Ian Venables
b. 1955
British
Summary
Critical Acclaim
'His voice is original and expressive: he may be inspired by the English masters, but he is not derivative of them.' - Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph
'A song composer as fine as Finzi and Gurney' – BBC Music Magazine
'Ian Venables, the Worcester-based composer [...] has so deservedly inherited the mantle of the recent past's great setters of English poetry.' – Christopher Morley, The Birmingham Post
'…Britain’s greatest living composer of art songs…' – Musical Opinion
'…Venables can certainly pen a memorable melody,…there’s no mistaking the emotion slumbering beneath the surface…' – Gramophone
'…there is no mistaking the emotional and technical strength in Venables’ songs, besides their very real beauty…' – Classic FM
'…English art song’s melancholy legacy finds its voice in composers such as Venables…' – The Observer
Biography
Described as ‘Britain’s greatest living composer of art song; (Musical Opinion) and ‘a song composer as fine as Finzi and Gurney’ (BBC Music Magazine), he has written over 60 works in this genre, which includes nine song-cycles, Venetian Songs - Love’s Voice Op.22 (1995); Invite to Eternity Op.31 (1997) for tenor and string quartet; Songs of Eternity and Sorrow Op.36 (2004) for tenor, string quartet and piano; On the Wings of Love Op.38 (2006) for tenor, clarinet and piano; The Pine Boughs Past Music Op.39 (2009) for baritone and piano; Remember This Op.40 (2011) a Cantata for soprano, tenor, string quartet, and piano; The Song of The Severn Op.43 (2013) for baritone, string quartet and piano;Through These Pale Cold Days Op. 46 (2016) for tenor, viola and piano; and The Last Invocation Op. 50 for tenor. Other songs for solo voice and piano include, Two Songs Op.28 (1997) and Six Songs Op.33 (2003) as well as a dramatic scena At The Court Of The Poisoned Rose Op. 20 (1994).
His songs have been performed by national and international artists that include: Andrew Kennedy, Patricia Rozario, Roderick Williams, Nick Pritchard, Nicky Spence, Benjamin Appl, Ian Partridge, Howard Wong, Nathan Vale, Daniel Norman, Mary Plazas, Michael Lampard, Brian Thorsett, Allan Clayton, Peter Savidge, Peter Wilman, Elizabeth Atherton, Nicholas Mulroy, Kevin McLean Mair, Helen Massey, Keira Lyness, Susan Anne-Jenkins, Der-shin Hwang, Helen Meyerhoff, Sally Porter Munro, Caroline MacPhie, Benjamin Hulett, Geraldine McGreevy, Lucy Hall, Alessandro Fisher, Matteo Placidi and Kristian Sorensen
His songs have been performed by national and international artists that include: Andrew Kennedy, Patricia Rozario, Roderick Williams, Nick Pritchard, Nicky Spence, Benjamin Appl, Ian Partridge, Howard Wong, Nathan Vale, Daniel Norman, Mary Plazas, Michael Lampard, Brian Thorsett, Allan Clayton, Peter Savidge, Peter Wilman, Elizabeth Atherton, Nicholas Mulroy, Kevin McLean Mair, Helen Massey, Keira Lyness, Susan Anne-Jenkins, Der-shin Hwang, Helen Meyerhoff, Sally Porter Munro, Caroline MacPhie, Benjamin Hulett, Geraldine McGreevy, Lucy Hall, Alessandro Fisher, Matteo Placidi and Kristian Sorensen
News
- Ian Venables’ Requiem for orchestra and choir
- 11th November 2022
- A new disc, released on November 11, 2022 on Delphian records, combines the music of Ian Venables and Herbert Howells with Venables’ Requiem (2022) the centrepiece.
- Wise Music Classical Composers Share in the GRAMMY Nominations
- 25th November 2020
- The 63rd annual Grammy Awards ceremony will be held on Sunday January 31, 2021, in Los Angeles, CA. Along with the recording artists, several composers and works published or represented by Wise Music Group are on...
- New Venables CD: Love Lives Beyond the Tomb
- 16th April 2020
- The latest disc of English Art Song from Ian Venables, ‘Love Lives Beyond the Tomb’, will be released on April 24 on Signum Classics. Mary Bevan (soprano), Allan Clayton (tenor), Graham J Lloyd (piano) and the Carducci...
- Venables: Song of the Severn US premiere
- 6th June 2017
- On June 11, the Cincinnati Song Initiative hosts the US premiere of The Song of the Severn Op 43, the evocative song 2013 song cycle from Ian Venables. American baritone, Tyler Alessi will be joined by Belinda Burge...
- Venables: Through These Pale Cold Days US Premiere
- 4th April 2017
- The 2016 song cycle, Through These Pale Cold Days Op. 46, by Ian Venables is to receive its US premiere performance on April 17. Brian Thorsett (tenor), Kimberly Fredenburgh (viola) and Richard Masters (piano) will give...
- A Major Song Cycle Celebrating Worcestershire
- 4th October 2012
- Ian Venables has been commissioned to compose a song cycle for the British baritone Roderick Williams by the Malvern Concert Club. Venables’ new composition, The Song of the Severn, Op.43, will celebrate the poets of...
Performances
1st June 2025
- SOLOISTS
- Raphael Wallfisch, cello; Simon Callaghan, piano
- LOCATION
- Worcester Cathedral, Worcester, United Kingdom
