Graham Fitkin is a UK composer who works with acoustic and electronic instruments, collaborates with dance, film and digital media alongside concert orchestral and chamber music.
Between 1994 and 1996 Graham was resident composer with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra producing five new works. Since then several new works have been commissioned for orchestra, performances include those by the Halle, BBC Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, RSNO, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bournemouth Symphony, Ulster, Nederlands Radio Orchestra etc. He has conducted orchestras in venues from Lincoln Center to South Bank to Aula Magna.
Graham has collaborated with many of today's foremost performers of new music including the Nederlands Blazersensemble, Will Gregory, Apollo Saxophone Quartet, Smith Quartet, Piano Circus, Ensemble Bash, Combustion Chamber, Elysian Quartet and the London Chamber Orchestra.
A ‘Composer for Dance Award’ in 1990 led to a new work for David Massingham Dance. Ever since then Graham has worked frequently with choreographers around the world with recent performances being given by Shobana Jeyasing, Wayne MacGregor's Random Dance, Pacific Northwest Ballet, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Bi-Ma, Munich Ballet and National Ballet of Portugal. He won the International Grand Prix Music for Dance Video Award in 1994.
Performing has always been an important aspect of Graham’s work. KAPLAN (based on the fictitious character in Hitchcock’s North by Northwest) used video and live webcams on the musicians to focus on notions of mistaken identity and toured the UK, Japan and Holland in 2005. The more recent STILL WARM for electronically manipulated harps performed by Ruth Wall toured UK in 2007 with visuals by Marc Silver and Nick Corrigan. Concerned with the juxtaposition of opposites, this placed early gaelic plucked instruments into new contexts with digitalia and live visuals.
Over the past 10 years Graham has directed educational and community projects including 3 UK PRS Composer in Education residencies, 9 regional community projects, university seminars, masterclasses and directed workshops in UK, Japan, Italy and Soweto.
Graham’s Double Concerto for two Pianos and Orchestra - CIRCUIT, commissioned by the BBC and featuring soloists Kathyrn Stott and Noriko Ogawa, has been recorded in Japan with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra for BIS records and just released.
2009 saw the beginning of multi-media collaboration with The Wilson Sisters and Wayne MacGregor at Sadlers Wells, premieres of new work for Yo-Yo Ma, Kathryn Stott and Powerplant. Recent collaborations include LENS commissioned by the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, a BBC commission for the Duke Quartet - PAWN, a solo for the new organ at Leeds Cathedral and interactive work GEOGRAPHY - a multi location work for computers and video.
Graham’s work has been released on CD by Decca’s Argo label, Factory Classical, Sanctuary’s Black Box and many others but more recently on his own label GFR.
In 2010 and 2011 there are new commissions coming up for Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Athens Camerata, London Chamber Orchestra, Fibonacci Sequence and the BBC Proms.
for information about performances, cds, projects, new music -
www.fitkin.com
information@fitkin.com
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