Born in 1958, Albanian-born British composer. He began his composition studies with Tonin Harapi at the Tirana Conservatoire. After graduating in 1982, he gained first-hand experience working with folk musicians for a period of three years in the remote town of Përmet in Southern Albania near the border with Greece.
In 1991 he moved to England and gained a PhD in Composition from the University of York (1991–96) where he studied with David Blake. As the only UK candidate he won the coveted Lionel Robbins Memorial Scholarship in 1993, was Leonard Bernstein Fellow in Composition at Tanglewood studying with Bernard Rands (1996), and a fellow at the Composers’ Workshop, California State University with Brian Ferneyhough (1998).
His music has been reaching audiences all over Europe and the USA for more than two decades, and it has been awarded a host of accolades for its expressive qualities and its unique blend of intensity and modernism. His works have been selected by international juries in nine editions of ISCM World Music Days, including the 2012 Festival in Belgium. Other international festivals include Huddersfield, Tanglewood, Miami, Zagreb Biennale, Weimar, Rome, Istanbul, Alicante, Innsbruck, November Music Festival (Holland) and Viitassari (Finland).
His music has been broadcast worldwide by radio stations such as BBC Radio 3, SWR2, MDR, WDR, Deutschlandfunk, Amsterdam Radio 4, ORF, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and the national radios of, among others, Japan, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. Notable performances include those given by the Arditti Quartet, Diotima Quartet, Kreutzer Quartet, European Union Chamber Orchestra, English Northern Philharmonia, MusikFabrik, Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, New London Orchestra, Concorde Ensemble in Dublin, El Perro Andaluz in Dresden, Insomnio Ensemble in Utrecht and Athelas Sinfonietta in Copenhagen. Prestigious awards include the 1st Prize at the K. Serocki International Competition (2004), Leverhulme Fellowship, and a three-year fellowship from the Arts & Humanities Research Council in London. In 2009, Simaku received a British Composer Award from BASCA for his work Soliloquy V – Flauto Acerbo, which the judging panel described as “visionary and entirely original”.
Thomas Simaku is a Senior Lecturer in Composition at the University of York.
Selected works (since 1995): The Eagles for brass ensemble (1995), Tanglewood Trio for clarinet, viola and piano (1996), From Across the Sea for three flutes (1997), Guirlande de flutes for flute ensemble (1997), Canticello for cello and chamber orchestra (1997), Plenilunio for 12 string instruments (1998), The Eagle on the Cross for orchestra (1998), Illuminazione for ensemble (1999), Six Albanian Folksongs for horn and piano (1999), Sea Images for flute and piano (2000), Soliloquy I for violin (2000), Soliloquy II for cello (2001), The Flight of the Eagle for piano (2001), Luxonorité for ensemble (2001), Soliloquy III for viola (2002), Due sotto-voci for violin (2003), String quartet No. 2 “Radius” (2003), Reflexions de la Croix I for ensemble (2003), Reflexions de la Croix II for ensemble (2003), Reflexions de la Croix III for violin and ensemble (2004), String Quartet No. 3 “Voci celesti” (2004), Plenilunio II for string orchestra (2004), Hyllus for orchestra (2004), des pas chromatiques – Hommage à Debussy for piano (2005), Arc-en-ciel, concerto for cello and orchestra (2006), Insomnio for 15 players (2007), Soliloquy IV for bass clarinet (2008), Clarimbasso for contrabass clarinet and percussion (2008), Three Albanian Folk Songs for female choir (2010), String Quartet No. 4 (2011), Hommage à Kurtág for piano (2011), Akhmatova Song for soprano and cello (2011), The Shadow of a Brass Line for orchestra (2011), Trois Esquisses for piano (2012).
