Later, he studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, with Patric Standford (composition) and Edith Vogel (piano).
In 1979 he received the British Mendelssohn Scholarship[2] and met with Edmund Rubbra, John McCabe and Henri Dutilleux in Paris.
[8] Sainsbury's orchestral work includes his Violin Concerto of 1989, which received a BBC studio performance in 1995 but was not premiered at a public concert until 2002: at the Three Choirs Festival in Worcester, with soloist Lorraine McAslan and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Adrian Lucas.
[10] A recording of the Cello Concerto (1999) followed in 2011 with soloist Raphael Wallfisch and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Martin Yates.
Malcolm MacDonald has described these two concertos as using "unabashedly tonal and opulent melodic language, recalling the neo-romantic idiom of great 20th century composers such as William Walton and Samuel Barber.