James Francis Brown
James Francis Brown studied composition firstly with Hans Heimler (himself a pupil of Alban Berg) under the scholarship from the Surrey Scheme for Exceptionally Gifted Children and subsequently at the Royal Academy of Music. From 1994, James Francis Brown's major works have been heard regularly at the South Bank and Wigmore Hall and have included a Piano Sonata (1994), a Viola Sonata (1995), and the String Trio (1996) for the Leopold String Trio which, following its première at the Deal Festival, has enjoyed numerous performances in London, Glasgow and as part of a British Council tour.
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The English Chamber Orchestra with soloist Jack Liebeck gave the première of his Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra at the Barbican in February 2001. His Sinfonietta, commissioned by Faber Music, was performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in February 2002 by the London Chamber Orchestra. He has been a regular visitor to the Presteigne Festival and his song 'Words' is included on a CD of the collaborative song-cycle 'A Garland for Presteigne', on the Metronome label.
In March 2003, he was awarded a five-year NESTA fellowship. Recent works included a Piano Quartet for the Fidelio Piano Quartet and a piece for the Philharmonia Orchestra premièred at the 2004 Three Choirs Festival and subsequently broadcast on BBC Radio 3 by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins. In 2005 he scored a short film "The Clap" which has won several awards at major international film festivals and he was invited to be the first ever composer-in-residence at the International Musician's Seminar, Prussia Cove.
2006 saw the première of the cello and piano version of Prospero's Isle at the Hampstead and Highgate Festival as well as the Trio Concertante for the string trio and orchestra at the Presteigne Festival. Prospero's Isle has subsequently been recast as a symphonic tone poem, which was performed by the State Academic Orchestra of St Petersburg in November 2007 as part of a major British music festival.
An accomplished arranger he recently reconstructed and orchestrated sketches for Wagner's projected opera Männerlist großer als Frauenlist for the Royal Opera House, which was performed in October 2007. He has also arranged Wagner's Siegfried Idyll for the 2008 City of London Festival. His Clarinet Concerto for Catriona Scott, was performed at the 2008 Presteigne Festival.
In 2009, James was the composer-in-residence for the Ulverston International Music Festival, the composer-in-residence for the International Musicians' Seminar in Prussia Cove (at the request of cellist Steven Isserlis). He also gave a talk with David Matthews on the inspiration of dreams in music in August that year. In 2010, the Badke quartet premièred James' String Quartet(which was commissioned by the London Chamber Music Society), and 2011 saw the release of his CD: Prospero's Isle.
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2012 was a good year for the composer, there were world premières of the piano solo version of Dunwich Bells (performed by Clare Hammond), the Piano Trio(by the Barbican trio who later toured it), Fanfare and Chorale(at the Jersey International Music Festival, by Jersey Premier Brass), the song Ozymandias (by simon Lepper on piano and soprano Gillian Keith). James became an associate of the Royal Academy of Music in July 2012, and – in 2013 – the world première of A Dream and A Dance (by the Nash ensemble) took place in honour of the composer David Matthew's 70th birthday.
Successes in 2014 have included a stunning performance of the string quartet at the London Chamber Music Society, and a new theatrical version of Prospero's Isle performed by Matthew Sharp and Clare Hammond at Sharp's RE:naissance festival.