Composer, conductor and pianist Thomas Adès has been described by The New York Times as ‘among the most accomplished all-round musicians of his generation’.

Born in London in 1971, he studied piano at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and read music at King’s College Cambridge. His music embraces influences from jazz and pop as well as the Western classical tradition. He has contributed successfully to the major time-honoured genres and his operatic and orchestral works have been particularly well received by both the public and the press.

His first opera, Powder Her Face (1995) has been performed worldwide and his second, The Tempest, commissioned by London’s Royal Opera House, was premiered under the ...