Michael Finnissy was born in London in 1946. He was a Foundation Scholar at the Royal College of Music, London, where he studied composition with Bernard Stevens and Humphrey Searle, and piano with Edwin Benbow and Ian Lake. Afterwards, he studied in Italy with Roman Vlad. He created the music department of the London School of Contemporary Dance, and has been associated as composer with many British dance companies including London Contemporary Dance Theatre, Ballet Rambert, Strider and Second Stride. He has taught at Dartington Summer School, Winchester College, the junior department of the Royal College of Music and Chelsea College of Art. Finnissy’s epic piano cycle, “The History of Photography in Sound”, the product of several years’ work and lasting over five hours, received its complete première in January 2001 at the hands of Ian Pace. “History”’s fame has been increasing ever since with numerous performances, both of the complete cycle or individual movements, in many countries and by pianists including Nicolas Hodges, Marilyn Nonken, Mark Knoop and Philip Howard. 2006 was the composer’s 60th birthday year, and highlights included ‘The Finnissy Weekend’ – a series of concerts at the BMIC Cutting Edge series, the premiere of “Brighton!”, commissioned by the Brighton Festival and performed by Robert Murray and the Dante String Quartet, and a full performance of “The History of Photography in Sound”.
