Simon Dobson (Photo taken from his website which will be either credited or removed on request)
Simon Dobson is an award-winning composer, conductor, multi-instrumentalist, and producer.
Simon was born in 1981, in Cornwall, where he grew up in a brass banding family. He attended Launceston College and then the Royal College of Music where he composed for many different ensembles including wind orchestra, string orchestra, and the RCM Symphony Orchestra. His first commission, from the London Philharmonic Orchestra, was in 2002 during his second year of study.
In 2002 he won the European Brass Band composers’ competition in Brussels which led to a commission to write the test piece, Lydian Pictures, for the 2003 Regional Brass Band Championships of Great Britain. Other commissions followed including a work for the National Youth Brass Championship of Great Britain.
At RCM, he was part of a group of students who formed Zone One Brass, a championship section band which he conducted for four years before moving away from London in 2004 after earning his B. Mus and graduating to the sounds of his own fanfare.
In 2007 Simon composed the set piece for the European Brass Band Championships ‘B’ section and has since been Composer in Residence with the Leyland Band, Brighouse and Rastrick Band, and the Fairey Band.
He has adjudicated at a number of contests including the 2010 Scottish Open Brass Band Championships in Perth where he was judging performances of his own piece, and when the river told, and the Swiss National Brass Band Championships in the Stravinsky Hall in Montreux.
In May 2011, his work Penlee (based on the Penlee Lifeboat Disaster, was voted in at number 106 in the Classic FM Hall of Fame. It was the highest new entry of any genre and Dobson was the seventh highest living composer in the 300-strong list.
In 2012, Simon won a British Composer of the year Award (BASCA) for his work A Symphony of Colours, and in 2014 he released his first solo album Euneirophrenia.
His work as principal conductor and arranger with the London based Parallax Orchestra has seen him conduct critically acclaimed sell out shows with rock and metal bands at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall, and his studio and arranging work with the same outfit has led to him working on many albums featured in the UK top 40, including the recent album AMO by Bring Me The Horizon which reached UK no.1 in January 2019. Simon also undertakes conducting duties with the Southbank Sinfonia and the Heritage Orchestra.
Simon is a freelance conductor and is well known for his work with youth ensembles and players. His conducting led him to coach many of London’s championship bands, taking him nationwide, as well as to Norway for the Norwegian Brass Band Championships and to Switzerland. He has worked with former national youth champions Mount Charles Youth Band, as well as the Devon County Youth Band and the Cornwall Youth Brass Band, for whom he wrote his composition Penlee.
Simon works extensively as an orchestral arranger, writer (and often, performer) for brass and strings. He regularly writes for London’s Heritage Orchestra and Amsterdam’s famous Metropole Orkest. His arrangements have been featured at the Proms and his works for wind and brass have been performed countless times around the world, earning him three British Composer Awards (BASCAs), including in 2018 for his work, The Turing Test. He continues to push boundaries within the Brass and Wind scene writing classical contemporary music and concertos that challenge players and audiences alike around the globe.
These notes have been assembled using material from Simon’s website (https://simon-dobson.co.uk/index.html) and Wikipeadia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Dobson)
Some of Simon Dobson’s Music
A Symphony of Colours
Comprises four movements: Joy, Chroma, Endless Time and Ascent.
Commissioned by the Fairey Band with assistance from the John Golland Trust.
2011: First performed at the European Brass Band Championships in Montreux by The Fairey Band conducted by Russell Gray.
2012: Winner of Basca’s British Composer Award For Wind or Brass Band.
2012: UK première at the Royal Northern College of Music Festival of Brass, Manchester by The Fairey Band.
And When the River Told
Based on the River Tay.
Commissioned by the Scottish Brass Band Association for the Scottish Open Championships.
Used as a contest test piece including:
2010: Scottish Open Championships (Championship Section)
Another World’s Hell
Commissioned by the Societe Cantonale des Musiques Vaudoises and the Association
2013: Cantonale des Musiques Neuchateloises for the Swiss Cantonales festivals.
Used as a contest test piece including:
2013: Kantonal Musikfest Vaud/Waadt (First Section)
2013: Kantonal Musikfest Neuchâtel/Neuenburg (First Section)
2019: North American Championships (First Section)
Celtic Song
Commissioned by Dennis Arbon.
