Edward Rushton

Edward Rushton studied at Chetham's School of Music, King's College, Cambridge, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and the Zurich Conservatoire. His composition teachers have included Robin Holloway and James MacMillan. He is based in Zurich and works as a freelance composer and pianist.

Recent concert works have been commissioned for and played by such groups as the Endymion Ensemble, London Sinfonietta, Schubert Ensemble, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Camerata Zürich, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and the London Symphony Orchestra, Counterpoise.

Rushton has recently been active composing operas: The Young Man with the Carnation, based on the short story by Karen Blixen (libretto: Tom Smith), was premiered by The Opera Group in 2002 at Almeida Opera in London; Leinen aus Smyrna (libretto: Dagny Gioulami) was joint winner of the Teatro Minimo competition organised by Opernhaus Zürich and the Bavarian State Opera in 2001; the prize was the commission for a full-length opera (Harley), premiered at the Opernhaus Zürich in 2005. 

Philoctetes, a companion-piece to Leinen aus Smyrna, was commissioned by The Opera Group. The first performance of Birds. Barks. Bones - Trojan Trilogy (the third component is a short satire-play) was premiered at the Cheltenham Festival in July 2004, and won the 2005 British Composer Awards in the category "Stage Works". Gioulami and Rushton's recent work includes a chamber opera, Die fromme Helene, commissioned by the State Opera of Hannover, and premiered there in 2007. Also in 2007, chamber opera The Shops was premiered by The Opera Group, and subsequently released by NMC. Gioulami and Rushton's opera for children, Im Schatten des Maulbeerbaums, was premiered to great acclaim by Zurich Opera in 2008.