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First name: Stephen
Last name: Montague
Dates: 1943
Category: Quartet
Nationality: American
Opus name: The hammer hawk
Publisher: UMC
Peculiarities: ump,availible in the Musicshop Rue de Saint Honore Paris
Information: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Stephen Montague (born March 10, 1943 in Syracuse, New York) is a composer who grew up in West Virginia and Florida. After studying piano, conducting and composition at Florida State University B.M 1965 with Honors, M.M 1967, he received a doctorate in composition from Ohio State University in 1972. He did additional study in conducting at the Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria, 1966, computer music at IRCAM, Paris, 1981, and at Stanford University, California, 1984. He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship/Polish Cultural Grant to work at the Experimental Music Studio of Polish Radio, Warsaw, Poland, 1972 -74. Montague was born and educated in the US, but lived in Warsaw, Poland (1972–74) on a Fulbright Fellowship, and since 1974 in London working as a freelance composer, pianist, conductor and touring worldwide. His music has been performed at numerous international festivals, including the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Warsaw Autumn festival, the Paris Festival d'Automne, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the Hong Kong and Singapore Festivals. As a pianist, he has recorded for many European radio networks and has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. In 1985 he formed a duo with pianist Philip Mead, Montague/Mead Piano Plus which tours internationally. His conducting specialty is 20th and 21st century music. In addition, Montague has created multi-channel electroacoustic sound environments in collaboration with the sculptor, Maurice Agis, and composed a number of music theatre works for outside spaces such as his Horn Concerto for klaxon horn and an orchestra of automobiles. Although a long term British resident (dual national - US/UK since 2000) his compositional influences are transatlantic. He comments: "I have lived in Britain since 1974 but my musical heroes remain American: I admire Charles Ives's unapologetic juxtaposition of vernacular music and the avant-garde, Henry Cowell's irreverent use of fist and arm clusters, the propulsive energy of minimalism, and John Cage's radical dictum that 'all sound is music'. And, like Henry Cowell, I want to live in the whole world of music, not just one corner. I am equally at home writing for a large professional symphony orchestra, chamber groups, dance, music theatre or experimental works, for example, motorcycles, brass, percussion and piano". In the UK, Montague was a founder of Sonic Arts Network in 1980, served as Chair of the SPNM (Society for the Promotion of New Music) during 1993-97, and was Associate Composer with The Orchestra of St. Johns, Smith Square, London, 1995 - 97. In addition to his freelance work Montague also teaches composition and orchestration at Trinity Laban Conservatory of Music and Dance London, and is the New Music Associate at Cambridge University's Kettle's Yard Art Gallery, 2010 -2012 (UK).