Richard Stoker
Senior Citizen (Professional)
Biography
Richard Stoker was born in Castleford, Yorkshire in 1938. He began piano lessons with an uncle at the age of six and took his first steps in composing the following year. He had his first broadcast on the BBC Home Service (by Violet Carson) at the age of 15.
He was later taught by Harold Truscott and Eric Fenby in his native Yorkshire and Arthur Benjamin and Benjamin Britten in London. He studied with Lennox Berkeley at the Royal Academy of Music, then in Paris as a Mendelssohn Scholar with Nadia Boulanger.
Between 1963 and 1987 he was Professor of Composition and a tutor at the Royal Academy of Music, teaching many leading composers of the younger generation. He edited Composer magazine for 11 years, from 1969 to 1980.
He has written for most combinations: operas, a piano concerto, three string quartets, three piano trios, song cycles, choral works, many orchestral works, guitar and organ music. His music has been performed and broadcast worldwide. His three-act opera, 'Johnson Preserv'd', received its world premiere in London in 1967. In the early 1970s he visited New York for the American premiere of his Third String Quartet. Recent commissions include a Chinese Canticle for Inter-Artes, a Piano Sonata (No.2) for the concert pianist Eric Parkin, and a Partita for mandolin and harp.
His stage and TV credits include 'Troilus and Cressida' (Old Vic), 'Lysistrata and Galileo' (Goldsmiths), 'Rape of the Belt' (RAM), 'My Friend - My Enemy' (The Place), 'Zampogna' (Tyne Tees), and 'The Garden Party' (Coliseum - danced by Dame Margot Fonteyn, choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton, designs by Andy Warhol). His film credits include 'The End of the Line' (BFS), 'Titanic' (Pathe News), 'Advance Democracy' (ACS Productions), 'Portrait of a Town' (Standard Pictures).
He has appeared on BBC1, Radio 3, Radio 4, Radio London and Channel 4. As a pianist he has performed on BBC1 and Radio 3, on the South Bank, and at Leighton House. Much of his music is recorded, including CDs of his Clarinet Sonatina (Chandos, 1994), Piano Works (Eric Parkin, Priory, 1998), Vocal Works and Piano Duets (ASC, 1998).
He has written an autobiography, Open Window - Open Door (1985), a children's novel, Tanglewood (1993), a novel, Diva, and collected short stories (1997), and two books of poetry, Words Without Music (1971) and Portrait of a Town (1974).
In addition to the British Academy of Composers & Songwriters, Richard belongs to PRS, MCPS, the RAM Guild (Committee and Treasurer), PEN, International Pen, and the Royal Society of Literature. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music (FRAM) and an Associate of the Royal College of Music (ARCM).
He has entries in Grove, Grove Opera, International Who's Who, Debrett's People of Today, Contemporary Composers, Oxford Dictionary of Music; biographical dictionaries Baker's Chambers, Cambridge, Hutchinson, Macmillan; International Who's Who of Art, Writers, Poets, Musicians; The Knowledge, TV Composer Guide, Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in Entertainment, and Men of Achievement.
A full list of Richard's compositions can be seen at
www.discuss2.open.ac.uk/~gill_stoker/opus
Web Links:
www.priory.org.uk/cat.htm
Priory Records
(click on British Piano Music, then Richard Stoker)
www.casandpont.freeserve.co.uk/stoker.htm
Castleford and Pontefract website
www.bmic.co.uk
British Music Information Centre
(full list of works)
www.impulse-music.co.uk/stoker.htm
Impulse classical music website
(includes music tracks)
http://www.boosey.com/publishing/pages/Catalogue/
The Boosey & Hawkes catalogue includes four of Richard's works
www.jazzservices.org.uk
The Jazz Site
www.tutti.co.uk
a new service for advertising musical scores, CDs, etc.
www.poets.com/RichardStoker.html
poetry
www.abrsmpublishing.co.uk
(click on Richard Stoker)
| Important Works |
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Performances |
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- Johnson Preserv'd (1966/67) chamber opera in three actsavailable from the composer
- Music That Brings Sweet Sleep (1967) chamber opera in three actsavailable from the composer
- String Quartet No. 3 (1968) ('Adlerian')pub. Ricordi
- Feast of Fools Overture (1969) pub. Fentone
- Partita (1969) for organpub. Boosey & Hawkes
- Benedictus (1974) for choir and orchestra pub. Brunton Music
- Polemics (1970) for oboe and string trio
- Canticle No.2: Make Me A Willow Cabin (1972) soprano, mezzo-soprano and piano
- Landscape of Truth (1981) a capella voices (AATTBB)available from the composer
- Piano Sonata No. 2 (1994) available from the composer
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