What is Harrison Birtwistle?
[[File:Harrison Birtwistle (cropped).jpg|right|thumb|Harrison Birtwistle]] [[Knight Bachelor|Sir]] '''Harrison Birtwistle''' [[CH]], (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was one of [[Britain]]'s most important [[composer]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.boosey.com/composer/Harrison+Birtwistle|title=Harrison Birtwistle|website=www.boosey.com|access-date=2020-05-15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Harrison-Birtwistle|title=Sir Harrison Birtwistle {{!}} British composer|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2020-05-15}}</ref> He was born in [[Accrington]], [[Lancashire]]. == Early life== In [[1952]], Birtwistle entered the [[Royal Northern College of Music|Royal Manchester College of Music]] in [[Manchester]] on a [[clarinet]] [[scholarship]]. While there he met other young composers like [[Peter Maxwell Davies]] and [[Alexander Goehr]]. Together with pianist [[John Ogdon]] and conductor [[Elgar Howarth]], he formed the ''New Music Manchester'' group, which put on performances of modern music, especially music using [[serialism]]. Birtwistle left the college in [[1955]], then studied at the [[Royal Academy of Music]] and afterward made a living as a schoolteacher. In [[1965]] he got a [[Harkness Fellowship]] which gave him the opportunity to study composition in the [[United States]]. In [[1975]] Birtwistle became [[musical director]] of the new [[Royal National Theatre]] in [[London]], a post he held until [[1983]]. He was given a [[knighthood]] in [[1988]] and was made a [[Companion of Honour]] in [[2000]]. From [[1994]] to [[2001]] he was '''''[[Henry Purcell]] Professor of Composition''''' at [[King's College London]]. ==Music== His music is quite complicated and modern in style. Sometimes it reminds one of [[Igor Stravinsky]] and [[Olivier Messiaen]]. Sometimes he uses blocks of sound like [[Edgard Varèse]]. His first opera ''Punch and Judy'' is quite different from a traditional [[Punch and Judy]] children's entertainment. It is very serious and quite viol