Roger Marsh | Composer

Latest news

New Pages

I’m writing more words than music at the moment, and currently compiling an account of the music theatre projects I worked on at York, starting with the ‘Practical Projects‘. You can find them under Writing. I have also begun a group of pages detailing my work in Music Theatre, and bringing together images and archive material in my possession. New pages will be added on Bernard Rands, Anna Myatt, Black Hair and Vocem.

Trovo Casa (Gaia Songs 2) for voice and 2 pianos, is finished and awaiting a performance. There are five songs on new poems by Gaia Blandina.

Finnegans Wake (Naxos Audiobooks) had some good reviews. Read by Barry McGovern and Marcella Riordan it lasts 29 hours. I produced it and supplied detailed accompanying notes. I also selected music cues. I’m very proud of our work, which I think will help a lot of readers to find a way into this extraordinary novel. There is also still the abridged version from 1998 (with Jim Norton) for those who need breaking in gently. The whole Joyce collection, as well as the Divine Comedy read by the late Heathcote Williams, can all be accessed via Audible.

About

Roger Marsh studied composition first in London with Ian Kellam, and later at the University of York with Bernard Rands. He spent two years at the University of California, San Diego on a Harkness Fellowship (1976-78) and then lectured in Music at Keele University until 1988 when he returned to York. In the autumn of 1993 he was visiting composer at Harvard University.

On his return to the UK he co-founded (with his wife, the singer Anna Myatt) the contemporary music ensemble Black Hair, which became known for its unusual presentations of new music and music theatre. He is currently Professor of Music at the University of York.

Roger Marsh has written music for all genres: orchestra, small and large chamber groups, and many works for voices, often with a theatrical edge. He is also known for his abridgements and productions of all the novels of James Joyce for Naxos Audiobooks, including Joyce’s Ulysses – unabridged on 22 CDs.

His music is published by Chester Novello and Peters Edition, London.

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Lullaby

(2009)

Edition Peters
Il Cor Tristo

(2008)

Edition Peters
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Pierrot Lunaire – 50 Rondels Bergamasques

(2002)

Edition Peters
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Canto 1 for string ensemble

(1999)

Edition Peters
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Hoichi for amplified alto flute

(1992)

Novello
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Stepping Out for piano and orchestra

(1990)

Novello

Roger Marsh Composer

Featured works (excerpts)

Lullaby

Il Cor Tristo

Pierrot Lunaire – 50 Rondels Bergamasques

Canto 1 for string ensemble

Hoichi for amplified alto flute

Stepping Out for piano and orchestra