Michael Blake (born 31 October 1951) is a South African contemporary
classical music composer and performer. He studied in Johannesburg in
the 1970s and was associated with conceptual art and the emergence of
an indigenous experimental music aesthetic. In 1976 he embarked on
'African Journal', a series of pieces for Western instruments that
drew on his studies of traditional African music (Muller 2011, 71-92)
and aesthetics, which continued to expand during two decades in London
until he returned to South Africa in 1998. From around 2000 African
music becomes less explicit on the surface of his compositions, but
elements of rhythm and repetition remain as part of a more
postcolonial engagement with material and form. He works in a range of
styles including minimalism and collage, and now also forages for
source material from the entire musical canon.Michael Blake was born
in Cape Town. He took piano lessons at the South African College of
Music from the age of 9, and began composing soon afterwards. In 1970
he registered for a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg studying composition with June Schneider
and Klaas van Oostveen, and piano with Adolph Hallis. In 1976 he
attended summer courses in Darmstadt and Dartington, and met Mauricio
Kagel, Peter Maxwell Davies and Stanley Glasser. In 1977 he launched a
New Music concert series at the newly-opened Market Theatre in
Johannesburg with his ensemble Moonchild. Later that year he left
South Africa to avoid being drafted into South Africa’s border war,
and for the next 2 years studied for a Master of Music degree in music
theory and analysis at the University of London Goldsmiths College. He
was part-time lecturer at Goldsmiths College, where he founded and
conducted the Goldsmiths Contemporary Music Ensemble. From 1979 to
1986 he was the keyboard player in the electroacoustic group Metanoia
which he co-directed with Jonathan Impett.In 1986 he founded the
ensemble London New Music for the performance of experimental music,
and the group gave regular concerts at the South Bank, Institute for
Contemporary Arts and elsewhere. London New Music undertook British
Council-sponsored tours in Europe, and broadcast regularly for BBC
Radio 3 and European radio stations, premiering new work commissioned
by Blake from his contemporaries â€" Gerald Barry, Matteo Fargion,
Christopher Fox, Chris Newman, Howard Skempton, Kevin Volans â€" as
well as playing non-mainstream ('downtown') composers he considered
important â€" Henry Cowell, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Charles Ives, Stefan
Wolpe, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Bunita Marcus, Barbara Monk,
Christian Wolff and Walter Zimmermann. All of these ensembles also
regularly played his own compositions.
classical music composer and performer. He studied in Johannesburg in
the 1970s and was associated with conceptual art and the emergence of
an indigenous experimental music aesthetic. In 1976 he embarked on
'African Journal', a series of pieces for Western instruments that
drew on his studies of traditional African music (Muller 2011, 71-92)
and aesthetics, which continued to expand during two decades in London
until he returned to South Africa in 1998. From around 2000 African
music becomes less explicit on the surface of his compositions, but
elements of rhythm and repetition remain as part of a more
postcolonial engagement with material and form. He works in a range of
styles including minimalism and collage, and now also forages for
source material from the entire musical canon.Michael Blake was born
in Cape Town. He took piano lessons at the South African College of
Music from the age of 9, and began composing soon afterwards. In 1970
he registered for a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg studying composition with June Schneider
and Klaas van Oostveen, and piano with Adolph Hallis. In 1976 he
attended summer courses in Darmstadt and Dartington, and met Mauricio
Kagel, Peter Maxwell Davies and Stanley Glasser. In 1977 he launched a
New Music concert series at the newly-opened Market Theatre in
Johannesburg with his ensemble Moonchild. Later that year he left
South Africa to avoid being drafted into South Africa’s border war,
and for the next 2 years studied for a Master of Music degree in music
theory and analysis at the University of London Goldsmiths College. He
was part-time lecturer at Goldsmiths College, where he founded and
conducted the Goldsmiths Contemporary Music Ensemble. From 1979 to
1986 he was the keyboard player in the electroacoustic group Metanoia
which he co-directed with Jonathan Impett.In 1986 he founded the
ensemble London New Music for the performance of experimental music,
and the group gave regular concerts at the South Bank, Institute for
Contemporary Arts and elsewhere. London New Music undertook British
Council-sponsored tours in Europe, and broadcast regularly for BBC
Radio 3 and European radio stations, premiering new work commissioned
by Blake from his contemporaries â€" Gerald Barry, Matteo Fargion,
Christopher Fox, Chris Newman, Howard Skempton, Kevin Volans â€" as
well as playing non-mainstream ('downtown') composers he considered
important â€" Henry Cowell, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Charles Ives, Stefan
Wolpe, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Bunita Marcus, Barbara Monk,
Christian Wolff and Walter Zimmermann. All of these ensembles also
regularly played his own compositions.
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