Michael Finnissy (b.1946)

Michael Finnissy was born in Tulse Hill, London in 1946. He was a Foundation Scholar at the Royal College of Music, London and also studied in Italy with Roman Vlad. Finnissy has been featured composer at the Bath, Huddersfield, and Almeida festivals, and his works are widely performed and broadcast worldwide. In 1999 he was made Professor of Composition at the University of Southampton. In 2005 Michael Finnissy was the recipient of two British Composer Awards, which are given by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters.Molly-House for ensemble won in the 'Making Music' category, a work written for COMA, for whom Michael was Artistic Director for their 2006 'Open Score' project. Performances continue to flourish worldwide and January 2008 saw the revival of his major orchestral work Red Earth by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, chosen by Judith Weir to form part of her BBC composer weekend.