The Portsmouth Sinfonia was an English orchestra founded by a group of students at the Portsmouth School of Art in 1970. The sinfonia was generally open to anyone and ended up drawing players who were either people without musical training or, if they were musicians, ones that chose to play an instrument that was entirely new to them. Among the founding members was one of their teachers, English composer Gavin Bryars. The orchestra started as a one-off, tongue-in-cheek performance art ensemble but became a cultural phenomenon over the following 10 years, with concerts, record albums, a film and a hit single. They last performed publicly in 1979.
Hilding Constantin Rosenberg was the first Swedish modernist composer, and one of the most influential figures in Swedish 20th-century classical music.
"Sailing By" is a short piece of light music composed by Ronald Binge in 1963, which is used before the late Shipping Forecast on BBC Radio 4. A slow waltz, the piece uses a repetitive ABCAB structure and a distinctive rising and falling woodwind arpeggio.
Anthony Inglis is a British conductor.
The BBC Radio 4 UK Theme is an orchestral arrangement of traditional British and Irish airs compiled by Fritz Spiegl and arranged by Manfred Arlan. It was played every morning on BBC Radio 4 between 23 November 1978 and 23 April 2006.
Graham John Bickley is an English actor. He is best known for playing the role of Joey Boswell in Bread from 1989 until 1991, taking over from Peter Howitt, who played him from 1986 until 1989.
Nitin Sawhney is a British musician, producer and composer, as well as former comic actor. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, his work combines Asian and other worldwide influences with elements of jazz and electronica and often explores themes such as multiculturalism, politics, and spirituality. Sawhney is also active in the promotion of arts and cultural matters, and is a patron of numerous film festivals, venues, and educational institutions.
Stephen Andrew Gill Hough, CBE (; born 22 November 1961) is a British-born classical pianist, composer and writer. He became an Australian citizen in 2005 and thus has dual nationality.
Gwilym Simcock is a Welsh pianist and composer working in both jazz and classical music, and often blurring the boundaries of the two.
Checkmate is a one act ballet created by the choreographer Ninette de Valois and composer Arthur Bliss. The idea for the ballet was proposed by Bliss, and subsequently produced by de Valois for the Vic-Wells Ballet. It was first performed on 15 June 1937 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris. Checkmate is widely regarded as de Valois' signature ballet and a cornerstone of the British ballet repertoire, being performed regularly by the Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Barry Wordsworth is a British conductor.
Gareth Valentine is a Welsh composer, arranger, conductor and musical director. He has worked extensively in London's West End on musical productions and also conducted orchestras worldwide including the BBC Concert Orchestra, Welsh National Opera Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pasdeloup orchestra, RPO Concert Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, ENB Sinfonia, Orchestre de chambre de Paris and many others. After graduating from the Royal College of Music, London, he studied with Sir Peter Pears at Aldeburgh.
Gavin Sutherland is a conductor, composer/arranger and pianist. He is currently Music Director for English National Ballet.
Alexander Prior is a British composer and conductor who studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. He is currently the conductor for the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.
John Wilson is a British conductor, arranger and musicologist who conducts orchestras and operas, as well as big band jazz. He is the creator of the John Wilson Orchestra and Associate Guest Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
David Sawer, is a British composer of opera and choral, orchestral and chamber music.
Edward II is a ballet in two acts, with music by the English composer John McCabe.
Alexander Walker is a British conductor.
Kenneth Alwyn is an English conductor, composer and writer. Described by BBC Radio 3 as "one of the great British musical directors", Alwyn is known for his many recordings, including with the London Symphony Orchestra on Decca’s first stereophonic recording of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. He is also known for his long association with BBC Radio 2's orchestral live music programme Friday Night is Music Night, appearing for thirty years as a conductor and presenter, and for his contribution to British musical theatre as a prolific musical director in the 1950s and 1960s. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and is married to the actress Mary Law. The first volume of his memoirs A Baton in the Ballet and Other Places was published in 2015. The second volume Is Anyone Watching? was published in 2017.
Matthew Curtis is a British classical composer.
