Param Vir

Param Vir is a British composer originally from India.

Born in Delhi into a family life permeated with Indian classical music, Param Vir's strong interest in music developed as a teenager when attending a Roman Catholic secondary school and had informal lessons from composer Hans-Joachim Koellreutter, then resident in India. With no prospects as a composer in India, he read history and philosophy at Delhi University, but returned to music on graduation in 1974 as a teacher. From 1983 Vir studied composition at Dartington with Peter Maxwell Davies and at Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Oliver Knussen. In 1986 Vir was a composition fellow at Tanglewood. The following year he was a featured composer in the Festival of India in Geneva.

Career highlights

 * 1983 – attended Dartington International Summer School on a scholarship.
 * 1984 – moved to London to study with Oliver Knussen.
 * 1987 – awarded Benjamin Britten Composition Prize.
 * 1993 – Pierre Audi production of Broken Strings wins Ernst von Siemens Music Prize for young composers (Munich).
 * 2003 – first full production of ION tours Europe.
 * 2005 – Horse Tooth White Rock performed at the BBC Proms.
 * 2005 – Hayagriva commissioned and premiered by the Schoenberg Ensemble in Amsterdam
 * 2006 – Between Earth and Sky, inspired by Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate, premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London
 * 2008 – He Begins His Great Trance for the BBC Singers; Black Feather Rising for Stichting Octopus
 * 2010 – Constellations for the BCMG performed at the Barbican
 * 2013 – BBC Proms Commission Cave of Luminous Mind
 * 2014 – Raga Fields – co-commission from Klangforum Wien, Fulcrum Point Chicago, the BCMG
 * 2017 – international tour of A Kinsman to Danger
 * 2020 – awarded PRS Composer Award for portrait CD on NMC

Other

 * Before Krishna (1987; string orchestra)
 * Horse Tooth White Rock (1994; orchestra)
 * Ultimate Words: Infinite Song (1997; baritone, six percussion, piano)
 * The Theatre of Magical Beings (2003; large ensemble)
 * Hayagriva (2005; large ensemble)
 * Between Earth and Sky (2006; orchestra)
 * Cave of Luminous Mind (2013; orchestra) BBC commission for 2013 Proms
 * ABLAZE! (2014, soprano, piano)
 * Raga Fields (2014, sarod, mixed ensemble)
 * Drum of the Deathless (2017, percussion quintet or percussion duo)
 * A Kinsman to Danger (2017, baritone, piano)

Selected recordings

 * White Light Chorale – Metronome METCD1053
 * Video extracts on the Param Vir official website