Julian Wagstaff

Member

• Location:Lothian
• Composer/Lyricist: Both
• Genre: Concert
• Website: www.julianwagstaff.com
• Representation:
  • Department of Music
  • Edinburgh University
  • 12 Nicolson Square
  • Edinburgh
  • Lothian
  • 07932 596533

Biography

Julian lives in his native Edinburgh, where he is an active as a composer, arranger and musician. He graduated with 1st class honours in German and Politics from Reading University in 1993, and worked as a translator and interpreter before turning to music as a profession in the late 1990s. His interest in language and political history continues to be reflected in much of his music and in his theatre libretti.

He came to public attention with the musical John Paul Jones (2001), based on the life of the Scots-born sailor and hero of the American Revolution. Premiered in Edinburgh in 2001, this was the first of the composer's works to reach a significant audience. In it, Julian's eclectic compositional style (which frequently involves the integration of several very different styles within one work) began to emerge.

The composer began to study musical composition at the University of Edinburgh with Professor Nigel Osborne in 2001, earning a Masters degree in music in 2002 and a PhD in 2008.

Julian's specific interest in German history, particularly the history of the former German Democratic Republic, is reflected in Treptow for string orchestra (2005), his most-performed work. This piece, which won the 2005 Emre Araci Prize, was inspired by the Soviet War Memorial in Treptow Park in east Berlin.

In August 2007, Julian Wagstaff presented his hour long chamber opera The Turing Test on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, to sell-out audiences. The opera takes its name from the test proposed by the English mathematician Alan Turing for human level intelligence in a machine.

Julian enjoys close connections with many of Scotland's leading musicians, and his works are widely performed throughout Scotland and beyond. His Piano Quintet was released on Circular Records on November 1st 2007, on an album entitled 'Frontiers and Bridges' recorded by the Edinburgh Quartet.