Gavin Bryars

Gavin Bryars was born in Yorkshire in 1943. His first musical reputation was as a jazz bassist working in the early sixties with improvisers Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. He abandoned improvisation in 1966 and worked for a time in the United States with John Cage. Subsequently he collaborated closely with composers such as Cornelius Cardew and John White. From 1969 to 1978 he taught in departments of Fine Art in Portsmouth and Leicester, and during the time that he taught at Portsmouth College of Art he was instrumental in founding the legendary Portsmouth Sinfonia.  His first major work as a composer was The Sinking of the Titanic (1969) and Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (1971). He has composed prolifically for the theatre and dance as well as for the concert hall and has written four full-length operas. Among Gavin Bryars' other works are three string quartets and a great deal of chamber music, much of it for his own ensemble.
The Gavin Bryars Ensemble, founded in 1981, performs internationally, including appearances in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary, Czeck Republic, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Mexico, Austria, Japan and Australia, as well as giving occasional concerts in UK. In 2012 an enlarged ensemble performed a special centenary version of The Sinking of the Titanic.