George Benjamin

A frequent conductor of the Sinfonietta, in his own music and that of composers close to him, George Benjamin has been a central member of the ensemble’s family since 1982, when Simon Rattle conducted the first performance of a piece the Sinfonietta had commissioned, the dazzling sonic landscape At First Light. He had only recently completed his studies—first in Paris with Olivier Messiaen, then in Cambridge with Alexander Goehr—but was already making a name for himself internationally.

However, he did not rush to take up all the opportunities offered him. There were long periods of silence, interspersed with works that took him forward another bound: Antara in 1987, for an ensemble with synthesizers playing panpipe sounds and others, and a superb orchestral score, Sudden Time, in 1993. Gradually he was working out a new kind of supple, shape-shifting modality, backed up by an exciting rhythmic intricacy and what was always a wonderful ear for sound. Among more recent works, the beguiling Olicantus was written as a fiftieth-birthday present for Oliver Knussen to perform with the Sinfonietta, and the ensemble has also performed all his other ensemble pieces, including his musical-dramatic fable Into the Little Hill.