Golden Prague → 2009 → Highlights → Tribute to Barrie Gavin

Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 17:00, in the Small Hall at Žofín

Barrie Gavin was born in 1935 in London. He joined the BBC as an assistant film editor in 1961. With the opening of BBC 2 in 1964 he began to principally direct programmes about music. The early years of BBC2 saw regular coverage of chamber music where Gavin learnt his craft with many studio-based productions. His experience in the cutting room inevitably led to his making of film documentaries.

In 1966 his fascination with contemporary music brought him into contact with the French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez. Over the next 40 years they collaborated on a series of analytical documentaries on the founding fathers of 20th century music: Schönberg, Berg, Webern, Bartók, Stravinsky, Ives, Varese, Messiaen and of course Boulez himself. From the 1970s until the end of the century Gavin specialised in portraits of contemporary composers: Roberto Gerhard, Luciano Berio, Luigi Nono, George Benjamin, Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Adams, Sofia Gubaidulina and many others.

In 1970 Barrie Gavin began to explore folk music with the writer and musician A. L. Lloyd. Together they travelled across the British Isles and visited Romania, Hungary, and the USA.

In the 1980s Gavin began a collaboration with the conductor Sir Simon Rattle. They worked on a long series of productions with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

In 1977 Gavin was invited to Germany to make a film on composer Kurt Weill. This marked the beginning of a long association with German television, resulting not only in many adventurous documentaries but also in a new area of work, directing concerts for television. To date he has been responsible for some 250 broadcasts of concerts and operas.

His first in a long series of collaborations with writer Gerard McBurney took place in 1989. They have produced ten films together, many looking at Russian music.

The vast majority of Gavin's work has concentrated on music, but there have also been films on literature and the visual arts. In 2008 he began working on a film about the composer Jonathan Harvey.

The Tribute to Barrie Gavin takes place on Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 17:00, in the Small Hall at Žofín.