George Newson

George Newson (27 July 1932 – 8 March 2024) was an English composer and pianist who made important contributions to British electronic and avant garde music during the 1960s and 1970s. He subsequently composed large and small-scale works in many musical forms and styles, from songs and chamber music to choral works and opera. As a photographer, Newson took portraits of many of his composer contemporaries. His first publicly performed work was the Octet for wind of 1951, which shows the influence of the modern jazz bands the composer was playing with at the time. From 1959 he worked as a music teacher in London, at Twickenham Technical College and Peckham Manor School. Composition Electronic compositions followed in the 1960s, first with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, where he worked with Delia Derbyshire and produced the music for an experimental drama, The Man Who Collected Sounds, with radio producer Douglas Cleverdon. Derbyshire became a lifelong friend. Back in the UK he produced his tape composition Silent Spring, inspired by Rachel Carson’s book and using birdsong recorded at London Zoo. It was premiered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall Redcliffe Concert on 15 January 1968 - one of