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Howard Blake has achieved fame as a pianist, conductor, and composer. Born in Brighton, he won a scholarship to The Royal Academy of Music at the age of 18, where he studied piano and composition.
As a composer, pianist, and conductor, Howard has created over 700 works in various genres and categories. His most famous score is undoubtedly the one he composed for the animated film "The Snowman," which features the iconic song "Walking in the Air." The orchestral concert version of "The Snowman" is now performed worldwide, while the stage show, a full-length ballet choreographed by Robert North, has run for twenty years in the West End, courtesy of Sadlers Wells.
Howard's concert works include the Piano Concerto, commissioned by The Philharmonia for Princess Diana's thirtieth birthday, the Violin Concerto, commissioned by the City of Leeds and The English Northern Philharmonia, the Clarinet Concerto for Thea King and the English Chamber Orchestra, and large-scale choral/orchestral works such as "The Passion of Mary" and "Benedictus," which was championed and recorded by Sir David Willcocks and Robert Tear with The Royal Philharmonic.
His catalog of CDs features Sir Neville Marriner conducting his woodwind concertos with The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, as well as an album of his piano music recorded for Decca by Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Among his scores for feature films are "A Month in the Country," which won him the BFI Anthony Asquith Award for musical excellence, Sir Ridley Scott's "The Duellists," which won him the critics award at the Cannes Film Festival, and his orchestral score for "Flash Gordon," for which he was jointly nominated for a BAFTA award with the group Queen.
In 2010, a performance of Howard's "Diversions" in Bratislava by the young cellist Benedict Kloeckner won him The European Broadcasting Union Award, leading to further collaborations, more compositions, and a complete album of music for cello and piano, with Howard playing the piano himself, titled "Diversions."
Howard is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and received the Order of the British Empire from the Queen for services to music.
