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2 unusual facts about John Tavener


Holy minimalism

Examples include Arvo Pärt (an Estonian Orthodox), John Tavener (a British composer who converted to Russian Orthodoxy), Henryk Górecki (a Polish Catholic), Alan Hovhaness (the earliest mystic minimalist), Sofia Gubaidulina, Giya Kancheli, Hans Otte, Pēteris Vasks and Vladimír Godár.

Predrag Dragić

In 2003 Sir John Tavener, the most popular British composer reputed as a "classical artist" used texts from the book Medieval and Renaissance Serbian Poetry 1200-1700 written by Predrag R. Dragić Kijuk, for his monumental work "The Veil of the Temple" (performed by four choirs, several orchestras and soloists, seven hours in duration).


Coventry Blue Coat Church of England School

The school has an 8-part choir, typically performing choral works ranging from the early works of Thomas Tallis through Joseph Haydn's Insanae et Vanae Curae to the recent works of composers such as John Tavener.

Dublin Choral Foundation

Their repertoire includes Allegri’s Miserere, Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli, Stanford’s Three Motets Op 38, Duruflé’s Quatre Motets Op 10 and more recent compositions by John Tavener, Eric Sweeney and Colin Mawby.

Jeremy Huw Williams

In addition to these he has also given premieres of works by composers John Tavener, Martin Butler, John Metcalf, Julian Phillips, Edward Dudley Hughes, Ian Wilson, Richard Causton, Edward Rushton, Arlene Sierra and Huw Watkins.

Paul Steinitz

Commissions and First Performances were established in the 1950s and 1960s and included works by Stravinsky (Canticum Sacrum, guest conducted by Robert Craft, in 1956), Bruno Maderna, Luigi Dallapiccola, Peter Maxwell Davies, John Tavener, Anthony Milner, Stanley Glasser (sung in Zulu), Christopher Brown, Geoffrey Burgon and his own pupil Nicholas Maw.

Songs of Innocence and of Experience

Individual poems have also been set by, among others, John Tavener, Victoria Poleva, Jah Wobble, Tangerine Dream.

Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 1

Benedetti's debut album released on the Deutsche Grammophon label in April 2005 includes Szymanowski's Concerto No. 1, the Chausson Poème, the Havanaise by Saint-Saëns, and a trio of contemplative miniatures by Massenet, Brahms (arranged by Jascha Heifetz) and John Tavener, the last of which, Fragment for the Virgin, was written for Nicola.


see also