born March 1, 1971, London, Eng.
British composer.
Trained as a pianist at the Guildhall School, he later attended King's College, Cambridge. Initial recognition came for his virtuoso piano playing, but he started to write music in 1990 ( Five Eliot Landscapes ) and was instantly acclaimed as a major composer for his inventiveness and remarkably assured technique. His controversial opera Powder Her Face (1995), about a 20th-century divorce scandal, attracted international attention, as did his large symphonic work Asyla (1997).