Luke Bedford

Biography

Luke Bedford (born 25 April 1978) is a British composer.

He studied composition with Edwin Roxburgh and Simon Bainbridge at the Royal College of Music, and won the Mendelssohn Scholarship in 2000. This was followed by post-graduate study with Simon Bainbridge at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2007 Bedford signed to Universal Edition London.

Awards include the 2000 Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize for composers under 29 and the 2004 BBC Radio 3 Listeners' Award at the British Composer Awards. In 2007, Bedford became the first compositional recipient of a Paul Hamlyn Artists' Award since David Sawer in 1993. 2007 also saw him receive a nomination for the Royal Philharmonic Society large-scale composition prize, for his song cycle On Voit Tout En Aventure. In 2008, Bedford received his second British Composer Award for his 2007 orchestral work Wreathe. In 2012, he was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Composer Prize.

Bedford was the Wigmore Hall's first ever Composer-in-Residence, from 2008-2011.

In 2015 his work for large orchestra, Instability, was premiered at the Proms, and in October 2017 his Concerto for Saxophone Quartet & Orchestra had its premiere at the Berlin Philharmonie.

Bedford has written two operas: Seven Angels with librettist Glyn Maxwell, and Through His Teeth with David Harrower. Both have received multiple performances both in the UK and Germany. In 2018 Bastille Musique released a studio recording of Through His Teeth, performed by Opera Factory Freiburg.

Bedford received an Ivor Novello Award nomination at The Ivors Classical Awards 2023. Staggard Nocturne, for 14 players and percussion soloist was nominated for Best Chamber Ensemble Composition.

Luke is married with two children and lives in Shrewsbury where he used to play cricket.

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