The compositions of Stephen Goss are utterly captivating – The Independent

One of the most innovative and appealing composers of our time – British Music Society

Despite being inspired by intellectual rigour, the atmosphere is peaceful, even playful – The Times

Stephen Goss’s music has been recorded on over a hundred albums by more than a dozen record labels, including Decca, EMI, Virgin Classics, Naxos, Deutsche Grammophon, and Deux-Elles. His work is widely performed internationally, often at leading venues such as Wigmore Hall and the Royal Festival Hall in London, Carnegie Hall in New York, and the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow. His output embraces multiple genres: orchestral and choral works, chamber music, and solo pieces.

Recent work includes several projects with the legendary guitarist John Williams, who has recorded and toured Goss’s Guitar Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Describing the concerto in an interview for Soundboard, Williams said, ‘I don’t know of any guitar concerto which is as consistently successful on all fronts’.

His music is marked by a fascination with time and place – both immediate and remote – and the musical styles that evoke them. In many of his compositions, contrasting styles are juxtaposed through abrupt changes of gear. As BBC Music Magazine noted ‘Goss weaves together an eclectic range of influences – at once retrospective and forward-looking’. His compositional voice is shaped by his parallel career as a guitarist – that is to say, as a performer, transcriber, arranger, improviser and collaborator with other composers and performers. Not surprisingly, his music often tests the boundaries between all these activities and original composition.

Goss has worked with many of the world’s major orchestras, including the Russian National Orchestra, the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, the China National Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. In his role as composer-in-residence for the Orpheus Sinfonia, Goss wrote his Piano Concerto for Emmanuel Despax (released by Signum Classics in 2013) and the Concerto for Five (for the unique combination of violin, saxophone, cello, bass, piano, and orchestra).

The Albéniz Concerto for guitar and orchestra was released to great critical acclaim on EMI Classics in 2010 and has since been performed in Europe, Asia, Russia, and the US. More recent concertos include Landscape and Memory, for two guitars and strings; A Concerto of Colours, for guitar and wind ensemble; the Koblenz Concerto, for two guitars and orchestra (for SoloDuo); and the very first concerto ever written for theorbo.

Commissions have come from percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, cellist Natalie Clein, flautist William Bennett, lutenist Nigel North, and tenor Ian Bostridge; as well as guitarists David Russell, Xuefei Yang, Zoran Dukić, Miloš Karadaglić, Aniello Desiderio, Artyom Dervoed, and Łukasz Kuropaczewski. Goss’s eclectic approach has led to collaborations with artists as diverse as Alt-J, Avi Avital, and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

As a guitarist, Stephen Goss has worked with many leading composers – Tōru Takemitsu, Hans Werner Henze, Peter Maxwell Davies, Richard Rodney Bennett, Julian Anderson, and Elliott Carter. He has toured and recorded extensively with the TETRA guitar quartet, the soprano Jenevora Williams, and various new music ensembles.

Born in Wales in 1964, Goss studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London (where he won the Julian Bream Prize) and at the Universities of Bristol and London (where he completed his doctorate in composition). His composition teachers were Edward Gregson, Robert Saxton, Peter Dickinson, and Anthony Payne, and he studied guitar with Michael Lewin. Goss is currently Professor and Chair of Composition at the University of Surrey, UK, and Professor of Guitar at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2021, he was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for Still Life. In 2018 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, an honour limited to 300 living people. His music is published by Les Editions Doberman-Yppan and distributed by Hal Leonard. He is a D’Addario artist and an Arsenal season ticket holder.

www.stephengoss.net
www.productionsdoz.com/nos-artistes/goss-stephen

© Jonathan Leathwood 2025

600 words, 2025

The compositions of Stephen Goss are utterly captivating – The Independent

One of the most innovative and appealing composers of our time – British Music Society

Stephen Goss’s music receives hundreds of performances worldwide each year. It has been recorded on over a hundred albums by more than a dozen record labels, including EMI, Decca, Virgin Classics, Naxos, and Deutsche Grammophon. His output embraces multiple genres: orchestral and choral works, chamber music, and solo pieces.

Goss’s work is marked by a fascination with time and place – both immediate and remote – and the musical styles that evoke them. In many of his compositions, contrasting styles are juxtaposed through abrupt changes of gear. His compositional voice is shaped by his parallel career as a guitarist – that is to say, as a performer, transcriber, arranger, improviser and collaborator with other composers and performers. Not surprisingly, his music often tests the boundaries between all these activities and original composition.

Several of Goss’s recent projects have involved the legendary guitarist John Williams, including his Guitar Concerto, which Williams recorded and played on tour with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Some of the world’s leading orchestras to have performed his works include the Russian National Orchestra, the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, BBC NOW, the China National Symphony Orchestra, The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and The Barcelona Symphony Orchestra.

Commissions have come from percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, cellist Natalie Clein, flautist William Bennett, lutenist Nigel North, and tenor Ian Bostridge; as well as guitarists David Russell, Xuefei Yang, Zoran Dukić, Miloš Karadaglić, Aniello Desiderio, Artyom Dervoed, and Łukasz Kuropaczewski. Goss’s eclectic approach has led to collaborations with artists as diverse as Alt-J, Avi Avital, and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

As a guitarist, Steve has worked with Tōru Takemitsu, Hans Werner Henze, Peter Maxwell Davies and Elliott Carter, and toured and recorded extensively with the TETRA Guitar Quartet.

Stephen Goss is Chair of Composition at the University of Surrey (UK), Director of the International Guitar Research Centre, and a Professor of Guitar at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 2018 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, an honour limited to 300 living people. He was born in Wales on 2nd February 1964.

© Jonathan Leathwood 2025

www.stephengoss.net

350 words, 2025