Robert Sherlaw Johnson

Sherlaw Johnson was one of that group of post-war British musicians whose work reflected wider European interests in new ideas, techniques and aesthetics.

He was educated at Gosforth Grammar School in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, at King's College, Durham, and at the Royal Academy of Music, London, where he was the recipient of a Charles Black award.

In 1971 he was awarded the degree of DMus by the University of Leeds for a doctoral thesis on Messiaen's use of birdsong and in 1984 was elected to a Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music.

The continuing influence of Sherlaw Johnson's geographical origins is evident in compositions, such as the Northumbrian Symphony and his opera, The Lambton Worm, that utilise material from the North-East of England.

Sherlaw Johnson's interest in bells and bell-inspired music (he rang regularly at his local church at Stonesfield) is also evident in some of his own compositions.