BAFTA award winning British composer Patrick Gowers has sadly passed away aged 78.
The acclaimed classical composer, born in Islington, London in 1936, enjoyed great success with his work in TV, film and the concert hall.
After studying music at Cambridge, Patrick’s early musical career saw him take up a role as assistant conductor of Bill Russo’s London Jazz Orchestra and work as a musical director for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Marat/Sade both in London and New York. He came to prominence as the composer of all the music for the long running Sherlock Holmes TV series (1984 - 1994) featuring Jeremy Brett.
His screen compositions demonstrated his ability to work across a wide range of styles and genres with notable works written for children’s film The Boy Who Turned Yellow and A Bigger Splash, a fictional biopic of the artist David Hockney.
He won the BAFTA original music award for his scores for Smiley's People, The Woman in White and I Remember Nelson. Later he was commissioned to score Viri Galilaei for the consecration of Richard Harries as bishop of Oxford in 1987. Other notable works include Toccata, commissioned by Simon Preston and composed in 1970.
Patrick did an enormous amount of work on behalf of the composer community through the Association of Professional Composers while also representing the rights of fellow composers as a director of the Performing Right Society.
He is survived by his wife Caroline and their three children, Katharine, Rebecca and Timothy.
A memorial service will be held in his honour at 2.30pm on 21 February at Holy Trinity Church, Clapham Common, SW4 0QZ.
The acclaimed classical composer, born in Islington, London in 1936, enjoyed great success with his work in TV, film and the concert hall.
After studying music at Cambridge, Patrick’s early musical career saw him take up a role as assistant conductor of Bill Russo’s London Jazz Orchestra and work as a musical director for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Marat/Sade both in London and New York. He came to prominence as the composer of all the music for the long running Sherlock Holmes TV series (1984 - 1994) featuring Jeremy Brett.
His screen compositions demonstrated his ability to work across a wide range of styles and genres with notable works written for children’s film The Boy Who Turned Yellow and A Bigger Splash, a fictional biopic of the artist David Hockney.
He won the BAFTA original music award for his scores for Smiley's People, The Woman in White and I Remember Nelson. Later he was commissioned to score Viri Galilaei for the consecration of Richard Harries as bishop of Oxford in 1987. Other notable works include Toccata, commissioned by Simon Preston and composed in 1970.
Patrick did an enormous amount of work on behalf of the composer community through the Association of Professional Composers while also representing the rights of fellow composers as a director of the Performing Right Society.
He is survived by his wife Caroline and their three children, Katharine, Rebecca and Timothy.
A memorial service will be held in his honour at 2.30pm on 21 February at Holy Trinity Church, Clapham Common, SW4 0QZ.
