Howard Skempton - Life

Life

Howard Skempton was born in Chester and studied at Ealing Technical College. He started composing before 1967; that year he moved to London and began taking private lessons in composition under Cornelius Cardew. In 1968 Skempton joined Cardew's experimental music class at Morley College, where in spring 1969 Cardew, Skempton and composer Michael Parsons organized the Scratch Orchestra. This ensemble had open membership and was dedicated to performing experimental contemporary music by composers such as La Monte Young, John Cage, Terry Riley, as well as by members of the orchestra itself. One of Skempton's early works, Drum No. 1 (1969), became one of the "most useful and satisfying" pieces in the repertory of the Scratch Orchestra.

Through Scratch Orchestra Skempton met numerous composers and performers, including Christopher Hobbs, John White and various Systems artists, and pianist John Tilbury. However, tensions arose during the politicizing of the Scratch Orchestra in early 1970s: Cardew and a number of other important members were pushing the ensemble towards a Marxist direction. Skempton, along with Hobbs, Parsons, White and many others, refused to be associated with the political line; the breakup of the Orchestra was accompanied by, in Parson's words, "a split between its 'political' and 'experimental' factions."

Skempton has been working as a music editor, performer (of his own compositions, on piano and accordion) and teacher since 1971. In 1974 he and Michael Parsons formed a duo to perform their own works. The 1980s saw an increase of interest in Skempton's music, which led to more commissions and permitted him to compose more for larger forces. Lento, an orchestral work composed in late 1991, became one of Skempton's most recognized and widely known pieces. In the 1990s important recordings of his works started appearing, such as a disc of piano music recorded by old friend and Scratch Orchestra colleague John Tilbury, released on Sony Classical in 1996, and Surface Tension, a recording of miscellaneous works released on Mode Records.

Howard Skempton currently teaches composition at the Birmingham Conservatoire. Recently, Skempton was the winner of the Chamber Scale Composition category at the 2005 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards for his string quartet Tendrils (2004).