Karl William Jenkins OBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
D.Mus. (born 17 February 1944) is a
WelshWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
musician and composer. Jenkins was appointed an Officer of the
Order of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
in the New Year Honours list of 2005.
Jenkins was born and raised in the
GowerThe Gower Peninsula is a peninsula on the south west coast of Wales, on the north side of the Bristol Channel in the southwest of the historic county of Glamorgan. Referred to colloquially as 'Gower', this was the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural...
village of
PenclawddPenclawdd is a village which is situated in the north of the Gower peninsula in Swansea, Wales. It falls within the Penclawdd electoral ward It is one of the larger villages on the Gower peninsula...
. His father, who was a local schoolteacher, organist, and choirmaster, gave him his initial musical instruction. Karl Jenkins attended Gowerton Grammar School in Swansea.
Jenkins began his musical career as an
oboistThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois", "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
in the
National Youth Orchestra of WalesThe National Youth Orchestra of Wales , founded in 1945, has the distinction of being the first national youth orchestra in the world and is Europe’s longest-standing national youth orchestra...
.
Karl William Jenkins OBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
D.Mus. (born 17 February 1944) is a
WelshWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
musician and composer. Jenkins was appointed an Officer of the
Order of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
in the New Year Honours list of 2005.
Background
Jenkins was born and raised in the
GowerThe Gower Peninsula is a peninsula on the south west coast of Wales, on the north side of the Bristol Channel in the southwest of the historic county of Glamorgan. Referred to colloquially as 'Gower', this was the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural...
village of
PenclawddPenclawdd is a village which is situated in the north of the Gower peninsula in Swansea, Wales. It falls within the Penclawdd electoral ward It is one of the larger villages on the Gower peninsula...
. His father, who was a local schoolteacher, organist, and choirmaster, gave him his initial musical instruction. Karl Jenkins attended Gowerton Grammar School in Swansea.
Jenkins began his musical career as an
oboistThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois", "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
in the
National Youth Orchestra of WalesThe National Youth Orchestra of Wales , founded in 1945, has the distinction of being the first national youth orchestra in the world and is Europe’s longest-standing national youth orchestra...
. He went on to study music at
University College, CardiffCardiff University is a leading university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing the best university education in Wales...
, and then commenced postgraduate studies at the
Royal Academy of MusicThe Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
, where he also met his wife and musical collaborator, Carol Ballatt.
Career overview
For the bulk of his early career, he was known as a
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
and
jazz-rockFusion or, more specifically, jazz fusion or jazz rock, is a musical genre that developed in the late 1960s from a mixture of elements of jazz such as its focus on improvisation with the rhythms and grooves of funk and R&B and the beats and heavily amplified electric instruments and electronic...
musician, playing variously: baritone and soprano
saxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bored transposing musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by Adolphe Sax in 1841...
s, keyboards, and
oboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois", "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
, an unusual instrument in a jazz context. He joined jazz composer
Graham CollierJames Graham Collier is an English jazz bandleader and composer.On leaving school he joined the British Army as a musician, spending three years in Hong Kong. He subsequently won a Down Beat magazine scholarship to the Berklee School of Music, Boston, studying with Herb Pomeroy and becoming its...
's group and later co-founded the jazz-rock group
NucleusNucleus were a pioneering jazz-rock band from Britain who continued in different forms from 1969 to 1985. In their first year they won first prize at the Montreux Jazz Festival, released the album Elastic Rock, an essential creation in the crystallization of a new musical expression, Jazz fusion,...
, which won first prize at the
Montreux Jazz FestivalThe Montreux Jazz Festival is the best-known music festival in Switzerland and one of the most prestigious in Europe; it is held annually in early July in Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva.- History :...
in 1970. He joined the
CanterburyCanterbury lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a local government district of Kent, in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
progressive rockProgressive rock is a form of rock music that evolved in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility."...
band
Soft MachineSoft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the so-called "Canterbury scene," and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre....
in 1972 and co-led their very last performances in 1984. The group defied categorisation and played venues as diverse as
The PromsThe Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in South Kensington, London...
,
Carnegie HallCarnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, and the
Newport Jazz FestivalThe Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It was established in 1954 by the jazz impresario George Wein, prompted by socialite Elaine Lorillard, whose wealthy husband helped finance the festival's startup....
