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Senior Lecturer in Music (Commercial Music Co-ordinator)

The Authors’ Foundation / Royal Literary Fund Award 2011 (UK); ASCAPlus Awards for Concert Music Composition 2006/07/08/09/10 (USA); Musicians Benevolent Fund Professional Development Award 2009 (UK); Fanfare Magazine Critics’ Choice (“Want List 2008”) (USA); Kenneth Leighton Trust Award 2005 (UK)

Jonathan Little trained as a chorister with the National Boys’ Choir of Australia, and later went on to study Composition and Performance (Timpani and Percussion) at the University of Melbourne, graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Music (Honours) in 1987. At Melbourne University he won the Wright Prize in Instrumental Music, and was awarded the Lady Turner Exhibition for overall excellence. As a member of the Australian Youth Orchestra from 1986 to 1988, he participated in the orchestra's Bicentennial European Tour. While still an undergraduate student, Jonathan performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and also played for the annual New Music workshops of the Australian Opera Company (as well as working as a drummer and percussionist in folk bands, big bands and covers bands). He has toured internationally and performed in many leading concert halls in Australia and Europe, playing under distinguished conductors including Sir Charles Mackerras, Christoph Eschenbach, and in the UK with English National Opera’s Senior Resident Conductor, Michael Lloyd. In 1994, Jonathan was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Music for his research into the development of "exotic" orchestration in 19th- and 20th-century music.

 

In 1995, Jonathan moved to the UK. He worked for three years in public administration with the Department for Education and Employment (1996-99), and from 1999-2001 was Senior Lecturer at Buckinghamshire New University on their pioneering Music Industry Management course (the first such degree course in Europe) – where he specialised in the workings of the British and international recording industry, and taught songwriting analysis. During the same period, he acted as an External Examiner in Music Composition for Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations (OCR), and he has also worked as External Examiner in Music for the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO).

 

Between 2004 and 2007, the US-headquartered French contemporary music label ERM (Editions de la Rue Margot) became the first record label to undertake to release a selection of his compositions within a 12-volume “Masterworks” CD set showcasing international contemporary composers. On ERM, his works are performed by the Czech and Kiev Philharmonic Orchestras, with vocal soloists of the Sofia National Opera (Vols. 3, 5, 8, 10 & 11). Other important musical premieres include Jonathan’s Kyrie for SATB double choir and soloists, given at the historic Tallis 500th Anniversary Concerts in 2005 in St. Alfege and Waltham Abbey, conducted by Philip Simms, and later poignantly featured in Thierry Donard’s French DVD release, "Nuit de la Glisse" (Uppercut Entertainment). In 2007, Kyrie was memorably performed at the Wells Cathedral Tenebrae Concert given by Bath Camerata led by Nigel Perrin. Recordings have been supported by the Kenneth Leighton Trust (UK) and the Foundation for New Music (USA).

 

Jonathan’s music has been recognised in America with 5 successive ASCAPlus Awards for Concert Music and 5 Masterworks Recording Prizes. In late 2007, the first compilation album of his music, Terpsichore and Other Works, was released on Dilute Recordings to critical praise and airplay throughout the U.S. and Australia. In America, the album was named as one of Fanfare magazine’s top recommended recordings for the year (joining its elite "Want List 2008"). In 2009, Jonathan became the first composer to receive a Professional Development Award from the Musicians' Benevolent Fund – the UK music business's own charity – to assist in issuing a second major album in 2011 on the Navona label of PARMA Recordings (USA), entitled Polyhymnia.

 

Jonathan is also a member of the Society of Authors, and continues to write and edit works on a variety of music-related topics, ranging from historical works discussing cultural history, instrumentation and orchestration, to more topical writings on popular music performance and the future of the music and entertainment industries. In a series of articles commissioned in 2001-02 for American Outlook magazine, published by the Hudson Institute – a scholarly think-tank which helps shape US government policy – Jonathan was one of the first writers to assess the phenomenon of the “celestial jukebox”, the state of contemporary songwriting, and the implications of the rise of digital cinema. In 2001, he co-founded Music Business Journal, and was for five years its joint Managing Editor. From 2003-2005, he was Series Editor of the 36-volume Academy Popular Music Tuition Series. In 2005, he was appointed first Consultant Editor to A&C Black’s flagship volume of musical reference, the Musicians’ and Songwriters’ Yearbook. At the invitation of the British Academy, he contributed a chapter on contemporary songwriting to Heart & Soul: Revealing the Craft of Songwriting, published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Ivor Novello Awards (London: Sanctuary Publishing, 2005).

