Background
Simon Bainbridge was born in London.
Simon Bainbridge was born in London.
He was educated at Highgate School and the Royal College of Music. After graduating from the Royal College of Music, he studied with Schuller at Tanglewood. His fondness for American culture is occasionally portrayed in works such as Concerto in Moto Perpetuo (1983), which contains echoes of American minimalism, and the be-bop inspired Foreign Miles (1994).
He had his first major break with Spirogyra, written in 1970 while he was still a student. This work displays a passion for intricate and sensuous textures that remain the hallmark of Bainbridge’s style today. Bainbridge was Head of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music from 1999 to 2007, and was one of the first four Professors to be appointed in 2000 with the Academy"s status as a constituent college of the University of London.
In 1985, Bainbridge played the saxophone solo on Simon May"s theme tune to popular television programme "Howards" Way".
Career highlights 1969-1974 – Studied at Royal College of Music, London then at Tanglewood with Gunther Schuller 1976-1978 – Forman Fellow in Composition at the University of Edinburgh 1983-1985 – Composer-in-Residence at Southern Arts 1997 – University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for Ad Ora Incerta 2001 – Appointed Head of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music 2002 – Fiftieth birthday events in Cheltenham, Huddersfield and London.