Alexander Goehr, composer and teacher, was born in Berlin on 10 August 1932, son of the conductor Walter Goehr, and was brought to England in 1933. He studied with Richard Hall at the Royal Manchester College of Music, where together with Harrison Birtwistle, Peter Maxwell Davies and John Ogdon he formed the New Music Manchester Group, and with Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod in Paris. In the early 60's he worked for the BBC and formed the Music Theatre Ensemble, the first devoted to what has become an established musical form. From the late ‘60’s onwards he taught at the New England Conservatory Boston, Yale, Leeds and was appointed to the chair of the University of Cambridge in 1975. He has also taught in China and has twice been Composer-in-residence at Tanglewood. He is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a former Churchill Fellow, and was the Reith Lecturer in 1987. ...
Alexander Goehr is a key figure in contemporary British music: founder of the Manchester Group – including fellow composers Birtwistle and Maxwell Davies – and teacher of several of Britain’s leading composers ... a career from socialist agitator to opera composer.
Classic CD, 1999
Alexander Goehr is published by Schott & Co.