Kenneth Dempster (b. 1962) - Home
http://scottishmusiccentre.com/kenneth_dempster/
Born Edinburgh. Studied at Napier University, Edinburgh, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and at Yale University, USA. He is now Composer in Residence and Lecturer (half-time) at the Ian Tomlin School of Music, Napier University where he teaches composition and orchestration and directs the Contemporary Music Ensemble. Recent commissions include a variety of works written for children, amateurs and professional music groups that include the Emperor Quartet, Hilliard Ensemble, Scottish Flute Trio, Edinburgh Quartet and the Hebrides Ensemble as well as soloists such as Ursula Smith, Peter Evans, Owen Murray and Allan Neave. His saxophone quartet Clan Ranald's Daughter was the joint winner of the 1996 Cornelius Cardew Composition Prize and on 25 January 2000 he was one of the first recipients of a Creative Scotland Award (value £25,000) which enabled him to collaborate with the poet Ron Butlin to produce a children's opera entitled Faraway Pictures. This has been performed 15 times in Scotland and in Malta.
Recent performances have included "Seven Fans for Alma Mahler" performed by the SCO (cond. Thierry Fischer) as well as a full-scale opera version of "Peer Gynt" commissioned by the St. Magnus Festival to mark the 70th birthday of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Future commissions included new works for Mr. McFall's Chamber and the Edinburgh Quartet.