Ian Wilson was born in Belfast in 1964 and obtained the first DPhil in composition to be awarded by the University of Ulster which, in 1993, commissioned his orchestral work Rise in celebration of the tenth anniversary of its foundation. His music has been performed and broadcast on six continents at venues such as New York's Carnegie Hall, London's Royal Albert and Wigmore Halls, Amsterdam's Muziekgebouw and Concertgebouw, Vienna's Musikverein, LA's Zipper Hall and Tokyo's Suntory Hall and at festivals such as the BBC Proms, the Venice Biennale, the ISCM World Music Days, the Brighton, Cheltenham, Spitalfields and Bath Festivals and the Ultima Festival in Oslo, where Running, Thinking, Finding for orchestra received the composition prize in 1991.
He has written approximately 130 pieces including two chamber operas, concertos for organ, cello, alto saxophone (two), violin (three), piano (three) and marimba, orchestral pieces, 13 string quartets and many other chamber, vocal and multi-media works.
In 1992 Ian Wilson was awarded the Macaulay Fellowship administered by the Arts Council of Ireland, and in 1998 he was elected to Aosdána, Ireland’s State-sponsored body of creative artists. From 2000 to 2003 he was AHRB Research Fellow in Creative and Performing Arts at the University of Ulster and from 2009 to 2010 is An Foras Feasa post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Dundalk Institute of Technology. From 2003-2011 he was director of the Sligo New Music Festival, from 2006-2009 he was Composer-in-Association with California’s Camerata Pacifica ensemble and from 2010-2013 is Associate Composer with the Ulster Orchestra.
His music is published by Ricordi London and Universal Edition.
Web: http://www.ianwilson.org.uk/biography.php (2012)