Patric Standford

Patric Standford (5 February 1939 – 23 April 2014) was an English composer, supporter of composers’ rights, educationalist and author. Early life and education Patric John Standford (real name John Gledhill) was born in Barnsley, moved to the West Riding of Yorkshire, and had a Quaker education at Ackworth School in West Yorkshire. He began his working life as a legal accountant and served in the Royal Air Force at 617 Squadron in Lincolnshire before arranging his own admission to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London in 1961, where he studied composition with Edmund Rubbra and Raymond Jones. While a student, he was awarded both the Carl Meyer Prize and the Royal Philharmonic Society Prize for composition. Career 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 compos