Graham Lynch

It's said that Descartes' motto was Bene vixit, bene qui latuit (“To live well is to live concealed”), and it seems that at times this could equally apply to Graham Lynch. Although he was born in London and took a PhD at King's College, as well as having lessons with Oliver Knussen, Lynch subsequently lived in a remote part of the North West Highlands of Scotland, where he gradually rethought his musical language, before eventually moving to Penzance. During this time he's remained largely outside the arena of British classical music and his compositions have flourished elsewhere. Lynch’s music has been commissioned and performed in over thirty countries, as well as being frequently recorded to CD and featured on radio and television. Although the majority of his performances still take place outside the UK performers of his music include the likes of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Singers, BBC Concert Orchestra, the Orchestra of Opera North, and El Ultimo Tango from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Ensembles and soloists such as Onyx Brass and Mahan Esfahani have also taken up his pieces, and he has worked as an arranger for the Belcea Quartet. His works have been played in venues as diverse as the South Bank, Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, the Barbican, Merkin Hall New York, Paris Conservatoire, Palace of Monaco, and from the Freiberg Jazz Club to a cake shop in Japan, and everything in between. Lynch’s interest in many musical styles has resulted in pieces that reach from complex classical works through to compositions that tread the line between classical music and other genres; such as tango nuevo, flamenco, jazz, and café music. These latter works are in the repertoire of ensembles in Europe and the USA and many are published by Tonos Music in Germany. He has also written educational music as part of the Sound Sketches piano series, which is published by EVC Music Publications. Some of his saxophone works are available through Forton Music. In an interview in 2015 Lynch explained his music as follows; (My greatest challenge was)...”developing a musical language that is coherent and expressive. It’s been a slow journey for me, from atonal composing through to a style that is tonal/modal. I see music as about communication (what else can the arts be?) and for that one needs clarity of images and ideas; through this one reaches towards the strangeness that lies beyond our quotidian existence. As Paul Valéry once wrote “what is there more mysterious than clarity?”. I think that’ll go on my gravestone”.