Brian Elias
Latest Albums
Biography
Elias' music combines careful craft with a certain expressive compulsion, with the feeling that he writes music when he has something he has to say. He had private lessons from Elisabeth Lutyens, who was responsible for the Webern-esque sound of some of Elias' early music. He later broadened his style, but his orientation toward economical and rigorous harmonic structures remained. The orchestral work L'Eylah (1983) was a breakthrough; its 1984 premiere at the BBC Proms was popular with both audiences and critics. One of Elias' most enduringly successful works is the ballet The Judas Tree, which has also been performed as an independent orchestral work. Elias has won two British Composer Awards. Several albums of music by Elias appeared on the NMC label in the mid-2010s.