Paul Robinson (b.1949) studied at York University and Mills College, Oakland California. He has held posts as Composer in Residence at Newcastle University, Fellow in Music at Bradford University, and Lecturer in Music at Salford University.
Among his concert piece commissions are works for the Northern Sinfonia and Chorus, Scottish Ballet, The London Schools Symphony Orchestra and Peter Lawson. He was a prizewinner in the first Hillard Ensemble Composition Award. His work Incantation was recorded by the Hilliard Ensemble for ECM New Series. In 1998 he was invited by the Hilliard Ensemble to be the Composer in Residence at their Summerschool, in Cambridge. He was also a prizewinner for his piano duo Eris premiered by the Tong-Wasegawa duo. His Chamber Concerto was one of 6 shortlisted works for the Luxembourg Sinfonietta International Composition Prize for May 2003 and won the special prize.
As director of his own ensemble Harmonie Band, he has been active as a composer for silent films and has received commissions from many UK film festivals as well as from the ‘Giornate del Cinema Muto’ in Italy. His ensemble has travelled widely in Europe including visits to the Dresden Musikfestpiele and three tours of the Brabant, the last of which featured his score to Cocteau’s Le Sang D’un Poete. Most recently, he has completed a new score for Buster Keaton’s The General commissioned by the Kings Cross Partnership and premiered at the Shaw Theatre Euston. In January 2004, Harmonie Band is to undertake an Arts Council funded tour with scores to Keaton’s One Week and The General
He is currently a part time tutor at the Royal College of Music, Sussex University, and Thames Valley University and is completing a PhD in Composition at York University.