John Harle
b. 1956
British
Summary
Critical Acclaim
(The Little Death Machine) Variously motoric and funky sounds oscillated between Harle's saxes, the band and vintage synthesised sounds. Ingenious fun. - The Times...a delight from start to finish. - The Independent
Biography
John Harle is one of the most exciting contemporary musicians in Britain. As the leading saxophonist of his generation he has a world profile, both in the wealth of music his playing has inspired and in his own compositions. His performance of Harrison Birtwistle's Saxophone Concerto Panic at the Last Night of the Proms in 1995 propelled him onto an international stage - followed in 1996 by Terror and Magnificence, his Top Ten hit album on the Decca/Argo label, in collaboration with singer/songwriter Elvis Costello.
His opera, Angel Magick, was commissioned by the BBC Proms in 1998. The librettist, David Pountney directed the production and the composer conducted the cast of eight singers, his own band, and the viol consort Fretwork. As a concert soloist his repertoire consists of the sixteen concerti written especially for him, as well as twenty-four further works for orchestra. His recital programmes (usually with the pianist/composer Richard Rodney Bennett) are drawn from some of the thirty-one chamber works dedicated to John and an immensely varied range of music from John Dowland through to Chick Corea and his own compositions.
John Harle is the composer of over 25 concert works and 40 film and television scores. The Stanley Myers/John Harle score to Prick Up Your Ears received Best Artistic Achievement in a Feature Film at the Cannes Film Festival 1988. John has since been nominated for many awards including the Mercury Music Prize and the 1996 Royal Television Society Awards' Best Original Music (for Defence of the Realm). The theme music to the BBC drama Silent Witness was awarded a Royal Television Society Award in 1998.
Important collaborations in concert, recording or film have been with Ute Lemper, Paul McCartney, Michael Nyman, Andy Sheppard and Elvis Costello; and with conductors Riccardo Chailly, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Andrew Davis, Neville Marriner, Elgar Howarth and Frans Welser-Möst. In 1989 John was appointed Professor of Saxophone and Chamber Music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and has been the mentor to a new generation of saxophonists. As performer, composer and producer his discography numbers some thirty-five recordings on labels including Decca, Argo, EMI Classics, Sony, Hyperion, BMG, Virgin and A&M. A CD of his own music Silencium was released on the Argo label in 1997. He recently produced Lesley Garrett's new album for BMG, I will wait for you and composed the music to the 16 part BBC Television series A History of Britain.
His opera, Angel Magick, was commissioned by the BBC Proms in 1998. The librettist, David Pountney directed the production and the composer conducted the cast of eight singers, his own band, and the viol consort Fretwork. As a concert soloist his repertoire consists of the sixteen concerti written especially for him, as well as twenty-four further works for orchestra. His recital programmes (usually with the pianist/composer Richard Rodney Bennett) are drawn from some of the thirty-one chamber works dedicated to John and an immensely varied range of music from John Dowland through to Chick Corea and his own compositions.
John Harle is the composer of over 25 concert works and 40 film and television scores. The Stanley Myers/John Harle score to Prick Up Your Ears received Best Artistic Achievement in a Feature Film at the Cannes Film Festival 1988. John has since been nominated for many awards including the Mercury Music Prize and the 1996 Royal Television Society Awards' Best Original Music (for Defence of the Realm). The theme music to the BBC drama Silent Witness was awarded a Royal Television Society Award in 1998.
Important collaborations in concert, recording or film have been with Ute Lemper, Paul McCartney, Michael Nyman, Andy Sheppard and Elvis Costello; and with conductors Riccardo Chailly, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Andrew Davis, Neville Marriner, Elgar Howarth and Frans Welser-Möst. In 1989 John was appointed Professor of Saxophone and Chamber Music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and has been the mentor to a new generation of saxophonists. As performer, composer and producer his discography numbers some thirty-five recordings on labels including Decca, Argo, EMI Classics, Sony, Hyperion, BMG, Virgin and A&M. A CD of his own music Silencium was released on the Argo label in 1997. He recently produced Lesley Garrett's new album for BMG, I will wait for you and composed the music to the 16 part BBC Television series A History of Britain.
News
- City Solstice
- 19th May 2009
- On June 22, The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge conducted by Stephen Cleobury with John Harle on soprano saxophone will give the premiere of City Solstice by John Harle. The work for choir, organ and saxophone was...
- Earthlight premiere
- 2nd July 2008
- On July 25, the world premiere of Earthlight by John Harle will take place as part of the Chester Summer Music Festival. The work for choir and orchestra, featuring text by the composer’s son, Matthew Harle, will be...
- The Ballad of Jamie Allen
- 18th April 2005
- John Harle’s original evening length work which will receive the world premiere this Thursday 21 April at the new Sage Gateshead, with a second performance following on the 23 April, will feature Sarah Jane Morris, Omar...
- Harle scores major new BBC documentary
- 7th August 2002
- John Harle has written the score to The Ship, a major new BBC fly-on-the-wall documentary. In the six part series, a team of volunteers retraces part of Captain Cook's dramatic voyage of discovery in the South Pacific...
Performances
There are no upcoming performances
