STOP PRESS:
Congratulations to 'Only Men Aloud' on winning
the BBC TV competition 'Last Choir Standing'!!!
'Only Men Aloud', who also perform under the
name 'Cantorion', appear on the Karl Jenkins
album "This
Land of Ours" (EMI 2007) alongside the Cory
Band. Listen to the sound clip on this
page or
watch the music video on YouTube.
Needless to say, the album is available now from
all good music stores!
www.KarlJenkins2008.com
Click here for more information on concert
performances of Karl Jenkins's music from Boosey
& Hawkes
Dr.Karl Jenkins OBE B.Mus., F.R.A.M., A.R.A.M.,
L.R.A.M., F.W.C.M.D., F.T.C.C
Karl Jenkins was born in Wales and educated
at Gowerton Grammar School before reading music
at the University of Wales, Cardiff. He then
commenced postgraduate studies at the Royal
Academy of Music, London.
It was in jazz that he initially made his
mark. In those days of ‘Jazz Polls” he was a
prolific poll winner, playing at London’s famous
Ronnie Scott’s club before co-forming Nucleus,
which won first prize at the Montreux jazz
festival and appeared at the Newport Jazz
Festival, Rhode Island.
This was followed by a period with Soft
Machine, one of the seminal bands of the 70’s.
Through many incarnations, ‘Softs’ defied
categorization playing venues as diverse as
Carnegie Hall, the classical ‘Proms’ at the
Royal Albert Hall, the Reading Festival as well
as touring the USA & Europe.
In the field of advertising music he has won
the prestigious D&AD award for best music
[twice], the ‘Creative Circle Gold’ and several
‘Clios’ [New York] and ‘Golden Lions’ [Cannes].
Credits include Levi’s, British Airways,
Renault, Volvos, C&G, Tag Heuer, Pepsi as well
as US/global campaigns for De Beers and Delta
Airlines.
In addition he gained Bafta ‘gongs’ for his
scores for the documentaries The Celts and
Testament.
After this period as a media composer, his
return to the music mainstream was initially
marked by the success of the Adiemus project.
Adiemus, combining a classical base with ethnic
vocal sounds, ethnic percussion and an invented
language, topped classical and ‘pop’ charts
around the world, gaining 15 gold or platinum
album awards and performing in cities as diverse
as Tokyo, Madrid, London, Helsinki, Munich etc.
The Armed Man; A Mass For Peace, commissioned
by the Royal Armouries for the millennium and
premiered at the Royal Albert Hall, London has
had over three hundred performances in the past
eighteen months while the CD, featuring the
National Youth Choir of Great Britain and the
London Philharmonic Orchestra, has gained “Gold
Disc” status in the UK. Performances in 2007
include those for Desmond Tutu in Cape Town and
at Carnegie Hall, New York.
Works include the harp concerto ‘Over The
Stone’ commissioned by HRH the Prince of Wales
for the Royal Harpist, Catrin Finch, the
concertante, ‘Quirk’, commissioned by the London
Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Sir Colin
Davies as part of its 2005 centenary season and
In These Stones Horizons Sing, featuring Bryn
Terfel, Catrin Finch with the WNO Orchestra &
Chorus which was premiered at the Royal Gala
opening of the Welsh Millennium Centre in the
presence of Her Majesty The Queen.
In the summer of 2005 he scored his first
feature film, River Queen starring Kiefer
Sutherland & Samantha Morton, the score of which
recently won first prize at the Shanghai Film
Festival.
Following the success of Requiem which went
to No1 in the UK classical charts, he recorded
“Kiri Sings Karl” Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.
He was recently the subject of the ITV South
Bank Shows special by Lord [Melvyn] Bragg as
well as being a ‘castaway’ on ‘Desert Island
Discs’.
In 2004 he entered Classic FM’s ‘Hall of
Fame” at No 8., the highest position for a
living composer and has been in the top ten both
in 2005 & 2006 as well as, in 2006, at No. 4
amongst British composers.
Karl holds a D.Mus [Doctor of Music] degree
from the University of Wales, has been made both
a Fellow and an Associate of the Royal Academy
of Music, where a room has been named in his
honour, and has fellowships at Cardiff
University, the Royal Welsh College of Music &
Drama, Trinity College Carmarthen, Swansea
Institute and was presented by Classic FM with
the ‘Red f ‘award for ‘outstanding service to
classical music.
He has an honorary doctorate from the
University of Leicester and the Chancellors
Medal from the University of Glamorgan.
He was awarded an OBE, by Her Majesty The
Queen, in the 2005 New Years Honours List
“for services to music”.
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