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Celine Nessi

Born in London in 1936, Anthony Payne began to compose whilst still at school and went on to study music at Durham University. On leaving University he went through a period of creative uncertainty and began a career as a freelance musicologist, journalist and lecturer, producing such distinguished publications as authoritative studies of Schoenberg and Bridge. In the mid-60s, however, he began to compose his Phoenix Mass, in which he at last discovered a personal language. Since then, Payne's reputation has grown steadily with each new work. He has received commissions from many important soloists and organisations, and in 1985 was one of the select few chosen by the BBC to compose a piece in celebration of European Music Year: his Spirit's Harvest proved to be one of the most exciting orchestral works of the entire season. In July 1990 the orchestral work Time's Arrow was given its world premiere in a BBC Promenade Concert by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Davis. His orchestral work A Hidden Music (1992) for strings and single winds was commissioned by the London Festival Orchestra for its annual Cathedral Classics Festival and premiered in June 1992 at Westminster Cathedral. More recently, he has written the autobiographical Orchestral Variations--The Seeds Long Hidden for the English Chamber Orchestra (winter 1994) and Empty Landscape--Heart's Ease (spring 1995) for the Nash Ensemble. Most recently he completed an elaboration on the sketches of Elgar's 3rd Symphony, a project which has been hailed by critics as the

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Discography