Harrison Birtwistle has been played on NTS in shows including PAN, featured first on 23 March 2020. Songs played include Birthday Song, The Moth Requiem and Grimethorpe Aria.

Harrison Birtwistle is one of England's foremost living composers.

Born Accrington, 15th July 1934, died Mere Wiltshire, 18th April 2022. He studied Clarinet and Composition at the Royal Manchester College of Music from 1953 where, along with fellow students Peter Maxwell Davies, Alexander Goehr, John Ogdon and Elgar Howarth, he formed the New Music Manchester group which was dedicated to performing avant-garde and contemporary compositions.

While using mostly conventional instrumental resources, Birtwistle has radically altered the fundamentals…