Studied philosophy at Sheffield University, and composition with Cyril Ramsey and George Linstead. He began his musical career playing bass in jazz groups in the 1960s with Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. Also founded the Portsmouth Sinfonia, which performed and recorded classical repertoire with minimal musical skills. His first major work as a composer was The Sinking of the Titanic, for indeterminate forces. His international reputation was confirmed with the opera, Medea, which was produced at the Opéra de Lyon and the Paris Opéra in 1984. A reworking of his cult work, Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet, with vocal by Tom Waits, gained wide recognition in 1993. He has composed prolifically for theater, dance and film as well as the concert hall, and has had his works performed by a wide range of artists including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Arditti Quartet, the Hilliard Ensemble, the Balanescu Quartet, Charlie Haden, Bill Frisell, and his own group, the Gavin Bryars Ensemble. A leading experimental composer, his more recent music has been influenced by theories of literature, and is often repetitive and witty. (Sources: The Norton/Grove Concise Encyclopedia of Music; Liner notes for The Last Days, an Argo release.)