In 1964, Standford was awarded the Mendelssohn Scholarship, enabling him to travel to Venice and study with Gian Francesco Malipiero, and later to Warsaw where he studied with Witold Lutosławski. In 1967 he joined the professorial staff of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and from then divided his working life between composing, conducting, teaching and musical journalism. When Edmund Rubbra retired, Standford was appointed the School's principal composition professor and was awarded a Fellowship of the Guildhall School of Music in 1972. In 1978, he gained a master's degree in composition at Goldsmith's College, London University. Standford became chairman of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain and chairman of the British Music Information Centre. In those capacities, he organised British music representation at various international events, including the Nordic Music Committee in Helsinki and the Latin-American Festival in Venezuela in collaboration with the BBC. Standford held the post of Head of Music at the Leeds University College Bretton Hall from 1980 to 1993, while continuing to compose, write and appear as a regular jury member for competitive choral festivals in Hungary, France and Estonia. After the death of his wife in 2011, Standford made his home in Suffolk and continued to work avidly there, composing, writing and teaching until his death in April 2014, aged 75.
Composer
Standford's music covers most genres, predominantly the orchestra. He wrote his Easter oratorio Christus Requiem for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama's principal Allen Percival and the City of London in 1973. Christus Requiem brought together the full orchestral, choral and dramatic forces of the Guildhall School for its first performance in St. Paul's Cathedral, in the Spring of that year. This oratorio received the Yugoslavian Government award in 1974. His orchestral works have received the following international awards. His first symphony The Seasons, written in 1972 gained the Premio Città di Trieste award. His Symphony No. 2 was awarded the Óscar Esplá prize for composition in Spain. In 1983, Standford was awarded the Ernest Anserment Prize of the City of Geneva for his choral symphonyToward Paradise. The 5th Symphony was commissioned by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in 1984. Orchestral works also include Prelude to a Fantasy: The Naiades, recorded in 2012 along with his Cello Concerto, performed by Raphael Wallfisch and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by David Lloyd-Jones. Other works include music for chamber groups, Five French Folksongs written for and performed by the Nash Ensemble of London, Taikayoku: Symphony No. 4 a work for two pianos and percussion and music designed for elementary players like Holiday Memories. Standford was commissioned to write a number of pieces for the Guildhall graded examinations. Choral works range from larger-scale choral works like Christus Requiem and The Prayer of Saint Francis, to unaccompanied pieces including the Mass for Hildegard of Bingen, recorded by the BBC Singers in 2013, more intimate works including the carol This Day and Stabat mater performed and broadcast by the BBC Singers on BBC Radio 3. Standford continued to compose up until his death. Works include Recorder Quintet commissioned by John Turner, recorded and premiered at the Rawsthorne Festival in 2014. Anthem commissioned by Elis Pehkonen, premiered at the William Alwyn Festival 2014. He had also revised his great work Christus Requiem with plans for performance at Norwich or Chichester Cathedrals. Among Standford's pupils were Barry Guy, Jerry Lanning, Lionel Sainsbury, :de:Malcolm Dedman and Gary Higginson.
Writer
Standford contributed articles and reviews to Choir and Organ. From 1980 to 2008, he was music critic for the Yorkshire Post, writing features and revues. He also wrote a series of lively articles entitled Provocative Thoughts for Music & Vision Magazine and a monthly blog for the Open College of the Arts. In 1992, Standford published Projects: A Course in Musical Composition, and in 2008 he devised and wrote the composition study course for the Open College of the Arts.
