My friend and colleague Anthony Gilbert, who has died aged 88, was a composer of strikingly idiosyncratic and original music.
His substantial body of work ranges from major commissions such as the Symphony (Cheltenham festival, 1973) or the radio opera The Chakravaka-Bird (BBC, 1981), to chamber music written for ensembles including the London Sinfonietta, the Manchester Camerata and the Lindsay Quartet. From Dream Carousels (1988) to Liaison (2021) there were many successful collaborations with the conductor Tim Reynish. His music appears on 11 albums on the NMC record label, and is published by Schott’s and University of York Music Press.
Tony was a key figure in British new music. He was esteemed not only as a composer but as an inspiring teacher. In 1973 he initiated the composition department of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and remained its director until retirement in 1999. Its current international reputation owes much to the foundations he laid. He continued to support RNCM composition students until a few weeks before his death. He also taught, in the 1980s, at what is now the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Many of his students have, in their turn, become well known, including the composers Simon Holt and Martin Butler, and the composition teacher Alison Cox.
All his life, Tony championed new music. He was passionate about making space for music that was at once intellectually challenging and emotionally enriching.
From his early days as promotion manager at Schott’s he went on to serve on committees for the International Society for Contemporary Music, the ICA, the Society for the Promotion of New Music and North West Arts. His somewhat intransigent nature did not endear him to the “musical establishment”; but he was cherished and admired by all who knew him well.
Tony was born in Southfields, south-west London, to Vera (nee Henderson) a children’s nurse, and Joseph, who worked in a print manufactory. He went to Gunnersbury grammar school and from there, having proved a gifted linguist, to study at the Institut Français in London. He had manifested an unusually acute ear since earliest childhood, but though his family were musical, it was only as an adult that he turned decisively towards music and composing. In 1956, aged 22, he began studying music at Morley College, London, working with Anthony Milner and then Alexander Goehr, beginning a long friendship with the latter.
Having built up a body of compositions during the 1950s, Tony had his First Piano Sonata selected for the 1962 ISCM festival; the piece was premiered that year by Margaret Kitchin at the Cheltenham festival, and led to a publishing contract with Schott’s. From then on, Tony’s composing career blossomed. His musical language, harmonically and texturally rich, was informed by his knowledge and love of Indian music while remaining indebted to European modernism. Close friendships with Harrison Birtwistle, Don Banks and David Lumsdaine were also strong influences.
Tony was married twice: in 1956 to Mary Hill, with whom he had three children, and in 1978 to Alison Cox; both marriages ended in divorce. During his later years his partner was Raymonde Sassoon. She survives him, as do his children, Celia, Paul and Leo, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
