Nicholas Maw
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Nicholas Maw (born 1935) is a British composer.
Maw is best known for his gigantic orchestral piece Odyssey (1987), the guitar work Music of Memory (1989) and a violin concerto (1993) written for Joshua Bell. His music has been described as neo-romantic but also as modernist and non-tonal (for instance Personæ, his ongoing cycle of piano pieces). He is currently a member of the composition faculty at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
In 2002, Maw's opera Sophie's Choice, commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, was premièred at the Royal Opera House under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle, and will receive its North American premiere by the Washington National Opera as part of their 2006-2007 season.
There was a performance of this in BBC's Maida Vale studios on 9th December,2005 which will be broadcast on Sunday 11th December, 2005 from 18.30-20.15 GMT on BBC's Radio 3. The piece is immense in dynamics as well as length, so may not work well on radio, but it is nevertheless available for listeners using the Internet as well as UK listeners.
Simon Rattle made a recording of Odyssey with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.