Mark-Anthony Turnage

A composer of international stature, Mark-Anthony Turnage is indisputably among the most significant creative figures to have emerged in British music of the last three decades. His first opera, Greek, established Turnage’s reputation in 1988 as an artist who dared to forge his own path between modernism and tradition by means of a unique blend of jazz and classical styles.

Three Screaming Popes, KaiMomentum and Drowned Out were created during his time as Composer in Association in Birmingham with Simon Rattle between 1989 and 1993, followed by Blood on the Floor, his unique score written for the distinguished jazz musicians John Scofield and Peter Erskine, and Martin Robertson.

His opera, The Silver Tassie, was premiered by English National Opera in 2000, winning both the South Bank Show and the Olivier Awards for Opera. Anna Nicole played to sold-out houses at Covent Garden in 2011 and has also been staged in Dortmund, New York and Nuremburg, while his opera for family audiences, Coraline, was staged by The Royal Opera at the Barbican Theatre in 2018, travelling on to Freiburg, Lille, Stockholm and Melbourne. Turnage has written ballet scores for both Sadler’s Wells (Undance) and the Royal Ballet (Trespass and Strapless).

Turnage has been Resident Composer with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra. Collaborations with the London Symphony Orchestra have included two new works, Speranza premiered under Daniel Harding in 2013 and Remembering which Simon Rattle conducted in London and with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 2017.

Turnage is Research Fellow in Composition at the Royal College of Music, and is published by Boosey & Hawkes. He was awarded a CBE in the 2015 Queen’s Birthday honours.

Biography

A composer of international stature, Mark-Anthony Turnage is indisputably among the most significant creative figures to have emerged in British music of the last three decades. His first opera, Greek, established Turnage’s reputation in 1988 as an artist who dared to forge his own path between modernism and tradition by means of a unique blend of jazz and classical styles.

Three Screaming Popes, KaiMomentum and Drowned Out were created during his time as Composer in Association in Birmingham with Simon Rattle between 1989 and 1993, followed by Blood on the Floor, his unique score written for the distinguished jazz musicians John Scofield and Peter Erskine, and Martin Robertson.

His opera, The Silver Tassie, was premiered by English National Opera in 2000, winning both the South Bank Show and the Olivier Awards for Opera. Anna Nicole played to sold-out houses at Covent Garden in 2011 and has also been staged in Dortmund, New York and Nuremburg, while his opera for family audiences, Coraline, was staged by The Royal Opera at the Barbican Theatre in 2018, travelling on to Freiburg, Lille, Stockholm and Melbourne. Turnage has written ballet scores for both Sadler’s Wells (Undance) and the Royal Ballet (Trespass and Strapless).

Turnage has been Resident Composer with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra. Collaborations with the London Symphony Orchestra have included two new works, Speranza premiered under Daniel Harding in 2013 and Remembering which Simon Rattle conducted in London and with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 2017.

Turnage is Research Fellow in Composition at the Royal College of Music, and is published by Boosey & Hawkes. He was awarded a CBE in the 2015 Queen’s Birthday honours.

Recordings by this composer

Recordings
On All Fours

On All Fours

NMC Recordings

Buy
UNDANCE

UNDANCE

NMC Recordings

Buy
Beyond This

Beyond This [Live]

NMC Recordings

Buy

Compilations with this composer

Compilations
Bracing change 2 cover

Bracing Change 2

NMC Recordings

New works for string quartet by renowned composers Mark-Anthony Turnage, Paul Newland and Helen Grime, as they collaborate with three of the most distinguished string quartet groups today - the Piatti Quartet, Quatuor Bozzini, and the Heath Quartet.

Find out more & buy
Many Voices

Many Voices (10 New Pieces for Violin)

NMC Recordings

Buy
The NMC Songbook

The NMC Songbook

NMC Recordings

Buy
Sea Eagle

Sea Eagle

NMC Recordings

Buy
Prism

Mark Simpson: Prism

NMC Recordings

Buy
Pastures New cover

Pastures New

NMC Recordings

Buy
Wavesongs

Wavesongs

NMC Recordings

Buy
Onyx Brass Cover

Onyx Brass: The sun is free to flow with the sea

NMC Recordings

Since its establishment 30 years ago, Onyx Brass have been pioneers in advocating the brass quintet as a medium for excellent new chamber music. Their new album features commissions by some of the most renowned composers working today including Errollyn Wallen, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Roxanna Panufnik, Simon Dobson, Yshani Perinpanayagam, and others.

Find out more & Buy

Music Map

Discover more about the classical music of today with NMC's Music Map, and exciting and educational online tool which enables you to see and hear the connections between composers, their teachers, pupils, influences and their works.

Music Map