works composed or conducted by his godfather, Benjamin Britten. Berkeley studied composition, singing and piano at the Royal Academy of Music. He also played in a rock band, Seeds of Discord. In his twenties, when he went to study with Richard Rodney Bennett, he concentrated on composition.
Berkeley's compositions include Meditations for Strings (1975), String Trio (1976) and an oratorio Or Shall We Die? (libretto by Ian McEwan, 1982). His orchestral works include Flames (RLPO/Atherton 1981), Gregorian Variations (Philharmonia/Pittsburgh/Previn 1984), Secret Garden (LSO/Davis, Barbican 1997) and The Garden of Earthly Delights (NYO/Rostropovich, Proms 1998) plus concerti for clarinet, violin, oboe, 'cello and organ.
He has written three operas. Baa Baa Black Sheep (libretto by David Malouf) is based on the childhood of Rudyard Kipling and was recorded by the Opera North Chorus and English Northern Philharmonia in 1993. Jane Eyre (2000, libretto also by David Malouf), premiered at the Cheltenham Music Festival by Music Theatre Wales and subsequently toured around the UK. The Australian premiere took place in Canberra and the American in St. Louis where it was directed by Colin Graham. The original drafts for Jane Eyre, representing one year's worth of work and the only copy of them, were stolen from outside his London home in May 1999. The chamber opera For You, with Ian McEwan the librettist, was premiered by Music Theatre Wales in the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. A proposed opera of McEwan's novel Atonement with libretto by Craig Raine for Dortmund Opera was set for premiere in 2013, but was shelved.
Berkeley has written scores for films including Captive (with the Edge of U2, 1986), Goldeneye (1989) and Twenty-One (1991). He arranged the choral sequences for "Hello Earth", a song written by Kate Bush that appeared on her studio album Hounds of Love in 1985.
Berkeley has written a considerable amount of chamber music for artists including Julian Bream (Guitar Sonata, Edinburgh Festival, 1980), the Takacs Quartet (Torque and Velocity, 1997) and Nicholas Daniel with the Carducci Quartet (Into the Ravine). The harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani premiered Berkeley's Haiku 2: Insects, composed for Esfahani, at the Snape Maltings Concert Hall in April 2023.
Berkeley has written much choral music, including the specially commissioned Listen, listen, O my child for the enthronement of Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013 and the Magna Carta Te Deum, for the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta in 2015 in Lincoln Cathedral. He wrote This Endernight for the 2016 King's College Festival of nine Lessons and Carols and Super Flumina Babylonis for the St. Cecilia Day Service in Westminster Cathedral in 2017.
In June 2024, Orchid Classics released Collaborations, a CD of Berkeley's music featuring artists he had worked closely with and written for. These included Mahan Esfahani, Clare Hammond, Madeleine Mitchell, Alice Coote, Julius Drake and the BBC Singers. The album includes a song for Ukraine, Zero Hour, with lyrics and vocals from Neil Tennant and guitar solos from David Gilmour.