"John Tavener" has been added to your list of bookmarked artists
close
John Tavener
January 28, 1944 -
born in London, England, composed during the Contemporary period
Biography
Among the most commercially successful of living composers, John Tavener has undergone a remarkable musical and spiritual odyssey. After his conversion to the Orthodox religion, he formulated a unique new idiom, often employing a slow, almost minimalist unfolding of melodic material. Much of his music is designed for religious services. His works often require odd combinations of forces, for example The Apocalypse (1993), for tenor, bass, soprano, mezzo-soprano, solo saxophonists, male choir, countertenor choir, organ, brass, string quartet, and string ensemble. Overall, he may be considered a unique eclectic, part mystical and part populist.

Tavener was born in Wembley Park, near London. Long-held family beliefs to the contrary, he was probably not descended from Tudor composer John Taverner. He was raised a Protestant but as a young man converted to Catholicism. He studied piano, organ, and composition, and went on to study with Solomon, Lennox Berkeley, and Lumsdaine at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1968, after the composer's music impressed both John Lennon and Ringo Starr, Apple recorded his work The Whale. The next year, he became professor of composition at Trinity College.

In 1974, Tavener and Victoria Maragopoulou, a Greek ballet student, were married in an Orthodox ceremony.
report abuse