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 Gavin Bryars was born in Yorkshire, Great Britain 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 his time 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) originally released on Brian Eno's Obscure label in 1975 and Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (1971), both famously released in new versions in the 1990s on Point Music label, selling over a quarter of a million copies. The original 1970s recordings have recently been re-released on CD by Virgin Records. He has composed prolifically for theater and dance as well as for the concert hall, two full-length operas, and is currently working on a third. His first opera, Medea, was first staged by the director Robert Wilson in Opéra de Lyon and Opéra de Paris in 1984. Following the success of the original production, a revised version was given in concert in 1995 by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. His second opera, Doctor Ox's Experiment (based on a story by Jules Vernes and with a libretto by Blake Morrison) was staged by the Canadian film director Atom Egoyan for English National Opera in 1998. A separate production of Doctor Ox's Experiment appeared in 1999 in Dortmund, Germany. The third opera, G, has been commissioned by Mainz Opera to be premiered in 2001 to be premiered in the newly refurbished Mainz Opera House. Among Gavin Bryars' other works are three string quartets, a series of vocal works for The Hilliard Ensemble including Glorious Hill (1988), Incipit Vita Nova (1989), Cadman Requiem (1989, revised 1998), and The First Book of Madrigals (1998-2000); works for the opening of the Tate Gallery in Liverpool (1988); Chateau d'Oiron, Poitiers French Ministry of Culture Commission (1993) the Tate Gallery St Ives (1997). Other works include commissions for Charlie Haden (1987), John Harle (1991), Nexus (1994), Lawrence Cherney (1994), Fretwork (1995), Maggie Cole (1995), Julian Lloyd Webber (1995), Valdine Anderson (1995/6) Holly Cole (1998), Orlando Consort (2000). Orchestral commissions include Bournemouth Sinfonietta (The Green Ray, 1991), BBC Symphony Orchestra (The War in Heaven, 1993), Primavera Chamber Orchestra (The Porazzi Fragment, 1999). Future commissions include a concerto for violin and string orchestra for Primavera, a percussion concert for Nexus with orchestra and a marimba concerto for Pedro Carneiro and London Sinfonietta to be premiered as part of the inauguration season of Oporto's new concert hall designed by Rem Koolhaas for the city's Cultural Capital of Europe celebration in 2002.
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