Martin Butler

Martin Butler was born in Romsey, England, in 1960 and studied at the University of Manchester and the Royal Northern College of Music. In 1983 he received a Fulbright Award for study at Princeton University, USA. In 1988 he was awarded the Mendelssohn Scholarship which enabled him to spend several weeks at Tempo Reale, Berio's studio in Florence, and in 1994 was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Northern College of Music. He is currently Professor of Music at the University of Sussex.

Butler has received commissions from, amongst others, the BBC (O Rio, first performed at the 1991 Proms), the London Sinfonietta (Concertino and Jazz Machines, the latter performed at the 1995 Venice Biennale), and the Cheltenham and Canterbury festivals. In 1994 Mecklenburgh Opera premi?red the operatic adventure story Craig's Progress, with a libretto by Stephen Pruslin, which was adapted for radio broadcast by BBC Radio 3; his chamber opera A Better Place, commissioned by the ENO Studio, was premi?red by ENO at the Coliseum in London in 2001, conducted by Paul Daniel. More recent works include the Concertino for Piano and Chamber Orchestra, written for Murray McLachlan and the Chetham's Symphony Orchestra in 2002, and Sequenza Notturna, a piano quartet for the Schubert Ensemble which was premi?red in 2003. The Schubert Ensemble marked the start of a 'Composer Portrait Series' with a programme of works by Martin Butler at the Purcell Room in June 2005.

From 2006-08 Butler was the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra's first ever 'Composer in Focus'. The orchestra performed several large scale works during this period, including a performance of the Concertino for piano and chamber orchestra, with the composer as pianist. His tenure culminated in two major performances of a new commission for the orchestra, From the Fairground of Dreams in January and March 2008 at Brighton Dome Concert Hall, conducted by Barry Wordsworth.

Concerts in 2008 included a tour of Dirty Beasts by Ensemble 360, and Hunding for solo horn, which opened King's Place in October. Projects for 2009 have included a Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Strings, premiered by Amy Dickson at the 2009 Presteigne Festival of Music and the Arts.

Two discs of Butler's music have been released by NMC: O Rio and Fixed Doubles, played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and American Rounds featuring chamber music performed by The Schubert Ensemble. The string quartet, Songs and Dances from a Haunted Place, is also available on NMC, performed by the Bingham Quartet. Tin Pan Ballet, a CD of chamber music, has also been issued on the Lorelt label.