Early life Michael Finnissy was born in
Tulse Hill, London, on 17 March 1946 to Rita Isolene
née Parsonson and George Norman Finnissy. His father was employed at the
London City Council. When he was four, he received his first piano lessons from his great-aunt Rose Louise (Rosie) Hopwood, soon after writing his first compositions. He attended Hawes Down Infant and Junior schools,
Bromley Technical High School, and
Beckenham and Penge Grammar School, and excelled in graphic art, mathematics, and English literature.
Student years Finnissy received the
William Hurlstone composition prize at the Croydon Music Festival, a factor which assisted his parents' decision to let him apply to music college. He was then awarded a Foundation Scholarship to study at the
Royal College of Music, piano with Edwin Benbow and
Ian Lake, and composition with
Bernard Stevens and
Humphrey Searle. Soon after, he received an Octavia travelling scholarship to study in Italy with
Roman Vlad. Finnissy was then able to befriend
Brian Ferneyhough. In 1968, he wrote his first proper compositions.
Professional career To earn money for his classes he took up a job as a
répétiteur and freelanced at the
London Contemporary Dance School and founded a department there, as well as working with numerous choreographers. In 1972 he made his concert début in the Galerie Schwartzes Kloster in
Freiburg im Breisgau. Meanwhile, he had been appearing around Europe. Finnissy's first job as a composition teacher was at Dartington Summer School where he taught along with his colleague Ferneyhough and signed contracts with numerous publishers, including
Oxford University Press. He has been a member of the ensemble
Suoraan (founded by
James Clarke and
Richard Emsley) and then its artistic director since the early 1970s, then joining
Ixion (founded and still directed by Andrew Toovey) in 1987 - in both of these groups he not only played the piano but also conducted concerts. Finnissy was invited to join by
Justin Connolly to join the
International Society for Contemporary Music and was president from 1990 to 1996. He is currently an Honorary Member. He has attached to C.O.M.A. (initially known as the East London Late Starters Orchestra) since its inception, and is composer-in-residence
Victorian College of the Arts and to the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney. He has taught at the
Royal Academy of Music, the
University of Sussex, and is professor of composition at the
University of Southampton and composer-in-residence at
St. John's College, Cambridge. He won a competition to supply a violin solo test piece to the 1990
Carl Flesch International Violin Competition with
Enek. Finnissy completed his
Verdi Transcriptions for piano (which he started in 1972) in 2005. He is
homosexual. == Music ==