Alex Prior
Encyclopedia
Alex Prior is a British composer
and conductor
who studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory
.
to a British father and a Russian mother who descended from Constantin Stanislavski. Prior began composing at the age of eight and has written more than 40 works, including symphonies, concertos, two ballets, two operas, and a Requiem for the children of Beslan
. At an early age, he began piano lessons. He later enrolled in the junior department of the Royal College of Music
. At 13, he entered the Saint Petersburg Conservatory
where, beginning in his third year, he studied composition with Boris Tishchenko
and conducting with Alexaner Alexeev.
Prior has collaborated with many leading orchestras and ensembles, including The BBC Singers
, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
, the New Opera Orchestra, the Northern Sinfonia
, and the ensemble Endymion. Highlights include a performance of his Sonata for Cello and Piano at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and a symphonic poem, Stalin's March, as part of the Arts Council
-funded New Music Day with the City of London Sinfonia
. Other performances include The Prince's Feast with Prior conducting the National Symphony Orchestra of London at the Barbican Centre
and the premiere of Svyatogor's Quest by the Sitkovetsky Piano Trio at Wigmore Hall
. In Autumn 2008, following performances in St. Petersburg, the Rossica Choir toured the UK, featuring Prior's choral cycle Sounds of the Homeland and parts of his All Night Vigil.
's The Jungle Book
) was commissioned by choreographers Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vassilev of the Moscow State Classical Ballet. The official premiere took place at the Kremlin Theatre in Moscow in February 2008.
's Tsar's Bride in St. Petersburg, followed by a performance of Tchaikovsky
's The Nutcracker
in January 2009.
to compose a concerto featuring some of the world’s most outstanding young musicians, as finally chosen by Prior, which included Zhang Xiaoming (age 10) on piano, Michael Province (age 13) on violin, Simone Porter (age 12) on violin, and Nathan Chan (age 15) on cello. The three-part series, culminating in a concert at The Sage Gateshead, was broadcast in June 2009, with Prior conducting the Northern Sinfonia
.
Prior was commissioned by the St. Petersburg Concert Society to write a choral symphony based on Nikolai Gogol
's work "Nevsky Prospekt
" and other stories such as "Diary of a Madman". Prior's Symphony No.4 "Gogol" was premiered on December 19, 2009 at the Smolniy Cathedral in St. Petersburg with Prior conducting the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra.
appointed Prior as an Assistant to Guest Conductors, a specially created six month fellowship, for the period from January through July 2010.
In Summer 2010 he was a conducting fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center
.
"But Prior was the real star. In his fourth year at the St Petersburg Conservatoire, he is in essence a Russian composer, and it was no surprise that Velesslavitsa sounded like an exuberant apotheosis, in concerto-grosso form, of Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and other Russian Romantics – the kind of over-the-top music a 16-year-old should be writing. At 47 minutes the structure could be tighter, but it has drama, colour and excitement in abundance.
And Prior the conductor is an absolute professional, clear in his gestures, authoritative in manner, supportive of his soloists. No longer a Wunderkind, he's well on the way to being a Wunder-adult."
"Prior certainly knows how to compose, and certainly has a bright future..."
The Times
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
who studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory
Saint Petersburg Conservatory
The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory is a music school in Saint Petersburg. In 2004, the conservatory had around 275 faculty members and 1,400 students.-History:...
.
Life and career
Prior was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to a British father and a Russian mother who descended from Constantin Stanislavski. Prior began composing at the age of eight and has written more than 40 works, including symphonies, concertos, two ballets, two operas, and a Requiem for the children of Beslan
Beslan
Beslan is a town and the administrative center of Pravoberezhny District of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia. In terms of population, Beslan is the third largest town in the republic behind Vladikavkaz and Mozdok...
. At an early age, he began piano lessons. He later enrolled in the junior department of the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
. At 13, he entered the Saint Petersburg Conservatory
Saint Petersburg Conservatory
The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory is a music school in Saint Petersburg. In 2004, the conservatory had around 275 faculty members and 1,400 students.-History:...
where, beginning in his third year, he studied composition with Boris Tishchenko
Boris Tishchenko
Boris Ivanovich Tishchenko was a Russian and Soviet composer and pianist.-Life:...
and conducting with Alexaner Alexeev.
Prior has collaborated with many leading orchestras and ensembles, including The BBC Singers
BBC Singers
The BBC Singers are the professional chamber choir of the BBC. As one of six BBC Performing Groups, the 24-voiced choir has been in existence for more than 80 years. The BBC Singers have commissioned and premiered works by the leading composers of the past century, including Benjamin Britten, Sir...
, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
, the New Opera Orchestra, the Northern Sinfonia
Northern Sinfonia
The Northern Sinfonia is a British chamber orchestra, based initially in Newcastle upon Tyne, and currently in Gateshead. For the first 46 years of its history, the orchestra gave the bulk of its concerts at the City Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne. Since 2004, the orchestra has been resident at The...
, and the ensemble Endymion. Highlights include a performance of his Sonata for Cello and Piano at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and a symphonic poem, Stalin's March, as part of the Arts Council
Arts council
An arts council is a government or private, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing events at home and abroad...
-funded New Music Day with the City of London Sinfonia
City of London Sinfonia
The City of London Sinfonia is an English chamber orchestra based in London. In London, the CLS performs regularly at Cadogan Hall and St Paul's Cathedral. It is also the resident orchestra at Opera Holland Park. The CLS has annual residencies in four towns in Southern England: Ipswich, King's...
