Mark-Anthony Turnage


Mark-Anthony Turnage is an English composer of contemporary classical music.

Life and career

Mark-Anthony Turnage was born in Corringham, Essex on 10 June 1960. Turnage was the eldest of three children. His parents were lovers of classical music and were enthusiastic Pentecostal Christians.
He began composing at age nine and at fourteen began studying at the junior section of the Royal College of Music.
His initial musical studies were with Oliver Knussen, John Lambert, and later with Gunther Schuller. He also has been strongly influenced by jazz, in particular by the work of Miles Davis, and has composed works featuring jazz performers, including John Scofield, Peter Erskine, John Patitucci, and Joe Lovano.
Turnage has composed numerous orchestral and chamber works, and three full-length operas. Greek, composed with the encouragement of Hans Werner Henze and first performed in 1988 at the Munich Biennale, is based on Steven Berkoff's adaptation of Oedipus Rex. The Silver Tassie, first performed in 2000, is based on the play by Seán O'Casey. Anna Nicole, with a libretto by Richard Thomas and first performed in 2011, relates the rise and fall of Playboy model and media celebrity Anna Nicole Smith. His opera for family audiences, Coraline, is based on the dark fantasy novel by Neil Gaiman, and was staged by The Royal Opera at the Barbican Theatre in 2018. His operas have been performed around the world including notably by New York City Opera, Opernhaus Zurich, Theater Dortmund, Theater Freiburg and the Opera de Lille.
Other works include Three Screaming Popes, Your Rockaby, Yet Another Set To, and From the Wreckage. Blood [on the Floor (Turnage)|Blood on the Floor ], for jazz quartet and large ensemble, contains nine sections with a shared theme of drug addiction, the section titled "Elegy for Andy" being a lament for the loss of his brother in a drug-related death.
More recent Turnage scores have included the orchestral work Remembering, conducted by Simon Rattle in 2017 with the London Symphony Orchestra and Berlin Philharmonic; double violin concerto Shadow Walker for soloists Vadim Repin and Daniel Hope, performed by the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra in 2018; and Testament, his setting of Ukrainian texts for soprano and orchestra. He has composed song cycles for a number of celebrated singers including Sarah Connolly, Gerald Finley and Allan Clayton.
Turnage's work Blood on the Floor was choreographed by Wayne McGregor for Paris Opera Ballet in 2011 and in the same year he composed the score for Undance, collaborating with McGregor and visual artist Mark Wallinger. In 2012 Trespass, a ballet choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon and Alistair Marriott with score by Turnage, was first performed by The Royal Ballet. In 2017 he composed the score for Strapless, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon for The Royal Ballet. Other choreographers that have made ballets to Turnage's works include Heinz Spoerli, Ashley Page, Jorma Elo and Gregor Zollig.
Turnage was the first Radcliffe Composer in Association with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1989 until 1993 and between 2000 and 2003 was the BBC Symphony Orchestra's first Associate Composer. He was Composer in Residence with the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 2005 until 2010. Between 2006 and 2010, Turnage was a co-composer-in-residence of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a position he held alongside Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov.
In autumn 2005 he was appointed the Royal College of Music's Research Fellow in Composition. In 2015 he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to music.

Personal life

His partner is the director Rachael Hewer, who founded the Virtual Opera Project in 2020.
In January 2025 Turnage was the castaway for BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, where his choices included "Notre Dame des Jouets" by Oliver Knussen, "Blue in Green" by Miles Davis and "Living for the City" by Stevie Wonder. In the same programme he spoke about volunteering regularly at a food bank, and about working on music projects with prisoners.

Works

Ballet

From All Sides L'Anatomie De La Sensation Undance Trespass
  • ''Strapless''

Orchestral

Night Dances, for offstage string quintet, solo instrumental group and orchestraThree Screaming Popes Some Days, song cycle for mezzo-soprano and orchestraMomentum Drowned Out Your Rockaby, for soprano saxophone and orchestraDispelling the Fears, for two trumpets and orchestraScorched, for jazz trio and orchestraStill Sleeping Evening Songs Silent Cities About Time, for ensemble and chamber orchestra of period instrumentsAnother Set To, concerto for trombone and orchestraA Quick Blast, for orchestral winds, brass and percussionDark Crossing, for chamber orchestraEtudes and Elegies Four-Horned Fandango, for four horns and orchestraOn Opened Ground, concerto for viola and orchestraUninterrupted Sorrow Fractured Lines, double concerto for two percussion and orchestraWhen I Woke, for baritone and chamber orchestraA Quiet Life, for string orchestraA Man Descending, for tenor saxophone and chamber orchestraRiffs and Refrains, concerto for clarinet and orchestraScherzoid A Soothing Interlude, for trombone and orchestraFrom the Wreckage, concerto for trumpet and orchestraYet Another Set To, concerto for trombone and orchestraCeres Hidden Love Song, for soprano saxophone and chamber orchestraJuno Lullaby for Hans, for string orchestraThree Asteroids The Torino Scale From All Sides A Prayer Out of Stillness, concertante for double bass and string orchestraChicago Remains Five Views of a Mouth, concerto for flute and orchestraMambo, Blues and Tarantella, concerto for violin and orchestraTexan Tenebrae Hammered Out Cello Concerto Speranza Canon Fever, premiered at the opening night of the 2012 BBC Proms.Frieze BBC co-commission with the Royal Philharmonic Society and the New York PhilharmonicErskine, concerto for drum set and orchestraPasschendaele Piano Concerto Dialogue, for violin and cello soloists, strings, percussion, harp and pianoHåkan, for trumpet and orchestraMartland Memorial, for percussion and orchestraRemembering, for orchestraShadow Walker, double concerto for two violins and orchestraSymphonic Movements, for orchestraTowards Alba, for horn and orchestraTime Flies, for orchestraGo For It, for orchestraLast Song for Olly , reduced version for orchestraUp for Grabs, for jazz trio and orchestraCortege for Bernard Haitink, for orchestra

