Robert Saxton Recordings

Robert Saxton was born in London in 1953. Guidance from Benjamin Britten and Elisabeth Lutyens was followed by study at Cambridge and Oxford Universities. He won the Gaudeamus International Composers Prize in Holland at twenty-one and was Fulbright Arts Fellow at Princeton, USA in 1986. He is Emeritus Professor of Composition at Oxford University, Composer-in-Association at the Purcell School and Honorary Research Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music. His music is published by Chester/Wise Music, UYMP and Ricordi. Recordings are on Sony Classical, Hyperion, EMI, NMC, Divine Art/Metier, Nimbus and Signum.

Robert has been commissioned by the BBC (TV, Proms and Radio), LSO, LPO, ECO, London Sinfonietta, Nash Ensemble, Antara, Arditti and Chilingirian Quartets, St Paul Chamber Orchestra (USA), and written for the Huddersfield, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, City of London, Lichfield and Three Choirs Festivals. He has worked closely with performers including Teresa Cahill, Leon Fleisher, Clare Hammond, Tasmin Little, Steven Isserlis, Mstislav Rostropovich and John Wallace.

Recent works include the opera The Wandering Jew commissioned by the BBC; a song cycle for baritone Roderick Williams; Hortus Musicae, for pianist Clare Hammond; The Resurrection of the Soldiers, commissioned by the 2016 Presteigne Festival, the English Symphony Orchestra and Kenneth Woods; Shakespeare Scenes, commissioned by the Orchestra of the Swan and trumpeter Simon Desbruslais; A Hymn to the Thames for oboist James Turnbull and St Paul’s Sinfonia; Suite for violinist Madeleine Mitchell and pianist Clare Hammond; Fantasy Pieces for the Fidelio Trio; Scenes from the Epic of Gilgamesh, premiered by ESO at Music at Oxford in March 2023 and released on CD in 2024; and Sonata – Reflections in Time for violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved. Latest commissions include a major organ cycle for Jonathan Clinch.

Robert Saxton is married to the soprano Teresa Cahill.

www.robertsaxton.net