Param Vir is a British composer originally from India.

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (December 2007)

Born in Delhi into a family life permeated with Indian classical music, Param Vir's strong interest in music developed as a teenager when attending a Roman Catholic secondary school and had informal lessons from composer Hans-Joachim Koellreutter, then resident in India.[1][2] With no prospects as a composer in India, he read history and philosophy at Delhi University, but returned to music on graduation in 1974 as a teacher.[2] From 1983 Vir studied composition at Dartington with Peter Maxwell Davies and at Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Oliver Knussen.[1][2] In 1986 Vir was a composition fellow at Tanglewood. The following year he was a featured composer in the Festival of India in Geneva.[3]

Career highlights

• 1983 – attended Dartington International Summer School on a scholarship.
• 1984 – moved to London to study with Oliver Knussen.
• 1987 – awarded Benjamin Britten Composition Prize.
• 1993 – Pierre Audi production of Broken Strings wins Ernst von Siemens Music Prize for young composers (Munich).
• 2003 – first full production of ION tours Europe.
• 2005 – Horse Tooth White Rock performed at the BBC Proms.
• 2005 – Hayagriva commissioned and premiered by the Schoenberg Ensemble in Amsterdam
• 2006 – Between Earth and Sky, inspired by Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate, premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London
• 2008 – He Begins His Great Trance for the BBC Singers; Black Feather Rising for Stichting Octopus
• 2010 – Constellations for the BCMG performed at the Barbican
• 2013 – BBC Proms Commission Cave of Luminous Mind
• 2014 – Raga Fields – co-commission from Klangforum Wien, Fulcrum Point Chicago, the BCMG
• 2017 – international tour of A Kinsman to Danger
• 2020 – awarded PRS Composer Award for portrait CD on NMC

Selected works

Stage works

Other

• Before Krishna (1987; string orchestra)
• Horse Tooth White Rock (1994; orchestra)
• Ultimate Words: Infinite Song (1997; baritone, six percussion, piano)
• The Theatre of Magical Beings (2003; large ensemble)
• Hayagriva (2005; large ensemble)
• Between Earth and Sky (2006; orchestra)
• Cave of Luminous Mind (2013; orchestra) BBC commission for 2013 Proms
• ABLAZE! (2014, soprano, piano)
• Raga Fields (2014, sarod, mixed ensemble)
• Drum of the Deathless (2017, percussion quintet or percussion duo)
• A Kinsman to Danger (2017, baritone, piano)

Selected recordings

• White Light Chorale – Metronome METCD1053
• Video extracts on the Param Vir official website

References

External links

• Param Vir official website
• Param Vir's homepage at Chester Music

На других языках

[de] Param Vir