Stephen Beville

Biography

Born in Britain, Stephen Beville began to compose and study piano at the age of eleven. From 1989-94, he attended the Royal Academy of Music (Junior Academy) learning composition, piano and conducting. Having won a Yamaha scholarship, he then read Music at the Universities of Huddersfield and studied piano with Peter Katin. He graduated in 1998 with First Class Honours and was awarded the Wilfred Mellers prize and the Rodwell Prize.

Beville continued his studies at the Royal Northern College of Music where ​he was awarded the Postgraduate Diploma and MMus for performance and composition, as well as the Professional Performance Diploma with Distinction. Beville has won scholarships for piano and composition and was the recipient of the Lucy Pierce Award. He performed with the RNCM Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra and New Ensemble in a range of music, not least his own work.

In 2001, Beville won a DAAD scholarship to study composition at the Staadt Hochschule fur Musik, Karlsruhe. There he obtained two Konzertexamens in performance and composition with highest marks. In addition he received a scholarship from the Heinrich Strobel Foundation (Freiburg) to support his studies where he explored possibilities of live instrumental performance with electronic resources available at the computer studio. This resulted in compositions with piano such as The Echoing Sky,  the Michelangelo Pieces and Fashionism - Scenes of Youth  for piano, electric guitar, percussion and electronics.  

Beville's music has been performed in such venues as the RAM, British Music Information Centre, The Barbican, Kings College (London), the RNCM, Exeter Cathedral , the ZKM (Centre for Art and Media), HFG, Insel Theatre (Karlsruhe) and the BKA Theatre (Berlin); under such conductors as Martyn Brabbins, Andre de Ridder and Ivor Settersfield. The early Chamber Concerto was selected by the Society for the Promotion of New Music and received performances from the Manson Ensemble and Music Projects - London. Other pieces that have been shortlisted by the SPNM include Ballade for Eight Players, Epicycle for chamber orchestra and Purgatory for string quartet. Epicycle was first performed by the RNCM New Ensemble  before being revised for its German premiere by the Badische Staadtskapelle in 2004. Recent works include  Kyrie (2020) and Every Man (2022)  for chorus and orchestra - the latter a setting of words by the painter Wassily Kandinsky.  

In 2011, a first volume of Beville's music was published by Simon-Velag fur Bibliothekwissen, Berlin. As soloist, Beville has given recitals throughout Britain and Germany, his performances receiving some out​standing reviews. He has participated in international festivals such as  Media-Mix 96, the Huddersfield Contemporary  Music festival, RNCM 'Glories of the Keyboard' and 'Amercian Reflections' festivals, the 'Klangriffe' festival of  New Music and the London New Wind festival. He has made recordings and given interviews for SWR (South-West German Radio) and SW British radio stations. In 2012, his debut release 'Stephen Beville in Karlsruhe' (comprising recordings of piano music by Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann and Boulez) was released to critical acclaim on the Divine Art label. A new recording 'Visions and Ventures' of music by J.S Bach, Prokofiev and Beethoven as recently been released on the same label.