Composers
Ian Venables
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Born: 1955
Ian Venables was born in Liverpool in 1955 and was educated at Liverpool Collegiate Grammar School and then at Liverpool University where he read Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He studied music with Professor Richard Arnell at Trinity College of Music, London and later with Andrew Downes, John Mayer and John Joubert in Birmingham. He has settled in Worcester where he works as a freelance composer.His compositions encompass many genres, and in particular he has added significantly to the canon of English art-song. Most notable are his four Song Cycles: Venetian Songs Op.22 - Love’s Voice (1995); Invite to Eternity Op.31 (1997) for tenor and string quartet; Songs of Eternity and Sorrow Op.36 (2004) for tenor, string quartet and piano, and On the Wings of Love Op.38 (2006) for tenor, clarinet and piano. Other songs for solo voice and piano include Two Songs Op.28 (1997) and Six Songs Op.33 (1999) as well as ‘A Dramatic Scena’ for counter-tenor and piano – At the Court of the Poisoned Rose Op. 20 (1994). His many chamber works include a Piano Quintet Op.27 (1995) and a String Quartet Op.32 (1997) as well as smaller pieces for solo instruments and piano. He has also written works for choir –Awake, awake, the World is Young Op.34 (Three Choirs Festival, Worcester 2001) – organ – Rhapsody Op.25 (1996), brass and solo piano.Ian Venables is associated with the world famous Three Choirs Festival and has had many works performed there. He also lectures widely and is deeply committed to the idea of ‘music and landscape’. Like many creative artists living in or around the Severn Vale he has been inspired by its unique terrain and has broadcast on this subject. He is an acknowledged expert on the 19th century poet and literary critic John Addington Symonds, and apart from setting five of his poems for voice and piano he has contributed a significant essay to the book ‘John Addington Symonds – Culture and the Demon Desire’ (Macmillan Press Ltd, 2000).His continuing work on the music of Ivor Gurney has led to orchestrations of two of Gurney’s songs (2003) – counterparts to the two songs orchestrated by Herbert Howells – and a newly edited version of Gurney’s War Elegy, with Philip Lancaster.He has recently been described as ‘perhaps the finest song composer of his generation’.
External Websites
Composer News
- A Major Song Cycle Celebrating Worcestershire
- Ian Venables is currently writing a song cycle for the British baritone Roderick Williams.
Venables’ new composition, The Song of the Severn, Op.43, will celebrate the poets of Worcestershire, where the composer has made his home for the last 25 years. This exploration of the poetry of place and the landscape of Worcestershire is a perfect vehicle for Venables’ lyrical and highly expressive style of writing. This new work will receive its premiere at the final concert of the club’s 110th season in Malvern on May 2 2013. Roderick Williams will be joined by the Carducci String Quartet and pianist Tom Poster.
Ian Venables is currently writing a song cycle for the British baritone Roderick Williams.
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