Frank Denyer: The Composers’ Fund
Frank Denyer was born in London in 1943. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music, subsequently forming the new music group Mouth of Hermes. PhD in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University Connecticut 1977; Research fellow in African music, University of Nairobi, Kenya 1978-81. He joined Dartington College of Arts (UK) in 1981, becoming Professor of Composition.
CDs of his work have been released by Orchid, Continuum, Etcetera, Tzadik, and others. The latest Whispers (2015) for Another Timbre. As a pianist he has played with and recorded much solo and chamber music with the Amsterdam based group Barton Workshop including the complete piano sonatas of Ustvolskaya.
PRS Foundation funding will go towards recording Frank Denyer’s “the Fish that became the Sun: Songs of the Dispossessed” (c.50′, 1991-4). The work is scored for a large and unusual instrumental ensemble: solo violin, 21 new wind instruments (6 players), 14 new tuned percussion and 49 new untuned percussion instruments (7 players) plus 4 male vocalists with eunuch flutes, 4 female singers, 2 child vocalists, mandolin, sitar and hammered dulcimer, 3 double basses, contra-bassoon, harmonium and 8 cornets. Perfomers will include Benjamin Marquise Gilmore (violin); New London Chamber Choir; Octandre Ensemble conducted by Jon Hargreaves and Matthew Hamilton. Venue: Menuhin Hall, Stoke d’Abernon, Surrey, April 2018