. The album on which Jenkins first played with Soft Machine,
SixSix is a 1973 instrumental album, originally released as a double LP by the British psychedelic, progressive rock and jazz/fusion band Soft Machine who were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene...
, won the
Melody MakerMelody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s-1960s:Originally the Melody...
British Jazz Album of the Year award in 1973. Jenkins also won the miscellaneous musical instrument section (as he did the following year). Soft Machine was voted best small group in the Melody Maker jazz poll of 1974. After
Mike RatledgeMichael R. "Mike" Ratledge is a British musician. Ratledge was part of the Canterbury scene and a long-time member of Soft Machine.-Biography and career:...
left the band in 1976 Soft Machine did not include any of its founding members, but kept recording on a project basis with line-ups revolving around Jenkins and drummer
John MarshallJohn Stanley Marshall, better known as John Marshall, born 28 August, 1941 in Isleworth, Middlesex, is an English drummer. He was a founding member of the jazz rock band Nucleus and has worked with various other jazz and rock bands and musicians, among them J. J...
. Balanced against Melody Maker's positive view of the Soft Machine of 1973 and 1974,
Hugh HopperHugh Colin Hopper was a progressive rock and jazz fusion bass guitarist. He was a prominent member of the Canterbury scene, as a member of Soft Machine and various other related bands.-Early career:...
, involved with the group since replacing bassist
Kevin AyersKevin Ayers is an English songwriter and was a major influential force in the English psychedelic movement...
in 1968, cites Jenkins's "third rate" musical involvement in his own decision to leave the band, and the band of the late 1970s has been described by band member John Etheridge as wasting its potential..
In November 1973, Jenkins and Ratledge participated in a live-in-the-studio performance of
Mike OldfieldMichael Gordon "Mike" Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age and more recently dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...
's
Tubular BellsTubular Bells is the debut record album of English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1973. Vivian Stanshall provided the voice of the "Master of Ceremonies" who reads off the list of instruments at the end of the first movement...
for the BBC. It is available on Oldfield's
ElementsElements - The Best of Mike Oldfield is a video collection by Mike Oldfield released in October 1993 on VHS and Laser disc. A DVD edition of the video release, including additional extras, was produced in 2004.- Video :...
DVD.
Jenkins has created a good deal of advertising music, twice winning the industry prize in that field. Perhaps his most-heard piece of music is the classical theme used by
De BeersDe Beers and the various companies within the De Beers Family of Companies engage in exploration for diamonds, diamond mining, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacture....
diamondIn mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is the second most stable form of carbon, after graphite; however, the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is...
merchants for their famous television
advertising campaignAn advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication...
focusing on jewellery worn by people who are otherwise seen only in
silhouetteA silhouette is a view of an object or scene consisting of the outline and a featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black...
. He later included it as the title track in a compilation of various works called
Diamond MusicDiamond Music is a 1996 album by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins.Perhaps one of Jenkins most recognized works is the first movement of the "Palladio" suite, inspired by sixteenth-century architect Andrea Palladio. This piece, in varying arrangements, has served as the music for DeBeers television...
, and eventually created
Palladio, using it as the theme of the first movement.
As a composer, his breakthrough came with the crossover project
AdiemusAdiemus is the title of a series of albums by British composer Karl Jenkins. It is also the title of the opening track on the first album in the series, Songs of Sanctuary.-Concept:...
. Jenkins has conducted the
Adiemus project in
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
,
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
, the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
, and
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
, as well as London's
Royal Albert HallThe Royal Albert Hall is an arts venue situated in the Knightsbridge area of the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
and
Battersea Power StationBattersea Power Station is a now unused coal-fired power station located on the south bank of the River Thames, near Battersea in London. The station comprises two individual power stations, built in two stages in the form of a single building. Battersea A Power Station was built first in the...
. The
Adiemus: Songs of SanctuaryReleased in 1995, Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary is the first album by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins as part of the Adiemus project. This album quickly garnered critical acclaim as the title track "Adiemus" had been previously well received during its use in a Delta Air Lines television commercial and...
(1995) album sold well enough where it topped the classical album charts. It spawned a series of successors, each revolving around a central theme.
