2003 in British music

Events
  • 6 January – The annual Park Lane Group Young Artists festival of contemporary music opens with two concerts in the Purcell Room at the Southbank Centre, London. The first concert, given by the Gallimaufry Ensemble, included the premiere of a new wind quintet by 23-year-old Benjamin Wallfisch; the second concert featured solo bass clarinettist Sarah Watts, who premiered Marc Yeats Vox for solo bass clarinet and Michael Smetanin's Ladder of Escape for bass clarinet with prerecorded ensemble of six bass and two contrabass clarinets.[1]
  • 10 January - Following an investigation by The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and London detectives, police raids in the UK and the Netherlands recover 500 original Beatles studio tapes, recorded during the Let It Be sessions. Five people are arrested. The tapes have been used for bootleg releases for years.[2]
  • 13 January - The Who guitarist Pete Townshend is arrested on suspicion of possessing and making indecent images of children and of incitement to distribute them. Townshend claims in a statement that he did not download any such images and accessed Web sites advertising child pornography because he was researching material for his autobiography, which will include passages about his abusive childhood.[3]
  • 18 January - A two-day festival of the music of Mark-Anthony Turnage is given at the Barbican Centre, London, with three world premieres and chamber concerts by the Nash Ensemble and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.[4]
  • 21 April – S Club announce live on stage at London's Docklands Arena that they are to split after five years together. Their final single, "Say Goodbye", enters the chart at #2 a month after the announcement. Rachel Stevens from the group launched her successful solo career shortly afterwards with the song "Sweet Dreams My LA Ex".
  • 2 May - Mansun confirm that they have split up, after months of speculation and after the departure of Stove King. The remaining members had until that point worked on an unfinished 4th studio album, which was eventually released a year later as "Kleptomania" due to fan demand.
  • 7 May - Pete Townshend is cleared of the charges stemming from his arrest in January on suspicion of possessing child pornography, but is formally cautioned and placed on the sex offenders register for five years.[5]
  • 24 May
    • The Eurovision Song Contest is held in Riga, Latvia. "Cry Baby", performed by Jemini, receives no points in the voting, the worst-ever result for the UK. Some blame the United Kingdom's involvement in the Iraq War, whilst others attribute the result to a bad performance.[6]
    • After a 40-year gap, former Beatle Paul McCartney performs in Russia, on the Red Square in Moscow.
  • 27–29 June – Glastonbury Festival, U.K., headline acts included David Gray, Primal Scream, Morcheeba, The Flaming Lips, Radiohead, Super Furry Animals, Lamb, Feeder, Manic Street Preachers, and Doves.
  • 7 September - Pete Doherty receives a 6 month prison sentence for stealing items from bandmate Carl Barat's flat. The sentence is reduced, and Doherty is released a month later.
  • 14 November - The legal incarnation of the band Pink Floyd reunites to perform at the funeral of their manager Steve O'Rourke.
  • 6 December - Elvis Costello and Diana Krall are married in a private ceremony at Elton John's estate.
  • 8 December - Ozzy Osbourne is rushed into emergency surgery after having a serious accident riding an all-terrain vehicle on the grounds of his English estate. Osbourne broke his collarbone, eight ribs and a vertebra in his neck.[7]
  • 12 December - Mick Jagger is knighted for services to music by The Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace.[8]
  • 18 December - John Rutter tells US television programme 60 Minutes that he is not a particularly religious man yet still deeply spiritual and inspired by the spirituality of sacred verses and prayers.[9]

Classical music

Both Andrew Glover and Peter Maxwell Davies produced several new orchestral/instrumental works. British film score composer Rachel Portman produced an opera, The Little Prince, commissioned by the Houston Opera and premièred in the USA.

Michael Nyman, during his period as Composer-in-Residence at Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe, Germany, produced his Violin Concerto and an opera Man and Boy: Dada, with libretto by Michael Hastings. It was premièred at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe in the following year.

Other classical works

Opera

Film and incidental music

Musical films

Deaths

Music awards

BRIT Awards

The 2003 BRIT Awards winners were:

Ivor Novello Awards

The winners of the Ivor Novello Awards were:

Mercury Music Prize

The 2003 Mercury Music Prize was awarded to Dizzee Rascal – Boy in Da Corner.

Popjustice £20 Music Prize

The 2003 Popjustice £20 Music Prize was awarded to Girls Aloud for their song No Good Advice from the album Sound of the Underground.

The Record of the Year

The Record of the Year was awarded to "Mandy" by Westlife.

See also

References
  1. Richard Morrison, "PLG Young Artists", The Times (Wednesday January 8, 2003): 15.
  2. "'Priceless' Beatles tapes discovered". BBC. 10 January 2003. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
  3. Wiederhorn, Jon; Vineyard, Jennifer (13 January 2003). "Pete Townshend Arrested In Child Porn Investigation". MTV. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
  4. Ivan Hewett, "Momentum: The Music of Mark-Anthony Turnage: Barbican, London EC2, Jan 18-19", The Times (January 18, 2003): 10; Richard Morrison, "Blood on the Floor", The Times (January 20, 2003): 17.
  5. Wilson, Jamie (8 May 2003). "Pete Townshend put on sex offenders register". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
  6. "Jemini's dressing room attacked at Eurovision". BBC. 25 May 2003. Retrieved 13 January 2009.
  7. Osbourne 'stable' after accident, BBC News, December 9, 2003.
  8. Stones frontman becomes Sir Mick, BBC News, December 12, 2003.
  9. Rebecca Leung (11 February 2009). "Spreading Good Cheer". CBS News. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  10. "Music Obituary: Sir John Tavener". The Daily Telegraph. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  11. Graham Waterhouse Kammerkonzert. Gasteig. 5 October 2003.
  12. Harris M. Lentz III (24 October 2008). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2003: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture. McFarland. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-7864-5208-8.
  13. Adrian Wright (2008). The Innumerable Dance: The Life and Work of William Alwyn. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. p. 276. ISBN 978-1-84383-412-0.
  14. Professor Simon Emmerson (28 January 2013). Living Electronic Music. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-4094-9371-6.
  15. Alexander Gleason (11 January 2003). "Mickey Finn". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  16. Dave Laing (18 January 2003). "Ron Goodwin". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  17. CandiottI, Susan (16 January 2003). "Gibb autopsy cites twisted intestine". CNN. Archived from the original on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  18. "Stradivari Violin stayed at Water Museum". vodokanal.spb.ru. 21 October 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  19. Dave Laing (10 March 2003). "Adam Faith". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  20. Garth Cartwright (2 June 2003). "Mickie Most". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  21. "Matthew Jay plunges from window". Virgin Megamagazine. 1 October 2003. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 30 June 2007.
  22. Singer Robert Palmer dies BBC. Retrieved 19 April 2012
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