Iconic London chamber music venue the Wigmore Hall has named Luke Bedford as its first composer-in-residence.
Bedford’s appointment, which commences in 2009, as well as writing new music, will involve working with the hall’s community and education programme.
The hall’s director John Gilhooly comments, “Since the hall opened its doors in 1901, it has been a champion of new music. Having a composer join the team here in a leadership capacity is one of the most natural and obvious things that we could do”.
Twenty-nine-year-old Berkshire-born Bedford studied composition at London’s Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music. Signed to Universal Edition, he won the 2000 Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize for composers under 29 and the 2004 BBC Radio 3 Listeners’ Award at the British Composer Awards.
The hall also recently announced the donation of £500,000 ($1 million) from Swiss businessman Andre Hoffman, the grandson of conductor Paul Sacher. The donation will form the backbone of a new commissioning scheme enabling more than 50 new works to be created by 2014.
Wigmore Hall is one of the world’s most important recital venues and presents 400 events a year including as a diverse education program.
