| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Period: | Contemporary classical music |
Biography
Mark-Anthony Turnage (born 10 June 1960) is a prolific[1] English composer of classical music.
Turnage was born in Corringham, Essex. His initial musical studies were with Oliver Knussen, John Lambert, and later with Gunther Schuller.[2] He also has been strongly influenced by jazz, in particular by the work of Miles Davis.
Turnage has composed numerous orchestral and chamber works, and two widely performed operas. Greek, first performed in 1988 at the Munich Biennale, is based on Steven Berkoff's adaptation of Oedipus the King. The Silver Tassie, first performed in 2000, is based on the play by Seán O'Casey. Other works include Three Screaming Popes (after the paintings by Francis Bacon), Your Rockaby (a concerto for saxophone and orchestra), and Yet Another Set To (a concerto for trombone and orchestra, dedicated to Christian Lindberg).
In 1990, Turnage was appointed the first Radcliffe Composer in Association with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In 2006, Turnage was named a co-composer-in-residence of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a position he held alongside Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov.
In Autumn 2005, he was appointed the Royal College of Music's Research Fellow in Composition.
