Graham Fitkin

Fitkin was born at Crows-an-Wra in west Cornwall on 19 April 1963. His mother, a piano teacher, encouraged his early studies on that instrument. He participated in numerous local ensembles during his childhood, and recalls starting to compose at the piano aged around 8. He later went to the Netherlands to study with the minimalist composer and pianist Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. His partner is harpist Ruth Wall, with whom he collaborates in Fitkin Wall. ==Music==

Fitkin's work is broadly classified as minimalist and postminimalist. His works are tonal and frequently complex. Much of his writing is for the piano, including solo and multiple player works. Several of his early works, including Log, Line and Loud, were composed for the six-piano ensemble, Piano Circus. A more recent work for electronic instruments is the album Kaplan, which was inspired by the character George Kaplan from Alfred Hitchcock's film, North by Northwest. In 1994–96, Fitkin was the composer-in-residence at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and during the mid-to-late 1990s he composed twelve orchestral pieces including a clarinet concerto. Recent projects include Still Warm, a work for multiple harps, which was composed for the Eden Project in 2006. The sextet Sinew, written for the Fibonacci Sequence, was first performed in 2009. For Yo Yo Ma, he has written a cello concerto which was premiered at the 2011 BBC Proms, as well as a work for cello and piano, titled L, composed for the performer's fiftieth birthday (2005). A BBC commission for orchestra and chorus, titled PK, was also premiered at the Proms in 2010. In a recent project called Fitkin, a group comprising 9 virtuoso musicians has been touring the UK since early 2010. In December 2010, it was announced that Fitkin had been selected as one of twenty composers to participate in the New Music 20x12 project as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Fitkin will compose a new work for the London Chamber Orchestra to be premiered in 2012. In 1996, he formed the Graham Fitkin Group. Sanctuary's Black Box label, BIS Records and Factory Classical. He founded a personal label, GFR, to release Still Warm. ==Awards==

In 1994, Fitkin won the International Grand Prix Music for Dance Video Award. in 2011, PK won the Outreach category. ==Selected works==

Solo and multiple pianos • From Yellow to Yellow (1985) • The Cone Gatherers (1987) • Loud (1989), for six pianos • Flak (1989), for two pianos/eight hands • Log (1990), for six pianos • Line (1991), for six pianos • Fervent (1992–94) • Piano Pieces 93 (1993) • Relent (1998) Piano and orchestra • Granite (1995) • Circuit (2002) • Ruse (2009) Orchestral • Cud (1988) • Length (1994) • Bebeto (1995) • Henry (1995) • Metal (1995) • Clarinet Concerto (1998) • Reel (2008) • PK (2010), with choir • Cello Concerto (2011) • Recorder Concerto (2017) Ensemble • Ironic (1997) • Bed (1998) • Beethoven 7 (2000) String Quartets • Servant (1992) • A Small Quartet (1993) • Another Small Quartet (1994) • Pawn (2004) • Inside (2006) • String (2007) Other • Huoah (1988), for brass band; rewritten as ballet score (1995) • Slow (1990), for string quartet and two keyboards • Hook (1991), for percussion quartet • Skirting (2001), for solo guitar • Lens (2003), for piano trio • Geography (2004), for computers and video • Kaplan (2004), multimedia • L (2005), for cello and piano • Touch (2005), piano quintet • Still Warm (2006), for electronically manipulated harps • Sinew (2009), sextet for violin, viola, cello, clarinet, horn and piano • Distil (2014), string quartet and percussion • Recur (2016), string quartet and harp • Loosening (2021), string quartet and soprano saxophone Partial discography • Skirting, Jim and Pam and Pam and Jim on The Uncommon Harp (compilation) – Ruth Wall • Ironic, and other ensemble works – Graham Fitkin Group • Granite – Peter Donohoe (piano), Petr Altrichter and Graham Fitkin (conductors), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic • Flak, and other piano works – various (Factory Classical; 1991) • Slow, Huoah, Frame – Smith Quartet (Argo; 1992) • Log, Line, Loud – Piano Circus (Argo; 1992) • Hook, Mesh, Stub, Cud – various (Argo; 1993) • Kaplan – Graham Fitkin and Ruth Wall (Black Box; 2003) • Hook, Mesh, Stub, Cud, Log, Line, Loud, Hard Fairy – various (Decca; 2004) • Still Warm – Fitkin Wall (GFR; 2007) • Circuit, Relent, Carnal, and other piano works – Noriko Ogawa and Kathryn Stott (piano), Naoto Otomo (conductor), Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (BIS Records; 2010) • String Quartets – Sacconi Quartet, Signum Classics SIGCD518 (2017) • Loosening, Slow, Distil, Touch, Recur – Sacconi Quartet and soloists, Signum Classics SIGCD792 (2024) ==References==