Jenkins was the first international composer and conductor to conduct the
University of JohannesburgThe University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Technikon Witwatersrand and the Rand Afrikaans University . Prior to the merger, the Daveyton and Soweto campuses of the former Vista University had been incorporated into RAU...
Kingsway Choir led by Renette Bouwer, during his visit to
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
as the choir performed his
The Armed Man: A mass for peaceThe Armed Man is the name of a Mass by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, subtitled "A Mass for Peace". The piece was commissioned by the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds for the Millennium celebrations and was initially dedicated to victims of the Kosovo crisis. Like Benjamin Britten's War Requiem before...
together with a 70 piece orchestra.
He is also a joint president of the
British Double Reed SocietyThe British Double Reed Society is a society for players of double reed instruments in the United Kingdom and around the world. It was founded in 1988 to "promote and enhance the interests of all double reed players, whether students, amateurs, professionals or teachers". Primarily, the...
.
Awards and achievements
Jenkins holds a doctorate in music from the
University of WalesThe University of Wales is a confederal university founded in 1893. It has accredited institutions throughout Wales, ranging from nineteenth-century establishments like Aberystwyth and Bangor to post-1992 universities like Newport and institutes of higher education such as UWIC and Glyndŵr...
. He has been made both a
fellowA fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes...
and an
associateAssociate may refer to:* A business valuation concept.* A term used by some companies instead of employee.* A term used to signify an independent person working as if directly employed by the company of which they are an associate...
of the
Royal Academy of MusicThe Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
, and a room has been named in his honour. He also has fellowships at
Cardiff UniversityCardiff University is a leading university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing the best university education in Wales...
, the
Royal Welsh College of Music & DramaThe Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama is a conservatoire located in Cardiff.The College was established in 1949 as Cardiff College of Music at Cardiff Castle, but has since moved to purpose-built accommodation within the castle grounds of Bute Park near Cardiff University...
, Trinity College Carmarthen, Swansea Institute and was presented by
Classic FMClassic FM is one of the United Kingdom's three Independent National Radio stations, broadcasting classical music in a popular and accessible style.-Overview:...
with the Red f award for outstanding service to classical music.
He was awarded an honorary doctorate in music from the
University of LeicesterThe University of Leicester is a research led university based in Leicester, England, with approximately 20,000 registered students - about 13,000 of them full-time students and 7,000 part-time and/or distance learning...
, the Chancellor's Medal from the
University of GlamorganThe University of Glamorgan is a university based in Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales with campuses in Trefforest, Glyntaff, Merthyr Tydfil, Tyn y Wern and Cardiff. It comprises seven departments and faculties...
and honorary visiting professorships at
Thames Valley UniversityThames Valley University is a British university based on campuses in Slough and Reading in Berkshire, and Ealing and Brentford in west London...
,
London College of MusicThe London College of Music was founded in 1887 and existed as an independent music conservatoire based at Great Marlborough Street in central London until 1991, when it moved to Ealing, west London, and became part of the newly-formed Thames Valley University .In 1996 TVU created a school called...
and the ATriUM,
CardiffCardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for many national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for Wales. According to recent estimates, the...
.
He was awarded an OBE, by
the QueenElizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known informally as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,...
in the 2005 New Years Honours List "for services to music".
Albums
- Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary
Released in 1995, Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary is the first album by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins as part of the Adiemus project. This album quickly garnered critical acclaim as the title track "Adiemus" had been previously well received during its use in a Delta Air Lines television commercial and...
- Adiemus II: Cantata Mundi
Released in 1997, Adiemus II: Cantata Mundi is the second album by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins as part of the Adiemus project. Building on the style established in Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary, Jenkins broadens his musical approach to Cantata Mundi by including instrumentation and techniques from...
- Adiemus III: Dances of Time
Released in 1998, Adiemus III: Dances of Time is the third album by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins as part of the Adiemus project. This album is a tribute to the interrelationship between music and dance throughout history...
- Adiemus IV: The Eternal Knot
Released in 2001, Adiemus IV: The Eternal Knot is the fourth album by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins as part of the Adiemus project. Inspired by Celtic history and mythology, this album served as the soundtrack to the S4C International documentary The Celts...
