Background
Keenan was born in Birmingham where he attended Street Philip"s Grammar School.
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Paul Keenan
Edit ProfileEducation
Keenan was born in Birmingham where he attended Street Philip"s Grammar School. He went on to study composition with Anthony Gilbert at the Royal Northern College of Music. In 1999 he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in Composition from the University of Edinburgh, supervised by Nigel Osborne and Peter Nelson.
Keenan also studied privately with Bill Hopkins.
Career
His body of composition spans 27 years, though consistently explores his fascination with both Anglo-Saxon texts (from The Exeter Book) and the natural world. Since his death in 2001, Keenan"s work has received numerous broadcasts on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 3 Hear and Now, featuring performances by orchestras and ensembles such as the British Broadcasting Corporation Scottish Symphony Orchestra and ECAT. In 1998, a television documentary about Keenan was created by Peter Chapman for broadcast on Independent Television Border Television. A select group of academics, composers and performers believe Keenan"s music to be a unique and significant contribution to music of the late 20th Century.
His pioneering approach to electro-acoustic composition and research into sound phenomenon earned him the description as "the man who split music"s atom".
Achievements
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Keenan"s Concerto for Groups of Instruments won the 1977 Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize. Music of Wood and Strings was awarded the 1978 Worshipful Company of Musicians Silver Meda Cloudscapes, Palimpsest and Comet Hale-Bopp were all shortlisted by the Society for the Promotion of New Music (now Sound and Music).
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Born
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Died
June 26, 2001 (aged 44) -
Nationality
United Kingdom
Awards
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Keenan's Concerto for Groups of Instruments won the 1977 Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize. Music of Wood and Strings was awarded the 1978 Worshipful Company of Musicians Silver Medal. Cloudscapes, Palimpsest and Comet Hale-Bopp were all shortlisted by the Society for the Promotion of New Music (now Sound and Music).Keenan's Concerto for Groups of Instruments won the 1977 Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize. Music of Wood and Strings was awarded the 1978 Worshipful Company of Musicians Silver Medal. Cloudscapes, Palimpsest and Comet Hale-Bopp were all shortlisted by the Society for the Promotion of New Music (now Sound and Music).