Adam Gorb

Adam Gorb

Adam Gorb
Born (1958-03-12) 12 March 1958 (age 68)[1]
Cardiff, Wales[2]
EducationCambridge University
Royal Academy of Music
University of Birmingham
GenresContemporary classical music
OccupationsComposer, academic
InstrumentPiano
Websiteadamgorb.co.uk

Adam Gorb (born 1958) is a British classical composer and academic.[3] He is best known for his compositions for wind ensemble, opera, and chamber music. He served as the Head of School of Composition at the Royal Northern College of Music from 2000 to 2023. His compositions have been performed, broadcast, and recorded worldwide, spanning opera, wind ensemble, orchestral, and chamber music.

Biography

Gorb was born in Cardiff, Wales, and moved with his family to London in 1963 at the age of five.[2] He began composing at the age of ten.[4][5] In 1973, at the age of fifteen, he wrote a 26-piece keyboard collection titled A Pianist's Alphabet, a selection of which was performed by pianist Susan Bradshaw for a BBC Radio 3 broadcast in 1976.[6] Around this time, his early scores were examined by Benjamin Britten, who offered advice and encouragement shortly before his death; Gorb's compositional talent was also recognised by musicologist Hans Keller.[5]

Gorb studied music at Cambridge University from 1977 to 1980 under composers Hugh Wood and Robin Holloway.[4] After graduating, he divided his time between composition and working as a musician in the theatre, earning a living as a répétiteur with Sadler's Wells and the Royal Ballet.[5]

In 1987, he studied privately with Paul Patterson, later continuing under Patterson at the Royal Academy of Music to complete his Master of Music degree with honours.[4] In 2013, he completed a PhD in Composition at the University of Birmingham.[3]

He served as the Head of School of Composition at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in Manchester from 2000 to 2023.[3] His notable students include the composer Cecilia McDowall, who studied with him privately.[7]

Selected works

  • Metropolis (1992) – won the Walter Beeler Memorial Prize (1994)[8]
  • Wedding Breakfast (1993) – a four-minute dramatic scena for solo soprano, written to a text, by the composer, of phonetic pseudo-Russian.[9]
  • Awayday (1996) for wind ensemble / orchestra.[10]
  • Yiddish Dances (1998) – a five-movement suite for symphonic wind orchestra combining classical frameworks with Klezmer folk styles, composed for the 60th birthday of conductor Timothy Reynish.[11][12]
  • Towards Nirvana (2002) – a symphonic wind ensemble piece commissioned by the Tokyo Kosei that won a British Composer Award (2004)[13][14]
  • Adrenaline City (2006) – a concert overture for wind band that won a British Composer Award.[15]
  • Farewell (2008) – a work for wind band that won a British Composer Award.[14]
  • Eternal Voices (2010) – an oratorio themed around the war in Afghanistan with a libretto by Ben Kaye, premiered at Exeter Cathedral.[14]
  • Anya 17 (2012) – an opera with a libretto by Ben Kaye highlighting the realities of human trafficking, which premiered in Liverpool and Manchester before receiving international productions.[16]
  • The Path to Heaven (2018) – a one-act opera with libretto by Ben Kaye concerning the Holocaust, premiered at the Royal Northern College of Music.[17][18]

References

  1. ^ "Curriculum Vitae: Professor Adam Gorb". Adam Gorb Official Website. Retrieved 7 July 2026. D.O.B. 12th March 1958
  2. ^ a b Miles, Richard B.; Blocher, Larry (1997). Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. Vol. 3. GIA Publications. p. 632. ISBN 978-1-57999-092-3. LCCN 96038981. Composer Adam Gorb was born in 1958 in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. In 1963, he moved to London...
  3. ^ a b c "Staff Profile: Professor Adam Gorb". Royal Northern College of Music. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  4. ^ a b c Morris, R. Winston; Bone, Lloyd E.; Paull, Eric, eds. (2007). Guide to the Euphonium Repertoire: The Euphonium Source Book. Indiana University Press. pp. 461–462. ISBN 978-0-253-11224-8. Adam Gorb was born in 1958 and started composing at the age of ten... In 1977 he went to Cambridge University to study music, where his teachers included Hugh Wood and Robin Holloway... In 1987 he met Paul Patterson and started studying with him privately.
  5. ^ a b c Stevens, Lewis (2003). Composers of Classical Music of Jewish Descent. Vallentine Mitchell. pp. 306–307. ISBN 978-0-85303-482-7. LCCN 2003041172. Gorb, Adam... In 1973 he wrote A Pianist's Alphabet... Benjamin Britten, shortly before his death, examined some of Gorb's early scores and advised and encouraged him... Hans Keller recognized his talent as a composer... He later earned a living as répétiteur with Sadler's Wells and the Royal Ballet.
  6. ^ "Music in Our Time". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. BBC Genome Project. 30 March 1976. Retrieved 7 July 2026. Adam Gorb A Pianist's Alphabet (first broadcast performance).
  7. ^ "Review". International Record Review. 8. International Record Review: 68. 2007. LCCN 00214573. Cecilia McDowall studied with Joseph Horovitz and Adam Gorb.
  8. ^ "Walter Beeler Memorial Composition Prize Winners". Ithaca College. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  9. ^ Manning, Jane (2020). Vocal Repertoire for the Twenty-First Century. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. p. 104. doi:10.1093/oso/9780199391028.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-939102-8. A hilarious party piece by a composer of great authority and flair... as a wickedly apt but always respectful and affectionate tribute to Igor Stravinsky, it parodies brilliantly the musical and verbal characteristics of his cantata Les Noces (1923).
  10. ^ Goins, Wayne E. (2003). The Jazz Band Director's Handbook: A Guide for Success. E. Mellen Press. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-7734-6708-8. LCCN 2003046459. Gorb, Adam - Awayday (1996), Maecenas Music, difficult. This work includes swing rhythms, walking bass lines, and jazz inspired structures and harmonies.
  11. ^ Blocher, Larry (1997). Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. GIA Publications. pp. 740–741. ISBN 978-1-57999-202-6. LCCN 96038981. As Gorb indicates, Yiddish Dances is "very much a party piece...".
  12. ^ "Yiddish Dances – Adam Gorb". Wind Repertory Project. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  13. ^ "The 2004 British Composer Award winners". Composition Today. Retrieved 7 July 2026. Adam Gorb for Towards Nirvana (Wind/brass ensemble)
  14. ^ a b c "Gorb". NMC. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  15. ^ "Competitions and Awards". Musical Opinion. Vol. 142, no. 1468. Musical Opinion Ltd. January–February 2009. p. 6. The Royal Northern College of Music announced that its Head of Composition, Adam Gorb, has won a British Composer Award... Adam won in the Brass and Wind category for his piece Adrenaline City which was commissioned by a consortium of USA military bands and given its UK premiere by the Bromley Youth Wind Ensemble.
  16. ^ "Poet pens anti-trafficking opera". BBC News. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2026. The opera, called Anya Seventeen, has been composed by Adam Gorb and will be performed for the first time by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Ensemble in March.
  17. ^ "The Path to Heaven, RNCM, Manchester review - tragedy, truth, passion". theartsdesk.com. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  18. ^ Bly, Leon J. (1 October 2023). A History of the Music for Wind Band. LIT Verlag. p. 409. ISBN 978-3-643-96654-4. The one-act opera The Path to Heaven by Adam Gorb (b. 1958) with a libretto by Ben Kaye uses a wind ensemble... The 105-minute opera about the Holocaust was premiered at the Howard Assembly Room, Leeds by singers from the Royal Northern College of Music...
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