Biography
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Alexander Campkin's music, described as 'fresh and attractive' by Gramophone, has attracted the attentions of some of the top ensembles. His work has been performed or broadcast in over forty countries. It features on over 20 CDs recorded by ensembles including the London Sinfonietta and the BBC Singers, and one of which was Christmas CD of the Year for Classic FM.
His musical journey was changed forever after medical symptoms and the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis aged 17. This was shortly before he was due to perform with the Arad Philharmonic in Romania as a viola player. 'MS changed my life. It stopped me playing viola. But it certainly didn’t stop me composing.' Alexander (b. 1984) has received over one hundred commissions from organisations including The Royal Opera House, The Tallis Scholars, The Royal Ballet Sinfonia, The London Mozart Players, English Touring Opera, The BBC Performing Arts Fund, The Swedish Arts Council, New London Children's Choir, Episcopal School of Jacksonville Florida, The Joyful Company of Singers and The Theatinerkirche Vokalkapelle Munich. He has been appointed Composer in Residence of Ampersandance Contemporary Dance Company, The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Changemakers Ensemble, The Fulham Camerata, The Cantus Ensemble, The Fourth Choir, The Portsmouth Grammar School and Neresheim Abbey in Germany. Alexander's music has been performed in venues including the Berliner Philharmonie, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, Shakespeare's Globe Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Grace Cathedral San Francisco, L'Oratoire de Louvre Paris, Tongyeong Concert Hall South Korea, Christ Cathedral California, LSO St Luke's, Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, Westminster Abbey, National Concert Hall Dublin, King's Place London, St Martin-in-the-Fields London, Cathedral of Saint John the Divine New York City, Southbank Centre and the Barbican Centre. Alexander is conductor of The Oxbridge Singers and the minimaLIST ENsemble. His growing passion for music education has led him to direct workshops for the Royal Opera House, the BBC Symphony Orchestra Learning, English Touring Opera, Royal College of Music Sparks and Streetwise Opera. Alexander studied at Oxford University where was choral and organ scholar, the Royal Academy of Music, and the University for Performing Arts in Vienna. He has received tuition from Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Robert Saxton, Stephen Montague, Michael Jarrell and Simon Bainbridge. He has been elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music for services to music. |
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Reviews
'Alexander Campkin responds with flair' ★★★★★ Classical Music Magazine
'Simply lovely. I cannot recommend this disc too highly.' Classic FM's Christmas CD of the year
'Alexander Campkin's skilful employment of early instruments is impressively organic. A radiant disc' ★★★★★ Choir and Organ
'Alexander Campkin's setting is quite unlike what you might expect, fresh and attractive' Gramophone
'Harmonies grow in layers... the emphasis is on a beauty of horizontal lines which join and occasionally clash with delicious dissonance' Music Web International
'Beautiful, original, deeply moving' The Oxford Times
'Alexander Campkin is a very well established composer' Peter Phillips (Tallis Scholars) BBC Radio 3
'Rose led the second movement of 'Trembling, Hoping, Lingering, Flying' by composer-in-residence Alexander Campkin. ‘Hoping’ wove a gentle, warm balm throughout the [Royal Albert] Hall, Campkin’s slowly rising lines, variously overlapping over a steady tuned-percussion pulse... The strings and harp of the BSO offered a sumptuous cushion on which this feather-light music could float, and it ended on a radiant chord that seemed simply to evaporate.' BBC Proms, Classical Source
'Inventive percussion and rhythm while developing an intense orchestral mode, concluding with radiant, ascending piano chords' Tempo
'Campkin’s Colour blinds the eye is really fascinating... a delightful and thrilling experience' Norrlandska Socialdemokraten (Sweden)
'The beautiful I Saw Eternity by Alexander Campkin. With close, high harmonies and gradual harmonic shifts the music was perfectly matched to the text and painted vivid pictures in the listener’s mind' Henley Standard
'impressive, sensitive... entirely enjoyable' The Early Music Review
'Alexander Campkin's instrumental accompaniment, a beautifully long and sinuous twisting of cello, bass viol and treble viol, each played exquisitely... a delight to hear.' Bachtrack
'Simply lovely. I cannot recommend this disc too highly.' Classic FM's Christmas CD of the year
'Alexander Campkin's skilful employment of early instruments is impressively organic. A radiant disc' ★★★★★ Choir and Organ
'Alexander Campkin's setting is quite unlike what you might expect, fresh and attractive' Gramophone
'Harmonies grow in layers... the emphasis is on a beauty of horizontal lines which join and occasionally clash with delicious dissonance' Music Web International
'Beautiful, original, deeply moving' The Oxford Times
'Alexander Campkin is a very well established composer' Peter Phillips (Tallis Scholars) BBC Radio 3
'Rose led the second movement of 'Trembling, Hoping, Lingering, Flying' by composer-in-residence Alexander Campkin. ‘Hoping’ wove a gentle, warm balm throughout the [Royal Albert] Hall, Campkin’s slowly rising lines, variously overlapping over a steady tuned-percussion pulse... The strings and harp of the BSO offered a sumptuous cushion on which this feather-light music could float, and it ended on a radiant chord that seemed simply to evaporate.' BBC Proms, Classical Source
'Inventive percussion and rhythm while developing an intense orchestral mode, concluding with radiant, ascending piano chords' Tempo
'Campkin’s Colour blinds the eye is really fascinating... a delightful and thrilling experience' Norrlandska Socialdemokraten (Sweden)
'The beautiful I Saw Eternity by Alexander Campkin. With close, high harmonies and gradual harmonic shifts the music was perfectly matched to the text and painted vivid pictures in the listener’s mind' Henley Standard
'impressive, sensitive... entirely enjoyable' The Early Music Review
'Alexander Campkin's instrumental accompaniment, a beautifully long and sinuous twisting of cello, bass viol and treble viol, each played exquisitely... a delight to hear.' Bachtrack