James Francis Brown

British composer James Francis Brown has written tonal music in traditional media and has sometimes been classed with the so-called Music Haven group of composers with similar interests. His large-scale works have been performed in the 2010s. Brown was born December 7, 1969, in London. His parents were both enthusiastic amateur musicians who encouraged his piano playing and his creativity, and at age 11 he won a school prize for his lullaby, composed to mark the birth of Prince William (the piece was sent to the palace and reportedly worked wonders). Brown studied locally with Hans Heimler, who had been a student of Alban Berg, and entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1988. He studied both piano and composition, but gravitated increasingly toward the latter. In the 1990s, Brown taught school and had several chamber pieces performed by British groups. His Sinfonietta was commissioned and performed by the London Chamber Orchestra, and his Fantasy for violin and orchestra was programmed by violinist Jack Liebeck and the English Chamber Orchestra. A fellowship from Britain's National Endowment for Science, Technology, and the Arts began in 2003 and allowed Brown to write more works in larger media; it also resulted in commissions for new works, including a Clarinet Concerto and a Trio Concertante for the Presteigne Festival and a symphonic poem, Prospero's Isle, which was performed in St. Petersburg by the State Academic Symphony Orchestra. Brown also continued to write chamber music under the auspices of the International Musician's Seminar in Prussia's Cove, in Cornwall, where he served a term as composer-in-residence thanks to the support of cellist Steven Isserlis. Brown's Evening Changes for recorder, clarinet, and viola was included on the album A Garland for John McCabe in 2018, and an album of his compositions, The Heavens and the Heart, appeared on the Resonus label that year. ~ James Manheim