Howard Skempton

Born in Chester in 1947, Howard Skempton has worked as a composer, accordionist, and music publisher. From 1967 he studied with Cornelius Cardew with whom he was later to become one of the founding members of the influential Scratch Orchestra. Skempton’s earliest music is associated with the English experimental tradition that, in the late 1960s, grew out of the ideas and music of Satie, Cage, and Feldman. The influence of Webern is also discernible in the extreme brevity and concision of Skempton’s music – a trait still in evidence in many of his works today.

Many of Skempton's compositions have been recorded, including the hugely successful Lento for orchestra on NMC by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the piano works performed by John Tilbury on the Sony Classical label, and Shiftwork by Ensemble Bash, also on Sony Classical. 2001 saw the release by Guild of The Flight of Song, an acclaimed choral collection performed by the choir of Queens' College Cambridge under James Weeks. Vocal group Exaudi released a disc of Skempton's choral music in September 2007, also on the NMC label. The recording, entitled Ben Somewhen, also featured chamber works performed by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. The Cloths of Heaven, a recording of Skempton’s choral music by the Exon Singers, was released on Delphian Records in June 2008, and in 2011 Mode Records released Bolt from the Blue, a disc featuring Skempton's piano and choral works. More recent recordings include Only the Sound Remains and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, on NMC in 2017. The summer of 2018 will see the release of a new album of chamber works titled  The Man, Hurdy-Gurdy, and Me performed by Sirinu for Metier.