RPS Young Artist Biography
Mark Simpson
2010 RPS Composition Prize Winner
Mark Simpson is 21 years old and from Liverpool. In 2006 he became the first ever winner of both the BBC Young Musician of the year and BBC proms/ Guardian Young composer of the year competitions.
He made his Wigmore hall debut at the age of 17 and has performed as a soloist with many of the country's leading conductors and orchestras; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (Vassily Petrenko), Norhern Sinfonia (Yan Pascal Tortellier), BBC Philharmonic (Noseda), City of London Sinfonia, Manning Camerata, BBC concert Orchestra (Carl Davis), Oxford Philomusica and Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestras. In 2008 he appeared as concerto soloist in BBC proms last night of the proms in the Park in Hyde Park. He has performed as far afield as the Gulf Oman in a tour of the Middle East, Denver Colorado as the Lakewood Music scholar, Mecklenburg Vopommern as part of the festspiele and in Bonn as part of the Beethovenfest.
Mark is deeply committed to the performance of new music (especially for the Basset clarinet) and has commissioned works from Gavin Higgins, Stephen Pratt, Mark Anthony-Turnage, Gary Carpenter, Patrick Nunn, Emily Howard, David Horne and Kenneth Hesketh, all of which he will be recording with NMC this summer. He currently is artist in residence with the Northern Chamber Orchestra.
As a composer, 2008 was a busy year for Mark involving the premieres of 3 new orchestral works. Threads for Orchestra was commissioned by the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and performed by Vasily Petrenko in the Sage Gateshead, the Barbican and Symphony hall. Nur Musik, a work for Oboe and Chamber ensemble was premiered by Jonathan Small (principal RLPO) and Ensemble 10:10 conducted by Clark Rundell in Liverpool. "A mirror-fragment…", a 12 minute orchestral tone-poem based on the poetryof Melanie Challenger was premiered by the RLPO and Paul Daniel in October 2008. His latest work, Ariel for Violin, Basset Clarinet, Cello and Piano was premiered in St James’ Picadilly and commissioned by the Mercury quartet.Barkham Fantasy was written for pianist Richard Uttley and premiered in the Royal Festival Hall in May. Current commisions include pieces for the Arronowitz ensemble and ensemble 10:10.
His responseto his second commission from ensemble 10:10, a 10 minute Septet which was reviewed in the Times; "... two tautly worked movements ... locked together with the kind of musicality, panache and avoidance of stunts only possible with genuine, 100 per cent talent”, this was later played by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's New Music ensemble, Music NOW. He has also had woks performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Psappha. In 2008 he spent 6 months in Berlin where he studied with Unsuk Chin (composition) and Clarinet (Wenzel Fuchs, Principal clarinet Berlin Philharmonic). He is currently reading music at St. Catherine's college Oxford.
www.myspace.com/marksimpsoncomposer
(Updated July 2010)