BACKGROUND TO… Robert Saxton (b1953)

The London-born composer’s early educational years were guided by both Benjamin Britten and Elisabeth Lutyens. Later Saxton studied with Luciano Berio amongst others while studying at Cambridge and Oxford. A Gaudeamus International Composing Prize-winner at 21, Saxton has gone on to write for a plethora of UK orchestras, plus top-drawer soloists including Steven Isserlis, Leon Fleisher, Roderick Williams and Mstislav Rostropovich. His 2010 opera The Wandering Jew (NMC Records, NMCD170) was premiered on BBC Radio 3.