Born in the United Kingdom in 1949, Allan Stephenson began playing the piano at the age of seven and took up the cello at thirteen. In 1968, he enrolled at the Royal Manchester College of Music, graduating in 1972. The following year, he moved to South Africa, where he became Associate Principal Cellist of the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra.
Stephenson conducted the South African premiere of Nielsen's Symphony
No. 4 and recorded the country's first classical music CD, featuring his Concertino
Pastorale for clarinet and orchestra. Among his stage works are the operas Wonderfully
Wicked, Who Killed Jimmy Valentine, and The Orphans of Qumbu,
the latter involving approximately 3,000 orphans from all ethnic backgrounds.
South African cellist, conductor, and composer Allan Stephenson died at the
age of 71. With more than 100 compositions spanning a wide range of genres, he
was a prominent figure on the South African classical music scene. He also
founded the Cape Town Chamber Orchestra and served for many years as conductor
of the string orchestra I Musicanti.
The Three Pieces for solo bassoon, composed in 2000, join
Stephenson's substantial body of works for the bassoon, which includes:
- Bassoon Concerto (1989)
- Konzertstück for six bassoons (1987)
- Divertimento for
three bassoons and contrabassoon (1995)
- Little Suite for Young Bassoons for four bassoons (1997)
- Miniature Quartet for
bassoon and string trio (1999)
- Trio for bassoons (2001)
- The Gnome's Walk for
bassoon and piano (2008)