 

Academic and general monographs recently published include The Influence of European Literary and Artistic Representations of the ‘Orient’ on Western Orchestral Compositions, ca. 1840-1920: From Oriental Inspiration to ‘Exotic’ Orchestration (492pp. + 45 plates), together with its companion volume, Literary Sources of Nineteenth-Century Musical Orientalism: The Hypnotic Spell of the Exotic on Music of the Romantic Period (404pp. + 79 plates) (Lewiston, NY; Queenston, Ontario; Lampeter, Wales: Edwin Mellen Press, 2010-11). (This definitive two-volume, 900-page study of musical and literary Orientalism received an Authors’ Foundation / Royal Literary Fund Award for 2011.) Also in press are Theory and Practice of Songwriting (London: Robert Hale, 2011) and On Musical Composition (Wollongong, Australia: Wirripang, 2012).

 

Jonathan is listed in the Music Publishers’ Association Register of Expert Musicologists, and has been a Panel Judge for the British Composer Awards. His opinion on musical issues has been sought by media organisations including Associated Press, Granada TV, Channel 4, BBC News and BBC TV’s Panorama programme.

From 2001-2006, Jonathan was Principal of the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford – Europe’s largest specialist academy for students of contemporary (popular) music, and the first music education institution to win the Queen’s Award for Enterprise (Innovation category). During his tenure at ACM, he helped build a world-class music education institution, unprecedented in terms of its integrated music industry links. He also helped establish the first contemporary music degree course in Italy (in Bologna), the first contemporary music degree course in South Africa, the UK’s first postgraduate contemporary music performance course, and has worked as Curriculum Consultant to the Brighton Institute of Modern Music, and Visiting Lecturer in Media Music Composition at the University of Surrey.

Jonathan’s existing catalogue of vocal and instrumental works is contracted for publication to Australia’s leading independent fine music publisher, Wirripang. His performing rights are assigned to ASCAP, and he is a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) and Grammy 365 in the USA. Audio samples of his music may be found at:

Press Kit: http://myPPK.com/get/jonathanlittle

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/Musicalia65

Principal Works (published)

Musical Scores

Symphonic and String Orchestra Works

Terpsichore: 'The Whirler' or Muse of Dance, Op.7 (from The Nine Muses, No.7) (Dance Poem for Large Orchestra), c.15’ (Wollongong, Australia: Wirripang, 2006) ISMN M720072234. ASCAP Registered.

Polyhymnia: 'She of Many Hymns' or Muse of Sacred Poetry, Op.10 (from The Nine Muses, No.6) (Lamentation for String Orchestra), c.21’ (Wollongong, Australia: Wirripang, 2010) ISMN 9790720101989. ASCAP Registered.

Chamber and Instrumental Music

Sacred Prelude, Op.1 (string quintet), c.11’ (Wollongong, Australia: Wirripang, 2006) ISMN M720060255. ASCAP Registered.

Themes on a Variation, Op.3 (brass & percussion), c.14’ (Wollongong, Australia: Wirripang, 2007) ISMN M720060101. ASCAP Registered.

Fanfare, Op.3a (brass & percussion), c.1’30 (Wollongong, Australia: Wirripang, 2006) ISMN M720041711. ASCAP Registered.

Duo Sonata on Elizabethan Themes, in 4 mvnts, Op.4 (2 percussion soloists), ca.21’ (Wollongong, Australia: Wirripang, 2006) ISMN M720072166. ASCAP Registered.

The Feast of Kings and Martyrs, Op.8 (dual for 2 percussionists), ca.5’ (Wollongong, Australia: Wirripang, 2007) ISMN M720060705. ASCAP Registered.

Choral and Vocal Music

Basque Lullaby, Op.1a (voice and piano), c.2’ (Wollongong, Australia: Wirripang, 2005) ISMN M720060187. ASCAP Registered.

That Time of Year, Op.2 (a cappella SATBarB soloists), c.5’ (Wollongong, Australia: Wirripang, 2006) ISMN M720041728. ASCAP Registered.

Kyrie, Op.5 from Missa Temporis Perditi (a cappella SATB double choir and soloists), c.5' (Wollongong, Australia: Wirripang, 2005) ISMN M720007908. ASCAP Registered.

