Lionel Sainsbury - composer / pianist

Lionel Sainsbury is increasingly recognised as one of Britain's leading present-day composers. Recent highlights have been the premiere of his Violin Concerto at the Three Choirs Festival, the premiere broadcast of his Cuban Fantasy for piano on BBC Radio 3, and recordings on Naxos and EMI.

Born in Wiltshire, Sainsbury began to play the piano at an early age and soon started to compose his own music. He later studied at the Guildhall School of Music with Patric Standford, winning prizes for both composition and piano playing. At the age of 21 he was awarded the Mendelssohn Scholarship, a biennial national award for composers which enabled him to discuss his student scores with figures as diverse as Edmund Rubbra and John McCabe, and in Paris with Henri Dutilleux.

Lionel Sainsbury's catalogue to date includes concertos for cello and for violin, and a number of other orchestral scores. He has written a substantial body of piano music, and works for various other instruments including guitar, clarinet, and two pianos.

Sainsbury's music has been performed in the UK, Europe and the Far East. It has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, 2, Classic FM, Radio France, and in the USA. Venues in the UK have included the Wigmore Hall, St John's Smith Square, Dartington, and the Aldeburgh, Harrogate, Lichfield, and Norfolk & Norwich festivals.

His works have been conducted by Barry Wordsworth, Adrian Lucas, William Boughton, Paul Murphy and Gavin Sutherland; with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Royal Ballet Sinfonia and English String Orchestra. Notable instrumental exponents include the violin and piano partnership of Tasmin Little and Piers Lane, the guitarist Craig Ogden and the pianist Jack Gibbons.

Lionel is also active as a performer. In 2004 he was described as "a prodigiously gifted pianist" (Oxford Times), following a recital in which, alongside his own work, he performed music by Bach, Chopin, Rachmaninov and Debussy. He has recorded a CD of his own piano music, comprising five works: Twelve Preludes, Cuban Fantasy, Nocturne, Andalusian Fantasy and South American Suite: "...memorable,vibrant,compelling - played with crisp energy by the composer on a disc of excellent quality" (Rob Barnett, British Music Society)

Sainsbury has adjudicated composition competitions for Winchester College and for the European Piano Teachers Association.