Ian Schofield

Born in the Lancashire town of Oswaldtwistle, Ian studied composition at the University of Southampton under Dr. Eric Graebner and Professor Peter Evans. He moved to Portsmouth in 1969 and began teaching there in 1972. In 1983, he returned to the University of Southampton as a mature student to complete a BA (Hons) degree. Following this, he spent over twenty years as a senior tutor in music at South Downs College, delivering specialist pre-professional and A-level music courses. His teaching focused primarily on composition, theory, and music analysis.

Alongside his compositional work, Ian is also an accomplished freelance music editor, specialising in Renaissance and Baroque choral music, as well as 19th-century Italian choral and operatic repertoire. He has prepared performing editions of operas and songs by Rossini, Donizetti, and Mayr, as well as works by lesser-known composers such as Mercadante, Pacini, and Lillo. These editions have been performed in major London concert halls, across Italy and Germany, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Ireland’s RTÉ Radio. Notably, several have featured on recordings by Opera Rara, including his edition of Ambroise Thomas’s La Cour de Célimène, which was performed at the Wexford Festival in 2011. More recently, he has collaborated with musicologist Roger Parker on critical editions of Mercadante’s Il Proscritto and Donizetti’s L’esule di Roma, both of which have been recorded and performed by Opera Rara.

Ian Schofield’s musical style is tonal with modal inflections, characterised by clearly defined melodies and a strong sense of rhythmic drive. Much of his output is vocal, composed with large amateur or professional choral ensembles in mind. His music seeks to balance challenge with accessibility, incorporating demanding passages without becoming prohibitively difficult. Dissonance is employed for dramatic effect and contrast, always with practical vocal execution in mind. He is also attentive to the realities of programming contemporary works alongside more familiar repertoire. For example, his Te Deum uses instrumentation closely aligned with many of Handel’s works: three trumpets, two oboes, bassoon, timpani, strings, keyboard, and one additional percussionist. Likewise, his recently completed Hildegard’s Credo calls for an orchestration comparable to that of a large Mass setting by Mozart or Haydn, again with the addition of a single percussion player.