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Geoffrey Winters

Senior Citizen

Composer/Lyricist: Composer
Genre: Concert

Biography

Geoffrey Winters was born in Chingford (when it was still part of Essex) on 17 October 1928. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music for five years with Alan Bush, Priaulx Rainier, Howard Ferguson and Frederic Jackson. Here he met his wife Christine. He has three children and seven grandchildren. He taught in primary and secondary schools for 13 years and subsequently lectured at Gipsy Hill and Balls Park colleges of education for a further 12 years. At 49 he became a freelance composer and writer.

His music ranges from song to symphony and he has written a great deal of music for young people. He has been awarded a number of prizes including the Harry Danks viola prize for his 1st Viola Sonata, the Clements Memorial Prize for his 1st String Quartet and the Lloyds Bank Prize for his solo work for harp, Tributaries.

He wrote for Longman for over 25 years and his Listen Compose Perform, a GCSE course book, was widely acclaimed and used. His series The Rainbow Recorder Course broke new ground with an accompanying tape produced in conjunction with Jim Northfield.

His interests are calligraphy (including Chinese calligraphy), gardening, wine and cricket.

Publishers include Richard Schauer (Simrock), Chester, Universal, Nova Music and Cambridge University Press. For further information, contact his publishers or Geoffrey Winters at 4 The Causeway, Boxford, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 5JR.

Important Works Performances
  1. Viola Sonata No.1, Op. 8 (1955) 11 mins
  2. String Quartet No.1, Op. 10 (1956) 18 mins
  3. Symphony No.1, Op. 23 (1961) 15 mins [3222 4331 timp., perc., strings]
  4. The Year, Op. 26 (1962) - children's sonata 20 mins [descant recorder, percussion, piano, violin, cello]
  5. Reflections for Solo Recorder, Op. 45 (1971) 7 mins Published Nova Music
  6. Violin Concerto, Op. 51 (1974) 17 mins [2(1)222 4231 timp., perc., harp, strings]
  7. Meeting Point - song cycle, Op. 59 (1978) 19 mins [soprano (or tenor) and piano] M K Joseph, Christopher Marlowe, Robert Graves, Louis Macniece
  8. Studies form a Rainbow for solo piano, Op. 71 (1981) 19 mins
  9. Tributaries for Solo Harp, Op. 79 (1983) 12 mins Published Richard Schauer (Simrock)
  10. Summer Songs for choir and piano, Op. 90 (1990) 20 mins
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