- Adiemus V: Vocalise
Released in 2003, Adiemus V: Vocalise is the last album by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins as part of the five-album Adiemus project. In contrast to Jenkins's past Adiemus compositions, several of the tracks in this album are arrangements or variations on existing classical works...
Other works
- Adiemus: Live — live versions of Adiemus music
- Eloise (opera)
- Imagined Oceans
Released in 1998, Imagined Oceans is an album by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins. This work was inspired by thirteen lunar mare for which the tracks are titled. The musical style is similar to Jenkins's Adiemus compositions and each track explores the meaning of its Latin name through various musical...
(1998)
- The Armed Man
The Armed Man is the name of a Mass by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, subtitled "A Mass for Peace". The piece was commissioned by the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds for the Millennium celebrations and was initially dedicated to victims of the Kosovo crisis. Like Benjamin Britten's War Requiem before...
: A Mass for Peace (composed 1999, premièred 2000)
- Dewi Sant (2000)
- Diamond Music
Diamond Music is a 1996 album by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins.Perhaps one of Jenkins most recognized works is the first movement of the "Palladio" suite, inspired by sixteenth-century architect Andrea Palladio. This piece, in varying arrangements, has served as the music for DeBeers television...
(1996)
- Merry Christmas to the World (1995) — a collection of traditional Christmas music orchestrated by Jenkins
- Over the Stone (2002) — a double harp concerto
- Crossing the Stone (2003) — an album featuring Welsh harpist Catrin Finch
Catrin Anna Finch is a Welsh harpist born in Llanon, Ceredigion, Wales.-Successes:In 2000, she won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York City which led to her recital debut at Carnegie Hall. That same year she performed at London's Wigmore Hall, and was appointed official...
and material from the double harp concerto
- Ave Verum (2004) — for baritone (composed for Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel Jones CBE is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro and Leporello, but he has expanded his repertoire to include heavier roles, especially those by Wagner.-Biography:Bryn Terfel Jones was born in...
)
- In These Stones Horizons Sing
In These Stones, Horizons Sing is a work for chorus and orchestra composed by Karl Jenkins. It was commissioned for the opening of Wales Millennium Centre and first performed at its opening on November 29th, 2004...
(2004)
- Requiem (2005)
- Quirk (2005) concertante
- River Queen (2005) — score for the film River Queen
River Queen is a 2005 New Zealand film directed by Vincent Ward and starring Samantha Morton, Kiefer Sutherland and Cliff Curtis. The film opened to mixed reviews but performed well at the local box-office.-Plot summary:...
directed by New Zealand director Vincent WardVincent Ward, ONZM is a film director and screenwriter.-Biography:Vincent Ward was awarded an Order of New Zealand Merit in 2007 for his contribution to film making. He was born in Greytown, New Zealand. He was trained as an artist at the University of Canterbury. Ward began writing and directing...
- Tlep (2006)
- Kiri Sings Karl
Kiri Sings Karl by New Zealand opera diva, Kiri Te Kanawa, is a 2006 classical album. Some of the tracks on the album are composed by acclaimed classical composer Karl Jenkins while all of the tracks are conducted by him...
(2006) — with Kiri Te KanawaDame Kiri Janette Te Kanawa, ONZ, DBE, AC is a New Zealand soprano who had a highly successful international opera career between 1968–2004. Possessing a warm full lyric soprano voice, Te Kanawa sang a wide repertoire that encompassed works from the 17th to the 20th century in Italian, French,...
- This Land of Ours (2007) — with Cory Band
The Cory Band, formerly the Buy As You View Band, is one of the oldest and best known brass bands in the world.-History and origins:The Cory Band hails from the Rhondda Valley in Wales. They were formed in 1884 and originally bore the name ‘Ton Temperance’ a reference to the Temperance movement in...
and Cantorion, now Only Men Aloud!Only Men Aloud! is a male voice choir from Wales. The choir came to national prominence in the UK when they won the Last Choir Standing competition run by BBC television during 2008.-Overview:...
- Stabat Mater
Stabat Mater is a 2008 piece by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, and is based on the 13th century Roman Catholic prayer Stabat Mater. Like much of Jenkins' earlier work, the piece incorporates both traditional Western music with ethnic instruments and vocals - this time focusing on the Middle East...
(2008) - Jenkins' adaptation of a 13th Century Roman Catholic Poem
- Palladio (2009)
External links