Adrian Sutton

Adrian is a composer and producer whose scores cross orchestral, chamber and electronic genres. They have featured in a number of successful theatre productions, including Angels in America (London and Broadway, for which he received a Tony nomination), War Horse, Coram Boy and the six-times Tony-nominated The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (National Theatre, Gielgud Theatre West End, Barrymore Theatre Broadway, two UK tours, a US tour and a current international tour).

In 2013 he received a joint Olivier Award for Curious Incident's Sound Design, and also produced and released Curious Incidentals, the soundtrack album from the play.   

Coram Boy, his first theatrical commission, opened at the National Theatre in 2005 and on Broadway in 2007; War Horse was his second theatre score, opening in London in 2007, on Broadway in 2011, and then multiple productions worldwide, including the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Berlin, the Netherlands, China, two further tours of the UK and a return to the Lyttelton at the National Theatre for an extended run in November 2018 to January 2019. For both Coram Boy and War Horse he received Olivier nominations.

His War Horse Suite, a 25-minute symphonic orchestral work derived from the score for the show, was premiered by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) in June 2010 and, along with a new commission Some See Us from the BBC Proms, featured as the centrepiece of a War Horse Prom in the 2014 Proms season at the Royal Albert Hall, played by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by David Charles Abell.

His score for War Horse: The Story in Concert was premiered in October 2016 at the Royal Albert Hall, featuring Michael Morpurgo and Joanna Lumley reading the original story on-stage, accompanied by the RPO and London Voices.  Adrian then produced the recording of this work with the RPO under David Angus at Abbey Road Studios for release in multiple formats on the BMG label in November 2017.

His children’s concert opera The Griffin and the Grail was premiered by the RPO, choirs, soloist and narrator Olivia Colman at Cadogan Hall in December 2013.

Other work for theatre includes Husbands & Sons, Rules for Living, Nation and The Revenger’s Tragedy at the National. His work for TV and film includes Chris Morris’ Jam, Blue Jam and the BAFTA-winning short film My Wrongs. Orchestral works include A Fist Full of Fives, performed on BBC Radio 3 by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and a Sinfonietta. In 2013 the violinist Fenella Humphreys commissioned Adrian for Arpeggiare Variations, one of six new works as part of her Bach2TheFuture series for unaccompanied violin by British composers, released on the Champs Hill label. This disc won the BBC Music Magazine Instrumental Award in 2018.

Adrian is also a violinist, and performs in orchestras and chamber groups including Blaze Ensemble, for which he wrote the nonet Montana Peaks.

www.adriansutton.com