A British composer and double bassist born in Carlisle, England in 1959. His musical journey began with studies in cello, double bass, and composition at the Birmingham School of Music. After graduating in 1981, he joined the National Centre for Orchestral Studies at London University as Principal Double Bass and studied composition under Dr. Alan Bush.
Career Highlights
– Member of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra’s Double Bass section for 37 years (1982–2019).
– Retired in 2019 to focus on composing and travel.
Compositional Output
– Composed for string quartets, orchestra, brass band, and opera.
– His opera *Plague* is based on the true story of the 1666 outbreak in Eyam, Derbyshire.
– Arranged music for pop idols Will Young and Gareth Gates for the BBC Proms in Hyde Park (2002).
Notable Concertos
– Piano Concerto (1992) for Peter Donahoe, recorded by Kathryn Stott and BBC Philharmonic.
– Contra-Bassoon Concerto (1993) for Peter Wesley.
– Accordion Concerto (1996) performed by Oleg Sharov.
– Bassoon Concerto (1998) titled *On a long walk back from Manchester*.
– Trombone Concerto (2000), premiered in Chester Cathedral.
– Also composed concertos for double bass, clarinet, trumpet (premiered in Dallas, 2003), and cello (premiered in 2021).
Signature Work
– Pošta Variations for solo double bass, a tribute to Czech virtuoso František Pošta.
Pošta Variations was commissioned by17 double bassists from the UK, USA, Republic of Ireland, Turkey, Canada, Australia and Portugal to commemorate the 30th anniversary of…
Pošta Variations was commissioned by17 double bassists from the UK, USA, Republic of Ireland, Turkey, Canada, Australia and Portugal to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the death of František Pošta in 2021.
“It is a great privilege to write a piece celebrating one of the world’s greatest Double Bass virtuoso’s. František Pošta was a musician who’s playing oozed warmth and style and his recording “The Grancino Bass of František Pošta” was the first recording of double bass music I listened to and the one recording that has remained with me to this day.
The first two bars of my piece musically portrays the name Pošta František, so taking the note A as a starting point and counting upwards in semitones P becomes a C and O becomes a B etc… the following eleven variations are based on aspects of his name and I hope the melodic lines and harmonic progressions found in these variations lead the player to recreate the qualities found in Pošta’s playing.” [Ivor Hodgson]
