“
I write music to engage an audience, to seduce them sometimes by stealth with something they know, then taking them somewhere they may never have been.
I’m a maverick and, like Henry Cowell, want to live in the whole world of music, not just one corner. My works range from the simple vernacular through high classical to the avant-garde. Variety is my oxygen.
Biography
Stephen Montague is an award-winning composer whose practice was honed from his post-minimalist roots in 1960s New York to an established career in London as a composer with an international reach.
His music ranges from the audacious classical to the most experimental avant-garde but always characterised by a focused energy and masterful orchestrations. He has won numerous accolades across a diverse catalogue of solo and chamber releases, orchestral, dance, and choral works.
Major commissions include the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Royal Ballet, BBC Proms, Royal Festival Hall, Merce Cunningham Dance Co., Warsaw Autumn, and Centre Pompidou. He has directed large-scale events at English National Opera, The Barbican Centre-London, Centre Pompidou and worked closely with icons John Cage, Astor Piazzolla, Terry Riley, Morton Feldman, Steve Reich, Conlon Nancarrow, Michael Nyman, and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones.
A passionate and engaging speaker, Stephen Montague is an articulate spokesman for contemporary culture and an enthusiastic supporter of the new generation of young musicians.
Selected Awards, Honours, Appointments
2020 Consortium commission for dance and chamber orchestra
2019 Artistic Director, Merce Cunningham International Centennial Celebrations, Florida State University
2018 Visiting Professor, Florida State University, 2018-19
75th Birthday orchestral/chamber concerts: London, Houston, Singapore
2017 Professor of Composition, Trinity Laban Conservatory, London
Royal Command Performance, The King Dances, Buckingham Palace, London
2016 Music Director, The Royal Opening with HM The Queen & Prince Philip, The Francis Crick Institute, London
Artistic Director, Musicircus, Centre Pompidou/Metz, France
2015 Runner-Up, Critic’s Circle National Dance Awards (UK): The King Dances
BBC TV 90 min. documentary: The King Who Invented Ballet
- Sir David Bintley, narrator & choreographer, Stephen Montague, orchestral score
2013 70th Birthday Concerts, London, New York, Austin (Texas), Columbus (Ohio)
2012 Artistic Director: John Cage Centennial: Musicircus, English National Opera, London
Out of the Cage! multi-media event for John Cage Centennial, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich
Featured Composer, Sound Festival, Aberdeen, Scotland
2010 BBC Proms commission, Royal Albert Hall, Wilful Chants, BBC Symphony Chorus
Concert Director/New Music Associate, Cambridge University, Kettle’s Yard
- monthly contemporary concert series
2009 Featured Composer, Weiner Musik Tage, Vienna, Austria
Artistic Director, Harmony of the Spheres, Greenwich Observatory, London
2008 Two Composer Portrait Concerts, International Festival of Contemporary Music, Mexico
2006 Winner: Best New Piano Music Recording 2006, International Piano Magazine
Composer in Residence, University of Houston, Texas
Professor of Composition, Royal Academy of Music, 2006-08
Artistic Director, John Cage - Musicircus, Trondheim, Norway
2005 Finalist, Royal Philharmonic Society Award
Composer in Residence, University of Chicago, Illinois
2004 Artistic Director, BBC Symphony- John Cage UnCaged Weekend, Barbican Centre, London
Honorary Fellow - Leeds College of Music [FLeedsCM]
BASCA Composer Award (UK), Runner-up
2003 60th Birthday: Featured Composer, Brighton International Music Festival, UK
BBC Symphony Orchestra concert of Montague orchestral works
BBC National Orchestra of Wales concert of Montague work
Featured Composer, Hampstead & Highgate Festival, London
2002 Featured Composer Heidelberg College New Music Festival
2001 Honorary Fellow, Trinity College of Music, London [Hon FTCL]
Featured Composer, Making New Waves Festival, Budapest, Hungary
Featured Composer, Bühne in Hof, St. Pölten, Austria
2000 Distinguished Alumnus Award, Ohio State University
Featured Composer, The Cambridge Millennium Music Festival, UK
Composer Portrait Concert, Royal Academy of Music, London
Guest Professor, University of Texas, Austin
1999 Concert Director, Mixing Music monthly series, Birmingham, UK 1999-2001
1998 Artistic Director, Society for the Promotion of New Music, UK 1998-99
1997 London Symphony Orchestra/BT commission, The Creatures Indoors, Barbican Centre
- 14 further performances
Featured Composer, Orchestra of St. John’s, Smith Square, City of Oxford, UK, 1997-98
Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Auckland, New Zealand
1996 Distinction in Computer Music, Ars Electronica Prix, Linz, Austria
Composers’ Hall of Fame, The Mail on Sunday newspaper, UK
Featured Composer, Musiikin Aika Festival, Viitasaari, Finland
1995 Composer Associate, Orchestra of St. John’s, Smith Square, London 1995-97
Ernst von Dohnanyi Citation for Excellence in Composition
Artistic Consultant: Inventing America Festival, Barbican Centre, London
Guest Professor, University of Texas, Austin
1994 First Prize, International Competition for Electroacoustic Music, Bourges, France
1993 50th Birthday chamber music concert, Southbank Centre, London
Chairman, Society for the Promotion of New Music, 1993-97
1992 Guest Professor, University of Texas, Austin
1991 Artist-in-Residence, University of Utah, Salt Lake City
Programme Curator, International Computer Music Conference, Montreal
Three concert series, Institute of Contemporary Art, London Montague/Mead Piano Plus
1990 Gian Carlo Menotti Artist-in-Residence, Charleston, South Carolina
1988 Winner, The London Dance and Performance Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Music, UK
1986 Winner, American Historical Association Award: Best Film or TV Program,
TV series: The West of the Imagination, music: Stephen Montague
Arts Council of Great Britain Composer Award
1985 Finalist, Evening Standard Award for Best Orchestral Work for Ballet
1984 Artistic Director, Electroacoustic Music Association of Great Britain, 1984-89
1983 Fellow, The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH
1982 Composer Bursary Award, IRCAM, Paris, France
1981 Fellow, The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH
1980 Piano soloist, Josef Riedl Ensemble (Munich) 2 month South American tour
1976 Pianist, Anton Webern Chamber Ensemble, Marcello Panni, conductor
Venice Biennale, Italy, 2 months
1975 Wigmore Hall recital, London
1972 Fulbright Fellowship Warsaw, Poland, 1972-74
US National Endowment for the Arts Grant, 1972
Winner, Delta Omicron Composition Award, 1972
Ohio State University Dissertation Fellowship, 1971-72
Education and Training
1986 Computer Music Course, CCRMA, Stanford University, California
1982 Computer Music Course, IRCAM, Paris, France
1972 Fulbright Fellowship, Warsaw, Poland, 1972-74
1972 Summer Electronic Music Institute, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
1972 Doctor of Musical Arts (composition) Ohio State University
1967 Master of Music (theory/analysis) Florida State University
1966 Certificate (conducting) Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria
1965 BMus with Honors (piano/conducting) Florida State University
1963 Associate of Arts (music) St. Petersburg College, Florida