Stephen Montague


Stephen Montague is a composer who grew up in Idaho, New Mexico, West Virginia and Florida.

Musical Statement

"I write music to engage an audience, to seduce them sometimes by stealth with something they know, then taking them somewhere they may never have been.
I’m a maverick and, like Henry Cowell, want to live in the whole world of music, not just one corner. My works range from the simple vernacular through high classical to the avant-garde. Variety is my oxygen. "       
~ Stephen Montague

Education

After studying piano, conducting and composition at Florida State University B.M 1965 with Honors, M.M 1967, Stephen Montague received a Doctor of Musical Arts 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.

Career

Montague was born and educated in the US, but lived in Warsaw, Poland on a Fulbright Fellowship, and since 1974 in London working as a freelance composer, pianist, conductor touring worldwide. His music has been performed at numerous international festivals, including the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Royal Festival Hall, the Warsaw Autumn festival, the Paris Festival d'Automne, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Bang On a Can, Adelaide, Hong Kong and Singapore Festivals.
He has been commissioned by such sources as the BBC Proms, the Royal Festival Hall, Barbican Centre, New Music Biennale, Birmingham Royal Ballet, the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Ballet, British Telecom, the Trans Atlantic Arts Consortium, the Calgary Philharmonic, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus, the Hilliard Ensemble, the Smith Quartet, pianist Stephen Kovacevich, percussionist Evelyn Glennie, harpsichordist Elisabeth Chojnacka, the International Computer Music Association and the Changwon International Chamber Music Festival.
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 toured internationally. His conducting specialty is 20th and 21st century music and has included work with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, and City of London Sinfonia amongst others. In addition, Montague has created multi-channel electroacoustic sound environments in collaboration with the sculptor, Maurice Agis in Agis's large Colorspace and Dreamscape inflatable sculptures, and composed a number of music theatre works for outside spaces such as his Horn Concerto for klaxon horn soloist with an orchestra of automobiles, and Bennett's Bike Concerto for piano soloist, symphonic brass ensemble, percussion and 8 motorcycles for the 2007 World Superbike Championships, Brands Hatch Race Track. He has organised and directed 13 John Cage - Musicircuses including John Cage Centennial celebration performances at [English National Opera, the Old Royal Naval College in 2012, Centre Pompidou-Metz in 2016, and the FSU Museum of Fine Arts 2019. He was the music director for the Royal Opening of The Francis Crick Institute 2016, and organised and directed one of the international Merce Cunningham Centennial dance/music events at Florida State University in 2019.
Although a long term British resident his compositional influences are transatlantic. He commented in a BBC radio interview: "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 orchestras, chamber groups, solo works, ballet, contemporary dance, music theatre or experimental works like, for example, motorcycles, brass, percussion and piano".
In the UK, Montague was a founder of Sonic Arts Network in 1980, ran the Sonic Arts concert series at London's Institute for Contemporary Art from 1982–86, served as Chair of the SPNM during 1993–97, and was Associate Composer with The Orchestra of St. Johns, Smith Square, London, 1995 - 97. He has been a Guest Professor at the University of Texas - Austin, 1992, 1995, 2000, at the University of Auckland, New Zealand in 1997, and Visiting Professor of Composition at Florida State University 2018–19. Recent Composer Portraits of his music have taken place in London, New York, Chicago, Columbus, Houston, Mexico City, Vienna, Budapest, and Singapore.
His awards include the International Piano Magazine Award: "Best Contemporary Piano Music Recording 2006" for the CD of his piano music Southern Lament on NMC label, Fellow of Leeds College of Music, 2004, Honorary Fellow Trinity College of Music, 2001, Ohio State University Distinguished Alumnus Award, 2000, "Distinction in Computer Music", Ars Electronica Prix, Linz, 1996, the Ernst von Dohnányi Citation for Excellence in Composition, 1995, and "First Prize" at the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition in 1994.
In addition to his freelance work Montague was the New Music Associate at Cambridge University's Kettle's Yard Art Gallery, 2010 -2012 where he curated Kettle's Yard Gallery's monthly contemporary music series. He also teaches composition and orchestration, at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance London, and is published by United Music Publishing
Montague's works appear on CDs from NMC Records, Signum, ASV Records, Continuum, Centaur, Point Records, Starkland and others.

Works

Orchestral
Concerto
Choral & Vocal
Chamber
Theatre
Solo
  • Berceuse for prepared piano
  • Raga Capriccio for toy piano, tape
  • Beguiled for piano
  • Nun Mul for piano            
  • Almost a Lullaby for toy piano, music box
  • Toccare Incandescent organ
  • Dark Train Comin’ harpsichord
  • Southern Lament piano            
  • Mira piano
  • Mirabella- A Tarantella for Toy Piano
  • Phrygian Tucket harpsichord, tape
  • Aeolian Furies accordion
  • Vlug flute, live-electronics, tape
  • After Ives... solo piano, electronics, tape
  • Behold a Pale Horse organ
  • Tongues of Fire piano, stones, live electronics, tape
  • Paramell Va solo piano
  • Strummin’ piano strings, tape
Electronic
Graphic Scores
Ballet
TV