Raymond Warren

Professional

Composer/Lyricist:	Composer
Genre:	Concert

Biography

Raymond Warren was born in 1928 and studied at Cambridge University with Robin Orr and later privately with Michael Tippett and Lennox Berkeley. From 1955-72 he taught at Queen's University, Belfast, where from 1966 he held a personal Chair in composition. While in Belfast, an association with the Lyric Players threatre company involved writing music for many of the plays of W. B. Yeats. For the years 1966-72 he was Resident Composer to the Ulster Orchestra, writing for them a number of orchestral works and also conducting the Orchestra in a series of concerts of contemporary music. In 1972 he was appointed Professor of Music at the University of Bristol, a post from which he retired in 1994.

Raymond Warren's compositions include three symphonies, a violin concerto, an oratorio, two passion settings, much chamber music and six operas of which three are large-scale church operas for children. There are choral and vocal works including two song cycles commissioned by Peter Pears. He is also the author of a book, Opera Workshop (Scolar Press), giving a composer's view of the art of opera.

The pattern of this career has been of quite heavy university teaching and administrative duties (particularly after the move to Bristol in 1972), with compositional activity in the vacations. Since retiring from university work, however, he has been able to be a full-time composer, and these years have seen the third symphony (a Brunel Ensemble commission), the second passion setting, an orchestral song cycle, a violin sonata, two choral cantatas and many shorter works; he has also written a chapter - 'The Composer and Opera' - in the symposium Composition - Performance - Reception (Ashgate Press).

Important Works		Performances
The Passion (1962) 7 soloists (or 2 soloists & choir) and chamber orchestra [1111 1000 1perc pno solo (or tutti) str] Pub. Novello, 65 mins Songs of Old Age (1968) baritone and piano; words: W. B. Yeats Pub. Novello, 27 mins Symphony No. 2 (1969) [2222 2200 timps 1perc str] 16 mins Wexford Bells (1970) suite for orchestra on old Irish tunes [2121 2200 2perc hp str] Pub. Novello, 11 mins String Quartet No. 2 - 'The Bells' (1975) Pub. Novello, 25 mins Burnt Norton Sketches (1985) piano trio 16 mins Golden Rings (19687) SATB unaccompanied; words trad. 11 mins Sonata for Violin and Piano (1993) 23 mins Symphony No. 3 - 'Pictures with Angels' (1995) [2222 2200 hp pno timps 2perc.str] 30 mins In my Childhood (1998) soprano and orchestra; poems by Louis MacNiece [2121 2100 hp 2perc str] 28 mins		None added