John Casken

About John Casken

John Casken’s music has been described as “beautifully crafted...rich [and] emotionally complex” (Tim Ashley, The Guardian, writing about Apollinaire’s Bird). David Fanning, writing in The Telegraph about this work found that “The control with which Casken allows tonally-founded harmonies to rise, Alban Berg-like, to the surface, is as remarkable as the fastidiousness of his orchestration, all of which serves to hold concept and craft in ideal balance.”

One of the UK’s leading composers, Casken was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, on 15 July 1949 and read music at the University of Birmingham, studying Composition under John Joubert and Peter Dickinson. From 1971-72 he studied in Poland with Andrzej Dobrowolski at the Academy of Music in Warsaw on a Polish Government Scholarship. It was during this time that he began to have regular consultations with Witold Lutosławski with whom he formed a close association and friendship, and about whose music he has written and lectured. Casken returned to Birmingham as a Lecturer in 1973, and after a Fellowship at Huddersfield Polytechnic in 1980, he was appointed as Lecturer at the University of Durham in 1981. From 1992-2008 he was Professor of Music at The University of Manchester and now retains strong links with Manchester as Emeritus Professor of Music.

Casken has featured at major festivals in Europe, the USA, and in Tokyo at the invitation of Toru Takemitsu. His works range across every genre and their titles reveal that he can be inspired both by literature and legend. The libretto for Casken’s first opera, Golem (1988), based on the Jewish legend, was written by the composer in collaboration with Pierre Audi, who commissioned and directed the work for the 1989 Almeida Festival. Golem has received six further productions since 1989: Opera Omaha, 1990; Northern Stage, 1991; Theater Dortmund, 1994; Aspen Festival, 2000; Neue Operbühne Berlin 2001; Opéra de Rennes and Angers Nantes Opéra, 2006. It was also awarded the First Britten Prize for Composition in 1990 and the VirginClassics recording with the original cast won the 1991 Gramophone Award in the Contemporary Category.

Casken’s second opera, God’s Liar (2000), elaborated Tolstoy’s novella Father Sergius, the composer writing the libretto in collaboration with Emma Warner. The work was jointly co-commissioned and presented by The Almeida Festival, London, and Théâtre Royale de la Monnaie, Brussels in 2001, directed by KeithWarner, with the Almeida Ensemble conducted by Ronald Zollman. It was recorded for Belgian Radio and subsequently broadcast by BBC Radio 3, introduced by the composer. God’s Liar received a further production in 2004 in the KlangBogen Festival by Neue Oper Wien directed by Stephan Bruckmeier.

A number of Casken’s works reflect aspects of the North of England, where he lives in Coquetdale in Northumberland: Orion Over Farne (1984) for orchestra, To Fields We Do Not Know (1985), a Northumbrian Elegy for unaccompanied chorus, written for the BBC Singers, and the orchestral song-cycle Still Mine (1992), written for Thomas Allen for the 1992 BBC Proms and awarded the 1993 Prince Pierre de Monaco Prize for Musical Composition.

His long-held friendship with Royal Northern Sinfonia has resulted in a number of works: Maharal Dreaming (1989), the Cello Concerto (1991), written for Heinrich Schiff, premièred at the 1991 Schleswig-Holstein Festival,Darting the Skiff (1993) for strings, for the 1993 Cheltenham Festival, and Après un silence (1998) for violin and chamber orchestra, with Kyra Humphreys. Farness (2006), three poems of Carol Ann Duffy (2006) for soprano, solo viola and chamber orchestra, was premièred at the 2006 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival with Patricia Rozario and Ruth Killius, directed by Thomas Zehetmair.

Casken also had a long association with The Lindsays for whom he wrote three string quartets. Rest-ringing (2005) for string quartet and orchestra was commissioned by The Hallé for the quartet in the year of their retirement. He wrote Piano Trio (2002) for The Florestan Piano Trio, and his third quartet, Choses en moi (2003), was taken up by Quatuor Danel.

Casken’s Violin Concerto (1995), premiered at the 1995 Proms with Dmitri Sitkovetsky, was later taken up by Daniel Hope. His first symphony Symphony (Broken Consort) (2004)was commissioned for the BBC Philharmonic for the 2004 Proms, and Concerto for Orchestra (2007) for the Nationaltheater-Orchesters Mannheim was premiered in 2008. Further orchestral works include an oboe concerto for the Hallé and their principle oboist Stephane Rancourt, Apollinaire’s Bird (2013), premiered under Sir Mark Elder in 2014, Casken’s 65th birthday year. That Subtle Knot (2013), a double concerto for Royal Northern Sinfonia, Thomas Zehetmair and Ruth Killius, was premiered the same year at the Sage Gateshead and in London with subsequent performances by Camerata Salzburg at the Salzburg Festival, Munich Chamber Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Casken has continued his association with the Hallé Orchestra, writing Madonna of Silence (2017-18) for their principal trombone player, Katy Jones. The ‘drama for trombone and orchestra’ was premiered in February 2019.

Casken’s rich body of ensemble works include Deadly Pleasures (2009) for narrator and ensemble, which toured the UK with Johanna Lonsky and Counterpoise throughout 2009/10 and Winter Reels (2010) for ensemble Psappha. The Dream of the Rood (2008), written for The Hilliard Ensemble and Ensemble 10/10, premiered in Liverpool in October 2008 as part of the European Capital of Culture celebrations. It received the 2009 BASCA Award for choral music and toured the Netherlands with The Hilliard Ensemble and Asko Ensemble in 2014. Kokoschka's Doll (2016) was premiered by Sir John Tomlinson and Counterpoise at the 2017 Cheltenham Festival, with the following tour including performances at Deal and Buxton Festivals. Further chamber works include Stolen Airs (2015) for cello and piano, and Serpents of Wisdom (2015) for horn and piano which was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society in partnership with BBC Radio 3 as part of the New Generation Artists Scheme, and the clarinet quintet Misted Land (2017) written for the Nash Ensemble.

Most recently, Casken's Madonna of Silence (2018) received its world premiere by The Hallé featuring Katy Jones on solo trombone and From this red earth (2019) had its first performance by the Choir of Lincoln's Inn under the baton of Nicholas Shaw. In 2020, he was announced the winner of the Royal Musical Association's inaugural Tippett Medal for Counterpoise's production of The Shackled King (2022) for which he was also granted an Ivors Composer Award nomination. 

Casken’s music has been recorded on Collins Classics, ECM, NMC Recordings, and Metier, among others, including a disc of orchestral music, Orion Over Farne, recorded by the Hallé and Markus Stenz for NMC. In 2019 three new recordings of Casken’s music were released: The Dream of The Rood (NMC) with The Hilliard Ensemble and Asko | Schönberg conducted by Clark Rundell, Stolen Airs (Prima Facie) including a selection of chamber works, and Kokoschka's Doll (Champs Hill); and in 2023, ECM New Series released the Royal Northern Sinfonia's recording of That Subtle Knot.

John Casken - website