Thomas Simaku
Described by the BASCA British Composer Award judging panel as ‘visionary and entirely original’, the French National Radio as ‘astonishing’, and the German magazine Neue Zeitschrift für Musik as ‘breathtakingly original’, Thomas Simaku’s music has been reaching audiences across Europe, the USA and further afield for three decades, and has been awarded a host of accolades for its expressive qualities and its unique blend of intensity and modernism. This expressivity has its own idiosyncratic qualities, which integrates aspects of ancient musical aura into contemporary idioms, creating ‘unflinching visceral soundscapes’ (BBC Music Magazine).
Simaku (b.1958) graduated from the Albanian State Conservatoire in Tirana (1983) and gained a PhD in Composition from University of York (1996) where he studied with David Blake. Simaku was the Leonard Bernstein Fellow in Composition at Tanglewood Music Centre, USA (1996) studying with Bernard Rands, and a fellow at the Composers’ Workshop, California State University (1998), with Brian Ferneyhough.
Performed by renowned ensembles and orchestras such as Quatuor Diotima, Arditti Quartet, Kreutzer Quartet, Klangforum Wien, MusikFabrik, Ensemble intercontemporain, Estonian Philharmonic Choir, BBC Concert Orchestra, and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, his music has been broadcast worldwide, including on BBC Radio 3, Radio France, SWR2, MDR, Deutschlandfunk (Cologne), Portuguese National Radio (RTP), and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
His works have been selected by international juries in no fewer than ten editions of ISCM World Music Days; other international festivals where his music has been performed include Huddersfield, Tanglewood, Miami, Zagreb-Biennale, Weimar, Munich, Rome, Viitassari (Finland), Alea III Boston, Beijing, Innsbruck (Austria), Warsaw Autumn, and Moderne Muziek Nijmegen.
Prestigious awards include the coveted Lionel Robbins Memorial Scholarship in 1993, First Prize of the 2004 Serocki International Competition, a two-year Leverhulme Research Fellowship, a three-year fellowship from Arts & Humanities Research Council in London, PRS Foundation Award, and a Dora Maar House Residency in France. In 2009 Simaku received a BASCA British Composer Award for his Soliloquy V – Flauto Acerbo, with this work he represented the UK at the 2012 ISCM Festival in Belgium. In 2013 Simaku won the first prize of the International Competition for Lutosławski’s 100th Birthday with Concerto for Orchestra, chosen from 160 compositions submitted from 37 countries. His album on BIS Records in 2020 received international critical acclaim and was selected in the coup de coeur list by Radio France.
Thomas Simaku is a Professor of Composition at the University of York.
Described by the BASCA British Composer Award judging panel as ‘visionary and entirely original’, the French National Radio as ‘astonishing’, and the German magazine Neue Zeitschrift für Musik as ‘breathtakingly original’, Thomas Simaku’s music has been reaching audiences across Europe, the USA and further afield for three decades, and has been awarded a host of accolades for its expressive qualities and its unique blend of intensity and modernism. This expressivity has its own idiosyncratic qualities, which integrates aspects of ancient musical aura into contemporary idioms, creating ‘unflinching visceral soundscapes’ (BBC Music Magazine).
Simaku (b.1958) graduated from the Albanian State Conservatoire in Tirana (1983) and gained a PhD in Composition from University of York (1996) where he studied with David Blake. Simaku was the Leonard Bernstein Fellow in Composition at Tanglewood Music Centre, USA (1996) studying with Bernard Rands, and a fellow at the Composers’ Workshop, California State University (1998), with Brian Ferneyhough.
Performed by renowned ensembles and orchestras such as Quatuor Diotima, Arditti Quartet, Kreutzer Quartet, Klangforum Wien, MusikFabrik, Ensemble intercontemporain, Estonian Philharmonic Choir, BBC Concert Orchestra, and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, his music has been broadcast worldwide, including on BBC Radio 3, Radio France, SWR2, MDR, Deutschlandfunk (Cologne), Portuguese National Radio (RTP), and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
His works have been selected by international juries in no fewer than ten editions of ISCM World Music Days; other international festivals where his music has been performed include Huddersfield, Tanglewood, Miami, Zagreb-Biennale, Weimar, Munich, Rome, Viitassari (Finland), Alea III Boston, Beijing, Innsbruck (Austria), Warsaw Autumn, and Moderne Muziek Nijmegen.
Prestigious awards include the coveted Lionel Robbins Memorial Scholarship in 1993, First Prize of the 2004 Serocki International Competition, a two-year Leverhulme Research Fellowship, a three-year fellowship from Arts & Humanities Research Council in London, PRS Foundation Award, and a Dora Maar House Residency in France. In 2009 Simaku received a BASCA British Composer Award for his Soliloquy V – Flauto Acerbo, with this work he represented the UK at the 2012 ISCM Festival in Belgium. In 2013 Simaku won the first prize of the International Competition for Lutosławski’s 100th Birthday with Concerto for Orchestra, chosen from 160 compositions submitted from 37 countries. His album on BIS Records in 2020 received international critical acclaim and was selected in the coup de coeur list by Radio France.
Thomas Simaku is a Professor of Composition at the University of York.
Recordings by this composer
Recordings
Compilations with this composer
Compilations