Wasted and Worn, Op.6 (part song for a cappella SSAATTBB soloists or choir), c.6' (publication pending)

Recordare Domine (On Ixion’s Wheel), Op.9 (a cappella SSSSAAAATTTTBBBB choir), c.21' (Wollongong, Australia: Wirripang, 2010) ISMN 9790720101972. ASCAP Registered.

Major Recordings

Terpsichore and Other Works [CD]: Tallis Chamber Choir / Philip Simms; String soloists of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; Vocal soloists of the Sofia National Opera; Cardiff Percussion Duo; Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra (and principal soloists) / Robert Ian Winstin. Dilute Recordings, UK (Jan. 2008). Cat. No. DIL 07-002. Recording supported by the Kenneth Leighton Trust (UK), Foundation for New Music (USA) and ASCAPlus Programme (USA).

A Record of the Year in FANFARE magazine (“Want List 2008”)

Polyhymnia [CD]: Strings of the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra (and principal soloists) / Vit Micka; Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra (and principal soloists); String soloists of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra) / Robert Ian Winstin; Tallis Chamber Choir / Philip Simms; Navona (a fine music label of PARMA Recordings), USA (Dec. 2011). Cat. No. pending. Recording supported by the ASCAPlus Programme (USA) and Musicians Benevolent Fund (UK).

Writings

Doctoral Dissertation

Sources of Nineteenth-Century Musical Orientalism, or, From “Oriental” Inspiration to Exotic Orchestration: The Extra-Musical Stimuli behind Composers’ Attempts to Achieve “Exotic” Programmatic Effects in Orchestral Music, ca. 1840-1920. Ph.D., Music, Monash University, 1995. 560pp. [170,000 words] illus., tbls., mus. exs., works lst., discog., bibliog. DDM Code: 61orLitJ; DA no.: RILM no.: 95:4810dd

Books (monographs)

The Influence of European Literary and Artistic Representations of the ‘Orient’ on Western Orchestral Compositions, ca. 1840-1920: From Oriental Inspiration to ‘Exotic’ Orchestration [110,000 words; 45 plates; line drawings + mus. exx.] (Lewiston, NY, USA; Queenston, Canada; Lampeter, Wales: Edwin Mellen Press, 2010). Foreword by Associate Professor Craig De Wilde (University of Singapore). ISBN 10: 0-7734-1426-6 ISBN 13: 978-0-7734-1426-6; 492pp.

 Literary Sources of Nineteenth-Century Musical Orientalism: The Hypnotic Spell of the Exotic on Music of the Romantic Period [80,000 words; 81 plates; line drawings + mus. exx.] (Lewiston, NY, USA; Queenston, Canada; Lampeter, Wales: Edwin Mellen Press, 2011). Foreword by Emeritus Professor Dolores M. Hsu (University of California, Santa Barbara). ISBN 10: 0-7734-1553-X ISBN 13: 978-0-7734-1553-9; 404pp.

The Authors’ Foundation / Royal Literary Fund Award 2011 for this definitive two-volume, 900-page survey of Orientalism in music and literature.

A General Chronology of Nineteenth-Century European Musical and Literary Orientalism, 1798-1869 (Part 1 of 2) [75,000 words; 40 plates; with commentary] (Lewiston, NY, USA; Queenston, Canada; Lampeter, Wales: Edwin Mellen Press, 2013). ISBN pending; contracted and forthcoming.

A General Chronology of Nineteenth-Century European Musical and Literary Orientalism, 1870-1920 (Part 2 of 2) [75,000 words; 40 plates; with commentary] (Lewiston, NY, USA; Queenston, Canada; Lampeter, Wales: Edwin Mellen Press, 2013). ISBN pending; contracted and forthcoming.

Practical Songwriting [70,000 words] (London: Robert Hale, 2012). ISBN pending; contracted and forthcoming.

On Musical Composition: A Philosophy and Approach to Early 21st-Century Concert Music Composition [30,000 words] (Wollongong, Australia: Wirripang, 2012). ISBN pending; contracted and forthcoming.

Books (edited)

The Musicians’ and Songwriters’ Yearbook 2007 (including chapter introductions and various essays) (London: Adam & Charles Black, 2006). With a Foreword by Peter Reichardt, former Chairman and CEO of EMI Music Publishing. ISBN 10: 0-7136-7531-4.

The Musicians’ and Songwriters’ Yearbook 2008 (including chapter introductions and various essays) (London: A&C Black, 2007). With a Foreword by John Kennedy, OBE, former President of Universal Music International, and Chairman of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. ISBN 10: 0-7136-8472-0.

