biography

Born in London. Graham started playing piano from an early age, and alongside his classical music studies he spent some of his teenage years playing keyboards in rock and jazz rock bands. He has worked with musicians such as guitarists Chester Kamen and Keith Winter (who between them later on went on to feature with many groups including Pink Floyd/Bryan Ferry/Shakatak). It was an interest in composition that led him to take a degree in music at Bath Spa University College, and he followed this up with postgraduate study at Kings College London (which included a year at the Royal College of Music) where he completed a PhD in composition. His teachers included David Lumsdaine and Silvina Milstein. During this time he also had composition lessons privately with Oliver Knussen.

Shortly after he finished his studies he moved to a remote part of the West Highlands of Scotland. During his eight years there he completely re-thought his musical language. Graham's writing moved from a generally modernist approach, that had characterised his pieces in London, towards a way of composing that was more modal/melodic and that drew some of its inspiration from styles outside classical music. Performers of his music at this time include The Hilliard Ensemble, The Chamber Group of Scotland, and Peter Lawson.

A turning point came for Graham with the orchestral work Invisible Cities which was first premiered in the late 90’s by the Orchestra of Opera North, and then taken up and recorded/broadcast by the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The success of this piece and the interest that it generated, brought many new commissions and performances, including the follow-up orchestral work Red and White Domes, written for the Sinfonia of Leeds. These pieces (including the wind and brass quintets, The Thousand and One Nights / Red Fuji and The Hanging-Cloud Bridge for harp) exist within a style that is both rich and intense, as well as delicate and precise, with crystalline structures and timbres that show the influence of the visual arts on his composing. This same period also includes the harpsichord/clavichord piece Admiring Yoro Waterfall, a popular work that was originally written for Sophie Yates, and which became the first of a whole series of early keyboard pieces.

A longstanding interest in tango nuevo lead to a collaboration with the London ensemble Tango Volcano in 2003, and subsequently many other tango groups. The results of this are an ongoing series of tango pieces that draw on both the tango nuevo style as well as elements of Spanish music. Some of these pieces (Milonga Azure, Spanish Café, Citron) have been composed for tango groups such as Las Sombras in Germany, but others have been written for classical ensembles (The Pale Dancer for saxophone quartet, or the Tangos for String Quartet). Graham also produced arrangements of Piazzolla’s ‘Four Seasons’, which the Bath Festival commissioned for the Belcea String Quartet, with bandoneon, and double bass.

The influence of this new way of writing can also be seen in his classical pieces, like Graphic of the Petenera which was premiered by the BBC Singers in 2006, and also more recently in Geranos for violin. At the same time though Graham continues to write in a direct tango nuevo style, with works such as The Burnt Darkness, Orientale, and Mediterranean Counterpoint, which was commissioned by El Ultimo Tango and first played by them at the CBSO Centre in Birmingham.

Recent commissions include the Sonata for violin and piano, first performed by Sian Philipps and Zrinka Bottrill, and Mediterranean for alto saxophone and marimba, which was written for Sarah Field and Mike Hamnett, these were both premiered at the Leasowes Festival. Other 2008 commissions include works for the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra (USA), and the Tres Calides (Holland). The White Book II for piano was premiered by Mark Tanner at Wigmore Hall in July 2008.

2009 has seen the publication of Graham's music by Tonos Music in Germany. There has also been the release of the CD, Undiscovered Islands, devoted to his piano music (and also including some flute pieces), as well as several other recordings in the US that include his music. Recent premieres include Mediterranean - flute and piano version - at Wigmore Hall, Milonga Pour Milonga, and In Arcadia.

Within the last few years Graham’s music has been performed, broadcast, and recorded, in over thirty countries, and he has received awards and funding from numerous arts organisations, including the Britten-Pears Foundation, the PRS, and the Lyn Foundation.