Choral

The Game Is Over, for S.A.T.B. choir and orchestraA Relic of Memory, for S.A.T.B. choir and orchestraCalmo, for a cappella S.A.T.B. choir and bellsTwo Fanfares and a Lament, for S.A.T.B. choir and large ensembleChristmas Night, for S.A.T.B. choir and pianoClaremont Carol, for upper-voice choir and piano or organMiserere Nobis, for a cappella S.A.T.B. choirAt Sixes and Sevens, for soprano and baritone soloists, youth chorus and chamber orchestraHibiki, for two solo voices, children's chorus and orchestra Sing Out Loud, two Welsh part songs for a cappella male chorus

Chamber

On All Fours, for chamber ensembleSarabande, for soprano saxophone and pianoRelease, for soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, bass clarinet, trumpet, trombone, percussion, piano and double bassKai, for cello solo and ensembleThree Farewells, for flute, bass clarinet, harp and string quartetSet To, for brass dectetThis Silence, for clarinet, bassoon, horn and string quintetBlood on the Floor, for jazz quartet and large ensembleBarrie's Deviant Fantasy, for string quartet and referee's whistlesBass Invention, for double bass solo and ensembleCantilena, for oboe quintetSnapshots, for large ensembleCrying Out Loud, for large ensembleA Short Procession, for piano trioEulogy, for viola solo and small ensembleNo Let Up, for ensembleThree Trios, for piano trioCarnac, for B♭ Clarinet and pianoA Few Serenades, for cello and pianoA Slow Pavane, for piano trioA Fast Stomp, for piano trioBleak Moments, for horn and string quartetFanfare , for brass ensembleReturning, for string sextetTango, for ensembleOut of Black Dust, for brass ensembleFour Chants, for violin and pianoTwisted Blues with Twisted Ballad Grazioso!, for small ensembleFive Processionals, for clarinet, violin, cello and pianoHilary's Hoedown encore for violin and pianoGG, for cello and percussionThree for Two, for piano quartetAmelia's March, for small ensembleSilem, for solo trumpet and big bandUndance, for ensembleJohnston, for two cellosFalling Apart, for clarinet and piano Contusion Run Riot, for saxophone quartetPower Play, for viola and pianoMaya, for solo cello and chamber orchestraDuetti d'Amore, for violin and celloShroud Seven Pint-Sized Pieces, for violin and pianoPrussian Blue, Quintet for piano, violin, viola, cello and double bassCleethorpes Chorale, for solo violin and pianoMassarosa, for bassoon quintetNocturne, for trumpet and stringsRomanian Rhapsody, for solo violin and ensembleLament, for solo violin and string orchestraA Furious Fanfare, for trumpet, horn, trombone and percussionWinter's Edge Chorale, for flute, bass clarinet, viola and celloSplit Apart, for string quartetUli, for eight players

Vocal

Lament for a Hanging Man, for soprano and ensembleSome Days, song cycle for mezzo-soprano and orchestraGreek Suite, for mezzo-soprano, tenor soli and ensembleThe Torn Fields, song cycle for baritone and large ensembleWhen I Woke, song cycle for baritone and orchestraTwo Baudelaire Songs, for soprano and ensembleAbout Water, for solo jazz singer; soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, bass soli; solo instrumental septet and large ensembleA Constant Obsession, song cycle for tenor and ensembleBellamy, for countertenor and singing harpistIn The Bleak Mid-Winter arranged for voice, harp, cello and double bassTestament, cantata for solo soprano and orchestraRefugee, for tenor and chamber orchestraBlack Milk, for jazz singer and sixteen playersOwl Songs, for soprano and eight playersWithout Ceremony, for baritone and pianoOf Nature's Light, song cycle for mezzo-soprano and pianoSilenced, for tenor and pianoSongs of Sleep and Regret, for mezzo-soprano and piano

Solo instrumental

True Life Stories, for pianoAn Aria , for trumpetAh, Quegli Occhi!, for soprano saxophoneAir with Variations, for guitarCradle Song, for clarinetMilo, for celloLeap, for clarinetFour Meditations, for harpOn Marylebone Road for piano

Other

Anthem by Peter Erskine, ed. Turnage, for jazz trio and chamber orchestra
  • On the CD Music to Hear :
  • * Two Memorials
  • * An Invention on "Solitude"
  • * Sleep On
  • * Cortège for Chris
  • * Two Elegies Framing a Shout
  • * Three Farewells
  • * ''Tune for Toru''