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Tier 3 · vertical & regionalfull biography
Michael Finnissy
Person · male · United Kingdom · London · born 1946 · recording since 1990
British composer and pianist
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Also known as 邁克爾·芬尼西
Timeline
13 events▣ Album 11◦ Birth 1★ Debut release 1
1940s
1990s
· Debut release
Debut release: English Country-Tunes
First documented Album in the MusicBrainz discography.
source: musicbrainz
2000s
2010s
2020s
Biography
English biography678 words · 6 sectionssource: wikipedia-en · licence CC BY-SA 4.0 · revision 1364520700
Biography
Michael Peter Finnissy (born 17 March 1946) is an English composer, pianist, and pedagogue. An immensely prolific composer, his music is "notable for its dramatic urgency and expressive immediacy".
Although he rejects the label, he is often regarded as one of the foremost composers of the New Complexity movement.
Early life
Michael Finnissy was born in Tulse Hill, London, on 17 March 1946 to Rita Isolene née Parsonson and George Norman Finnissy. His father was employed at the London City Council.
When he was four, he received his first piano lessons from his great-aunt Rose Louise (Rosie) Hopwood, soon after writing his first compositions.
He attended Hawes Down Infant and Junior schools, Bromley Technical High School, and Beckenham and Penge Grammar School, and excelled in graphic art, mathematics, and English literature.
Student years
Finnissy received the William Hurlstone composition prize at the Croydon Music Festival, a factor which assisted his parents' decision to let him apply to music college.
He was then awarded a Foundation Scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music, piano with Edwin Benbow and Ian Lake, and composition with Bernard Stevens and Humphrey Searle. Soon after, he received an Octavia travelling scholarship to study in Italy with Roman Vlad. Finnissy was then able to befriend Brian Ferneyhough.
In 1968, he wrote his first proper compositions.
Professional career
To earn money for his classes he took up a job as a répétiteur and freelanced at the London Contemporary Dance School and founded a department there, as well as working with numerous choreographers.
In 1972 he made his concert début in the Galerie Schwartzes Kloster in Freiburg im Breisgau. Meanwhile, he had been appearing around Europe.
Finnissy's first job as a composition teacher was at Dartington Summer School where he taught along with his colleague Ferneyhough and signed contracts with numerous publishers, including Oxford University Press.
He has been a member of the ensemble Suoraan (founded by James Clarke and Richard Emsley) and then its artistic director since the early 1970s, then joining Ixion (founded and still directed by Andrew Toovey) in 1987 - in both of these groups he not only played the piano but also conducted concerts.
Finnissy was invited to join by Justin Connolly to join the International Society for Contemporary Music and was president from 1990 to 1996. He is currently an Honorary Member.
He has attached to C.O.M.A. (initially known as the East London Late Starters Orchestra) since its inception, and is composer-in-residence Victorian College of the Arts and to the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in Sydney. He has taught at the Royal Academy of Music, the University of Sussex, and is professor of composition at the University of Southampton and composer-in-residence at St. John's College, Cambridge. He won a competition to supply a violin solo test piece to the 1990 Carl Flesch International Violin Competition with Enek.
Finnissy completed his Verdi Transcriptions for piano (which he started in 1972) in 2005.
He is a homosexual.
Style
Finnissy is a profusely prolific composer, having written over 400 pieces for numerous ensembles, combinations, and instruments. His works for the piano are notable for their extreme demands on technique. They include his 36 Verdi Transcriptions, written between 1972 and 2005.
Finnissy is concerned with the political aspects of music, and he believes that all music is 'programmatic' to some degree, that is, a composition exists in not just the composer's mind, but inside a culture that reflects both the extra-musical and purely musical concerns of the composer. He rejects the idea that music is unable to express anything other than itself (as Stravinsky said); Finnissy considers music a force for change. His engagement with political and social themes became more frequent as his career progressed. For example, the influence of homosexual themes and concerns began to enter his work; as in Shameful Vice in 1994, and more explicitly in Seventeen Immortal Homosexual Poets in 1997.