2014: The first public performance was in “Cornish Youth Makes Music” at the Hall for Cornwall by the Cornwall Youth Brass Band.
Clarion Alarum: Fanfare No.1 for Brass Band
A Short fanfare for brass band
Firefly
First performed by Oslofjord Brass in Norway and in its wind version by Harmonie Shostakovich.
Four Sketches – Fanfare / Prayer / Funeral March / Finale
Written at the request of Peter Bossano, Head of Brass at the Royal College of Music in recognition of the 25th anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s death.
2002: Winning entry in the European Brass Band Composer Competition.
Journey of the Lone Wolf
The story of the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók.
2013: Commissioned by Prof Nicholas Childs for the Black Dyke Band.
2014: UK premiere at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester as part of the Royal Northern College of Music Festival of Brass.
Used as a contest test piece including:
2014: Dutch Nationals (Championship Division)
2016: National Championship of Great Britain (Championship Section Final)
2017: New Zealand National Championships (A Grade)
Little Hymn (hymn tune)
Lock Horns/Rage On (march)
Commissioned by Leyland Band / Jason Katsikaris.
2009: A part of the Leyland Band’s programme for the Brass in Concert Championships at The Sage, Gateshead.
Lydian Pictures
Used as a contest test piece including:
2003: Regional Championships of Great Britain (Fourth Section)
2004: West of England Bandsmen’s Festival (Class D)
2008: Butlin’s Mineworkers (Fourth Section)
Lyonesse
Takes its inspiration from the lost kingdom of Lyonesse, the mythical land linking Cornwall and the Scilly Isles and its associated legend of Tristan and Isolde.
2005: Commissioned by the Brass Band Heritage Trust as the test piece for the Finals of the National Youth Brass Band Championships held in Manchester.
Used as a contest test piece including:
2005: National Youth Brass Band Championships (Premier Section)
2006: Australian Championships (Junior A Grade)
2013: Australian Championships (B Grade)
Penlee
Commissioned by the Cornwall Youth Brass Band.
Commemorates the Penlee disaster of 19th December 1981 when eight crew members of the Solomon Browns Lifeboat and eight members of the Union Star lost their lives.
On the score Simon has written, “To some, the tragic story of the Penlee lifeboat, the Solomon Browne, needs no introduction and to some the pain felt is still very much a reality. I was brought up in the full knowledge of the story having been born just a few weeks before the fateful night. This commission allows me the opportunity to pay musical homage to the bravery of the souls involved. Penlee is the result of my feelings regarding the event and is dedicated to all those who lost their lives in Cornwall’s treacherous waters, including the volunteers on the lifeboat and the crew and passengers of the Union Star.”
The bell used in the first performance was kindly loaned by the RNLI and was from the present Penlee Lifeboat, the “Ivan Ellen”.
The first public performance was in 2008 by the Cornwall Youth Brass Band conducted by Ian Porthouse.
Used as a contest test piece including:
- 2011: Belgian Nationals (Third Division)
- 2011: North American Championships (Second Section)
- 2013: National Championship of Great Britain (Third Section Final)
- 2010: Swiss National Championships (Second Division)
- 2014: West of England Bandsmen’s Festival (Second Section)
- 2017: National Youth Brass Band Championships – Championship Section
- 2017: Australian Championships (B Grade)
- 2019: New Zealand National Championships (C Grade)
Son of a Preacher Man (arrangement)
The Dreaded Groove and Hook
Commissioned by Jason Katsikaris / The Leyland Band.
2008: First performed at the Brass in Concert Championships by The Leyland Band.
The Drop
2007: Commissioned as the set test piece for Section B of the European Brass Band Championships.
2008: Remixed for Leyland Band to perform at the RNCM Festival of Brass in Manchester.
The Last of the Mighty Few
The Turing Test
Torsion
Commissioned by the Leyland Band.
2010: First performed at the Royal Northern College of Music Festival of Brass by Leyland Band conducted by Jason Katsikaris.
Used as a contest test piece including:
2012: International Brass Band Contest (Championship Division)
2016: Australian Championships (B Grade)