. Other performances include The Prince's Feast with Prior conducting the National Symphony Orchestra of London at the Barbican Centre
Barbican Centre
The Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...
and the premiere of Svyatogor's Quest by the Sitkovetsky Piano Trio at Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
. In Autumn 2008, following performances in St. Petersburg, the Rossica Choir toured the UK, featuring Prior's choral cycle Sounds of the Homeland and parts of his All Night Vigil.
2006
Prior's Piano Concerto No. 1 was premiered at the V International Piano Festival in St. Petersburg in September 2006. Prior was runner-up in the 2008 International Prokofiev Composers Competition - his Piano Concerto No. 2 Northern Dances was performed by the State Academic Symphony of St. Petersburg in the Great Philharmonic Hall. In 2006, Prior’s ballet Mowgli (based on Rudyard KiplingRudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
's The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book is a collection of stories by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893–4. The original publications contain illustrations, some by Rudyard's father, John Lockwood Kipling. Kipling was born in India and spent the first six...
) was commissioned by choreographers Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vassilev of the Moscow State Classical Ballet. The official premiere took place at the Kremlin Theatre in Moscow in February 2008.
2007
Prior made his UK conducting debut with The National Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican in March 2007. He also conducted the State Symphony Orchestra of St. Petersburg in a performance of his String Symphony No. 1 and in a concert in the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall entirely devoted to his own compositions.2008
In November 2008 he conducted a performance of Rimsky-KorsakovNikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
's Tsar's Bride in St. Petersburg, followed by a performance of Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
's The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...
in January 2009.
2009
In 2009, Prior received a commission from Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
to compose a concerto featuring some of the world’s most outstanding young musicians, as finally chosen by Prior, which included Zhang Xiaoming (age 10) on piano, Michael Province (age 13) on violin, Simone Porter (age 12) on violin, and Nathan Chan (age 15) on cello. The three-part series, culminating in a concert at The Sage Gateshead, was broadcast in June 2009, with Prior conducting the Northern Sinfonia
Northern Sinfonia
The Northern Sinfonia is a British chamber orchestra, based initially in Newcastle upon Tyne, and currently in Gateshead. For the first 46 years of its history, the orchestra gave the bulk of its concerts at the City Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne. Since 2004, the orchestra has been resident at The...
.
Prior was commissioned by the St. Petersburg Concert Society to write a choral symphony based on Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...
's work "Nevsky Prospekt
Nevsky Prospekt (story)
Nevsky Prospect is a short story by Nikolai Gogol, written between 1831 and 1834, and published in 1835.- Summary :Influenced strongly by the Sentimental movement, the protagonist of "Nevsky Prospekt" is a pathetic and insignificant romantic, the narrator is chatty and unreliable, and realism...
" and other stories such as "Diary of a Madman". Prior's Symphony No.4 "Gogol" was premiered on December 19, 2009 at the Smolniy Cathedral in St. Petersburg with Prior conducting the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra.
2010
On January 8, 2010, the Seattle SymphonySeattle Symphony
The Seattle Symphony is an American orchestra based in Seattle, Washington. Since 1998, the orchestra is resident at Benaroya Hall. The orchestra's season runs from September through July, and serves as the pit orchestra for most productions of the Seattle Opera in addition to its own concerts...
appointed Prior as an Assistant to Guest Conductors, a specially created six month fellowship, for the period from January through July 2010.
In Summer 2010 he was a conducting fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center
Tanglewood Music Center
The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops designed to provide an intense training and networking experience...
.
Reviews
Prior has received some positive reviews for his recent concerto Velesslavitsa, both as a composer and a conductor."But Prior was the real star. In his fourth year at the St Petersburg Conservatoire, he is in essence a Russian composer, and it was no surprise that Velesslavitsa sounded like an exuberant apotheosis, in concerto-grosso form, of Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and other Russian Romantics – the kind of over-the-top music a 16-year-old should be writing. At 47 minutes the structure could be tighter, but it has drama, colour and excitement in abundance.
And Prior the conductor is an absolute professional, clear in his gestures, authoritative in manner, supportive of his soloists. No longer a Wunderkind, he's well on the way to being a Wunder-adult."
"Prior certainly knows how to compose, and certainly has a bright future..."
The Times
Selected Compositions
"Horizons: An American Crescendo for Four Soloists and Orchestra" dedicated to John Adams.Concertos
- 3 Piano concertos St. Petersburg Dances of the North and No.3
- Concerto for 4 soloists and orchestra Velesslavitsa
- Triple Concerto for Piano, Violin and Cello "That which must forever remain unspoken"
Choral
- All Night Vigil
- Sounds of the Homeland
- At the North for SATB Choir on Ivan Bunin's poetry
External links
- Alexander Prior's Official Website
- Gallafent, Alex, "Child prodigy composes ballet", The World program, PRIPublic Radio InternationalPublic Radio International is a Minneapolis-based American public radio organization, with locations in Boston, New York, London and Beijing. PRI's tagline is "Hear a different voice." PRI is a major public media content creator and also distributes programs from many sources...
Radio, June 19, 2007 - "UK teen conducts Moscow ballet", BBC News, Tuesday, 19 June 2007
- Alex Prior on classicalx.com