Cited sources
Cross, Jonathan (2001). "Finnissy, Michael (Peter)". In Stanley Sadie; John Tyrrell (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan.
"Michael Finnissy". Universal Edition. 2026. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
Discography & profile
Normalised profile
Percentiles are computed over every artist in the database, so a tier-3 artist can still sit in the 95th percentile on a single axis.
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 9 | 54.3th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 13 | 84th |
| Studio albums | 11 | 91.9th |
| Awards recorded | 1 | 89th |
| Timeline events | 13 | 89.7th |
| Recording span (years) | 30 | 66.1th |
| Genres | 3 | 80.4th |
Percentiles are computed at render time; missing values mean the artist has no data on that axis.
Discography (13 release groups · 11 studio albums)
Albums · 11
1990 · studio album
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Tracklist · 8 tracks · 52:53
1English Country-Tunes: Green Meadows10:552English Country-Tunes: Midsummer Morn5:263English Country-Tunes: I'll Give My Love a Garland10:104English Country-Tunes: May and December6:505English Country-Tunes: Lies and Marvels4:086English Country-Tunes: The Seeds of Love4:007English Country-Tunes: My Bonny Boy6:558English Country-Tunes: Come Beat the Drums and Sound the Fifes4:291998 · studio album
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Tracklist · 7 tracks · 1:04:37
1Plain Harmony I5:522Plain Harmony II1:223Plain Harmony III2:204Nobody’s Jig19:275Sehnsucht2:546Multiple Forms of Constraint10:487String Quartet21:54Mars + Venus & Other Chamber Works
1998 · studio album
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Tracklist · 4 tracks · 53:55
1Traum des Sängers13:272WAM15:043Ének11:024Mars + Venus14:22Gershwin Arrangements / More Gershwin
2000 · studio album
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Tracklist · 23 tracks · 1:15:57
1Gershwin Arrangements: How Long Has This Been Going On?3:532Gershwin Arrangements: Things Are Looking Up2:563Gershwin Arrangements: A Foggy Day in London Town3:134Gershwin Arrangements: Love Is Here to Stay4:575Gershwin Arrangements: They Can't Take That Away From Me4:226Gershwin Arrangements: Shall We Dance?2:297Gershwin Arrangements: They're Writing Songs of Love, but Not for Me3:328Gershwin Arrangements: Fidgety Feet1:519Gershwin Arrangements: Embraceable You3:3210Gershwin Arrangements: Waiting for the Sun to Come Out3:2811Gershwin Arrangements: Innocent Ingénue Baby4:0212Gershwin Arrangements: Blah, Blah, Blah1:4713Gershwin Arrangements: Boy Wanted3:2814Love Is Here to Stay (first version)2:1115More Gershwin: Limehouse Nights3:3216More Gershwin: Wait a Bit, Susie2:3617More Gershwin: I'd Rather Charleston3:0518More Gershwin: Isn't It Wonderful!2:5819More Gershwin: Nobody but You1:4520More Gershwin: Swanee4:2321More Gershwin: Dixie Rose1:0322More Gershwin: Someone Believes in You3:0123More Gershwin: Nashville Nightingale7:532005 · studio album
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Tracklist · 6 tracks · 1:15:00
1Maldon22:382Palm-Sunday11:043Vertue9:234Forget-me-not5:535Descriptive Jottings of London4:456Anima Christi21:17Second & Third String Quartets
2012 · studio album
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Tracklist · 2 tracks · 1:03:32
1Second String Quartet19:192Third String Quartet44:132013 · studio album
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Tracklist · 3 tracks · 1:16:06
1Kritik der Urteilskraft27:562Unknown Ground25:493À propos de Nice22:212013 · studio album
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Tracklist · 7 tracks · 36:44
1Seven Sacred Motets: No. 1. Hymnos sacrae quos virgini6:182Seven Sacred Motets: No. 2. In mense autem sexto8:043Seven Sacred Motets: No. 3. Salve Regina5:224Seven Sacred Motets: No. 4. Et cum factus esset3:475Seven Sacred Motets: No. 5. Ave regina coelorum4:296Seven Sacred Motets: No. 6. Stabant autem iuxta crucem2:417Seven Sacred Motets: No. 7. O virga, floriditatem tuam6:03The History of Photography in Sound
2013 · studio album
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Tracklist · 11 tracks · 5:26:52
