John Casken is one of the UK’s leading composers with his music featuring at major festivals across Europe, the USA and Tokyo. Whilst studying in Poland with Andrzej Dobrowolski at the Academy of Music in Warsaw he formed a close association with Witold Lutosławski, on whom now he writes and lectures. Casken has lectured at the Universities of Birmingham, Durham and Manchester and retains strong links with Manchester as Emeritus Professor of Music. Casken’s works range across every genre and are inspired both by literature and legend, and by painting and landscape, particularly that of the North of England where he lives in Northumberland. He has worked with artists including The Lindsays, The Hilliard Ensemble, Ensemble 10/10, Patricia Rozariom, Ruth Killius and Thomas Zehetmair and his friendship with the Northern Sinfonia has resulted in a number of successful projects. Awards for his work include the First Britten Prize for Composition in 1990, a Gramophone Award in the Contemporary Category in1991, the 1993 Prince Pierre de Monaco Prize for Musical Composition and the BASCA Award for choral music in 2009.