| Ian Venables |
His wonderful music has been my constant companion since that time and became even more meaningful when, in 1996, I met and became friends with his wife Trudy. Her encouragement in my own creative life as a composer was invaluable and her enthusiasm for her husband’s music touched all those who knew her. Arthur Bliss’s role as one of England’s foremost composers is now assured, and it is an honour to be part of a society which will continue to carry his legacy into the future. |
Ian Venables was born in Liverpool in 1955 and studied music with Richard Arnell at Trinity College of Music, London and later with Andrew Downes, John Mayer and John Joubert in Birmingham. He settled in Worcester in 1986 where he works as a freelance composer. He is developing a reputation as one of the finest song composers of his generation and has added significantly to the canon of English art-song. His various collections of song are published by Novello and Co and have received much critical acclaim. His many chamber works include a Piano Quintet Op.27 (1995) and a String Quartet Op.32 (1997) as well as smaller pieces for solo instruments and piano. His large-scale anthem Awake, Awake, the World is Young Op.34, commissioned by the Charlton Kings and Cirencester Choral Societies together with Lady Bliss, was premièred in 2000. Ian Venables is associated
with the world-famous Three Choirs Festival and has had many works performed
there. Like many creative artists living in or around the Severn Vale
he has been inspired by its unique terrain and has broadcast on this subject.
He also lectures widely and is deeply committed to the idea of ‘music
and landscape’. He is currently the Chairman of the Ivor Gurney Society and his continuing work on the music of Ivor Gurney has led to orchestrations of two of Gurney’s songs (2003) – counterparts to the two songs orchestrated by Herbert Howells – and a newly edited version of Gurney’s War Elegy, with Philip Lancaster. He has recently been described as ‘perhaps the finest song composer of his generation’. His music is published by Novello and Co Ltd. |