Chapters in Books

The Complete Songwriter/Producer, invited chapter in Heart & Soul: Revealing the Craft of Songwriting, ed. Chris Bradford (London: Sanctuary Publishing, 2005)] ISBN 10: 1-8607-4641-1. Published in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Ivor Novello Awards, being an Official Guide to Songwriting, commissioned by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters.

Articles – academic and general

Nostalgia, Exoticism and Brilliant Colour, Arts Rondo (Melbourne) (Winter, 1992).

Orientalism (An abbreviated version of the article “Orientalism: Counterpart of the Gothic in Nineteenth-

Century Artistic Inspiration”), Udolpho, vol.26 (Autumn, 1996), 14-17. ISSN 1350-7796.

On Western Travellers who described and drew inspiration from "Eastern" instruments and music, ca.1830s-1850s, FoMRHI Quarterly, no.98 (January, 2000), 41-45, Comm.1690. [FoMRHI Quarterly was the Journal of the Fellowship of Makers and Researchers of Historic Instruments.]

Musical Instruments Evocative of the Ancient Orient, FoMRHI Quarterly, no.99 (April, 2000), 21-30, Comm.1707.

Oriental Colour and Atmosphere: Why Exotic Colour became Prominent in 19th- and early 20th-Century Orchestration, FoMRHI Quarterly, no.102 (January, 2001), 23-28, Comm.1745.

Exoticism Globalised: The Forgotten Roots of World Music, in Music Business Journal (April-June, 2001).

Articles – business and technology

Digital Distribution and the Music Industry : Summary of the Proceedings of the First European Conference on Digital Distribution and the Music Industry, London, 22–23 May 2000, 14pp. (High Wycombe: Buckinghamshire University College, 2000).

History of Copyright – a Chronology in Relation to Music, Music Business Journal, Jan. 2001. ISSN 1473-6233.

Celestial Cinema; or, “From Celluloid to Silicon: eCinema, Cyberentertainment and the Napsterization of Hollywood”, American Outlook, Vol.IV, No.4 (July/Aug, 2001), 28-33. [A summary of the implications of digital distribution for the world-wide film, music and games industries]  ISSN 1099-8896. Research commissioned by the Hudson Institute. (Featured cover article: “Hollywood Napstered”.)

Celestial Jukebox, American Outlook (Jan/Feb, 2001), 42-44. [A summary of the implications of new music technology] ISSN 1099-8896. Research commissioned by the Hudson Institute.

The Sound of Money, American Outlook, Vol.V, No.3 (Summer, 2002), 41-45. [On the tendency of the global music industry to work against its own interests, by encouraging the mass production of bigger – but blander – popular songs] ISSN 1099-8896. Final in a series commissioned by the Hudson Institute.

Radio Programmes

Cultural Years: Music, the Arts and Society at the time of the Great International Exhibitions, 1851-1937, being a series of seven x (average) 90 min. radio programmes [totalling 120,000 words], written and presented for 3MBS-FM Fine Music Radio (Melbourne), and broadcast fortnightly from 1st April, 1990 – with an introductory article in Libretto (April, 1990), p.7.

 

Public Lectures

“The Work of a Composer”, for the Funtington Music Society (The Chapel, University of Chichester, 27th Oct., 2010). Reviewed in the Chichester Observer (11th Nov., 2010), p.35.

Belles-lettres

“The Curse of Limock Park”, in The Civil Service Author, no.142 (Oct/Nov 1998) pp.10-14. ISSN 0959-0064.

Antique Sonnets, First Series (Malvern, UK: Tillet Press, 2000).

Antique Sonnets, Second Series (Malvern, UK: Tillet Press, 2003).

Two Lyrics (Malvern, UK: Tillet Press, 2005).

Forms and Possibilities: Selected Verse (1983-2002), with an Essay on Melancholia: “The Muse of Bile” – An Appreciation and A Defence of the Artist’s Temperament (Wollongong, Australia: Wirripang, 2011). ISBN 13: 978-1-8768-2923-0.

 

Other Publications / Roles

MANAGING EDITORSHIP, Music Business Journal (2001-2006) ISSN 1473-6233 (co-founder).

SERIES EDITORSHIP, The Academy Popular Music Tuition Series (36 vols.) (ca.11,000 pages) (Academy Music Services UK, 2003-2005; now updated annually) (original commissioner).

CONSULTANT EDITORSHIP, The Musicians’ and Songwriters’ Yearbook (2007 and 2008 edns.) (London: Adam & Charles Black) (founder).