Biography
Born in Wimbledon, London, Talbot studied composition at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under Brian Elias and Simon Bainbridge.
In 1993 Talbot first met Neil Hannon and began arranging and performing with his group The Divine Comedy. One of their tracks, "In Pursuit of Happiness", was used as the theme music for BBC TV's Tomorrow's World.
Other works for television written by Talbot include the theme music for Young Musician of the Year, and the music for the BBC 2 comedy series The League of Gentlemen, which was awarded the Golden Rose at the Montreux International TV Festival.
During 2004, Talbot was Classic FM's first resident composer. Talbot wrote a new piece of music, scored for up to five instruments, each month for the year of his residence. These pieces have also been premiered and playlisted on Classic FM. The twelve compositions form part of a larger piece, released on a CD entitled Once Around the Sun on 23 May 2005.
Talbot wrote the original music for the film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as well as music for the film The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse. Other screen credits include the television comedy series The League of Gentlemen, and two silent films for the British Film Institute: Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger and Yevgeni Bauer's The Dying Swan. Talbot also wrote the original music for Garth Jennings' film Son of Rambow.
The U.S. premiere of Talbot's Path of Miracles took place on 12–13 November 2007 at the World Financial Center Winter Garden, as part of WNYC's New Sounds Live concert series.
In 2007, Talbot was part of the creative team that produced the ballet Chroma for The Royal Ballet. The piece was choreographed by Wayne McGregor and performed to Talbot's orchestral arrangements of music by the White Stripes. Talbot also wrote additional music for the ballet, as well as writing new arrangements for the Royal Opera House orchestra. The ballet would later win the 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production.
In 2010, Talbot wrote the score for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a ballet choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon with a scenario by Nicholas Wright which was commissioned by the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, and the National Ballet of Canada. Lasting 1 hour 40 minutes, it is the first full-length score for the Royal Ballet in 20 years. It was shown on BBC Television 23 April 2011.
Tide Harmonic, a work in 5 movements for chamber orchestra on the subject of water, was released on 27 June 2011 by Signum Classics.
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