Malcolm Arnold

Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer and conductor. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music for brass band and wind band. His style is tonal and rejoices in lively rhythms, brilliant orchestration, and an unabashed tunefulness. He wrote extensively for the theatre, with five ballets specially commissioned by the Royal Ballet, as well as two operas and a musical. He also produced scores for more than a hundred films, among these The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won an Oscar. Early life Malcolm Arnold was born in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England, After seeing Louis Armstrong play in Bournemouth, he took up the trumpet at the age of 12, and the trumpet with Ernest Hall. In 1941, he joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra After a season as principal trumpet with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, he returned in 1946 to the London Philharmonic, Arnold died at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Norwich, on 23 September 2006, aged 84, after suffering from a chest infection. That same day his last work, T