Biography David Bedford

David Bedford was born in London in 1937 of a musical family, (his grandmother was the composer Liza Lehmann, and his mother, Lesley Duff, was a member of the English Opera Group just after the war and took part in several Britten premières). He began composing at the age of seven and after attending Lancing College, where he studied with John Alston and Christopher Headington, went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Lennox Berkeley. A grant awarded by the RAM in 1961 enabled him to study with Luigi Nono in Venice.

In the late 60s he played keyboards with Kevin Ayers’ cult band ‘The Whole World’, which led to numerous collaborations with musicians from the rock world, most notably in arrangements for Mike Oldfield (‘The Orchestral Tubular Bells’), Madness (‘Our House’), Elvis Costello, Frankie goes to Hollywood, Enya, Billy Bragg and many more.

For almost 50 years he received commissions from major orchestras, festivals, ensembles and soloists, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, English Sinfonia, English Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music, Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, John Alldis Choir, Singcircle, Crouch End Festival Chorus, Electric Phoenix, Endymion Ensemble, Sir Peter Pears, Jane’s Minstrels, BASBWE, The Composers Ensemble, Ensemble Bash, Aldeburgh Festival, Harrogate Festival, Spitalfields Festival, Chelmsford Festival, Huddersfield Festival, Kings Lynn Festival, Norfolk and Norwich Festival, Dartington International Summer School, Making Music and many BBC commissions including 4 for the Proms.

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