S.O.A.M. Music Publishing
(Publishing the Music of Julian Dawes)
Julian Dawes was born in 1942. He began his musical training in Birmingham, continuing at the Royal College of Music in London. He has worked extensively as an accompanist and teacher, holding posts at Drama Centre London, Birmingham University, the The Arts Educational Schools in London, and The Oxford School of Drama. He has directed the music for numerous theatre productions, and was for five years Musical Director of The Cherub Company London.
Theatre credits include Marya by Isaac Babel for the Royal Court, A Doll’s House by Ibsen and Don Perlimplin by Lorca for the Riverside Studios, The Royal Pardon by John Arden for the Arts Theatre, The Changeling by Middleton for a production in Sydney, Australia, and The Price by Arthur Miller for the Bristol Old Vic. His scores for Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle and Edward ll are both recognised scores for these plays held by the Brecht Estate in Berlin and have provided the music for many productions. His musical The Braddocks Time was a commission from the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, where it was followed by a tour of the north of England. The Sacrifice, a music drama based on a Japanese No play was initially premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, and in a revised version by The Acting Company at the New End Theatre. As Musical Director of The Cherub Theatre Company he composed scores for The Tempestat the European Festival Antwerp, The Merchant of Venice at The Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, , Ten Days A-Maze at the Edinburgh Festival, Edward II at the Battersea Arts Centre, and Kafka’s The Trial at the Riverside Studios. Last year he composed a score for an adaptation of Twenty thousand leagues under the sea for the Watermill Theatre in Newbury
In the concert hall he has written a Mandolin Concerto, a commission from the International Music Competition for professional Mandolin players in Schweinfurt, Germany. He has written a number of sonatas and suites for a variety of combinations of instruments, as well as eleven song-cycles including ‘Songs of Ashes’, a setting of fifteen poems by the Polish poet, Jerzy Ficowski, about the Holocaust. This work has been broadcast in Israel four times. His output also includes a wide range of other vocal and chamber music. His cantata ‘The Death of Moses’ for Narrator, Chorus and Chamber Ensemble, and his Oratorio ‘Ruth’, for Soloists Chorus and Chamber Ensemble were both first performed in London to high acclaim, as was also a recital featuring his chamber music at the Wigmore Hall. In the autumn of 2011 a Sonata Album of his music was released on the Classics Omnibus Label
Amongst his 20th century English influences are the pastoralism and extended tonality of Herbert Howells, the richness of Walton, the elegant delicacy of Berkeley and the jazzy impetus of Rodney Bennett; wider European influences include the caustic irony of Shostakovich and Kurt Weil and the rhythmic impetus of Prokofiev and Stravinsky. Yet Dawes welds from his influences an individual voice that is distinctive and refreshing, displaying assured craftsmanship and characterful invention. (Malcolm Miller 2008)
Julian’s work is now available on CD from Amazon.co.uk. Click the links below to go directly to the Amazon page:
Julian Dawes: Sonata Album
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=Julian+Dawes&x=12&y=25
Tapestry – Duo Mandala
Tapestry – Contemporary Music for Mandolin and Harp.