Disc 11The History of Photography in Sound: Le Démon de l'analogie28:292The History of Photography in Sound: Le Réveil de l'intraitable réalité20:39Disc 21The History of Photography in Sound: North American Spirituals23:412The History of Photography in Sound: My Parents' Generation Thought War Meant Something35:49Disc 31The History of Photography in Sound: Alkan-Paganini13:372The History of Photography in Sound: Seventeen Immortal Homosexual Poets34:113The History of Photography in Sound: Eadweard Muybridge - Edvard Munch26:29Disc 41The History of Photography in Sound: Kapitalisch Realisme1:07:42Disc 51The History of Photography in Sound: Wachtend op de volgende uitbarsting van repressie en censuur17:002The History of Photography in Sound: Unsere Afrikareise30:353The History of Photography in Sound: Etched Bright With Sunlight28:402016 · studio album
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Tracklist · 5 tracks · 1:03:11
1Clarinet Sonata18:542L'Union libre11:073Mike, Brian, Marilyn & the Cats6:114WAM13:235Giant Abstract Samba13:362020 · studio album
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Tracklist · 14 tracks · 1:23:55
Disc 11Dum transisset Sabbatum8:072Dum transisset Sabbatum - double7:493Videte miraculum8:254Videte miraculum - double9:19Disc 21Commentary on “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern”4:002Cantata “Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn”: I. Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn5:143Cantata “Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn”: II. Ach führe mich, o Gott2:234Cantata “Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn”: III. Ach, ziehe die Seele2:445Cantata “Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn”: IV. O Wunderkraft der Liebe2:166Cantata “Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn”: V. Bald zur Rechten3:247Cantata “Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn”: VI. Für uns un Mensch geboren3:138Commentary on BWV 5625:329Plebs angelica7:5910Plebs angelica - alternativo13:30
Single · 1
| Cover | Year | Title | Notes | First release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Red EarthSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 1 track · 19:201Red Earth19:20 | 1 April 1996 |
Other · 1
| Cover | Year | Title | Notes | First release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | FolkloreSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 15 tracks · 1:03:461Folklore II29:38 23 Dukes Went A-Riding3:57 3My Love Is Like a Red Red Rose3:40 4How Dear to Me4:31 5Willow Willow2:34 6Vieux Noël, op. 59 no. 21:03 7Australian Sea Shanties, Set 2: No. 11:30 8Australian Sea Shanties, Set 2: No. 21:27 9Polskie tance, op. 32: No. 1. Kujawiak-Kozak0:25 10Polskie tance, op. 32: No. 2, Kozak-Drobny0:36 11Polskie tance, op. 32: No. 3. Kujawiak0:59 12Polskie tance, op. 32: No. 4. Zbojnicki0:55 13Terekkeme3:20 14Lylyly li8:25 15Svatovac0:46 | 1998 |
Stats & PK
Percentile within all 23,672 published artists.Put Michael Finnissy head-to-head →
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 9 | 54.3th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 13 | 84th |
| Studio albums | 11 | 91.9th |
| Awards recorded | 1 | 89th |
| Timeline events | 13 | 89.7th |
| Recording span (years) | 30 | 66.1th |
| Genres | 3 | 80.4th |
Awards & honours
| Year | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | Honorary Member of the International Society for Contemporary Music | won |
Where this record comes from
aliases/urls—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/1596ceb5-0cb6-4b03-8d16-59015bcc6d96discography—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/1596ceb5-0cb6-4b03-8d16-59015bcc6d96core—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2813877seed-list—wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Finnissybiography—wikipedia-en · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Finnissy
Why this artist is in the database
- List of composers by name
Tier rule: curated genre/region list
Image: no portrait (not displayed: the licence credit is missing)
Wikidata: Q2813877 · MusicBrainz: 1596ceb5-0cb6-4b03-8d16-59015bcc6d96
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