Gavin Bryars is one of Britain's leading composers. He was born in Yorkshire in 1943. He first acquired a reputation in the music world as a jazz bassist working in the mid-sixties with improvisers Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. He also worked closely with composers such as Cornelius Cardew, as well as founding the Portsmouth Sinfonia, which acquired a cult status for its performances and recordings of the classical repertoire with minimal music skills.

The first recording Gavin Bryars made on the Point Music label was released in 1993. This was a new version of the 1970's cult work, Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet, which was a world-wide hit. (Originally, Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet was released on Brian Eno's Obscure Label, alongside The Sinking Of The Titanic (1969), which was his first major work as a composer.) A brand-new version of The Sinking Of The Titanic was released on Point Music in autumn 1994. Releases planned on Pont Muisc for 1996 include an album with his Cello Concerto, featuring cellist Julian Lloyd Webber.

Recording for labels other than Point include the albums Three Viennese Dancers, After The Requiem, The Black River, and Vita Nova, featuring the Hilliard Ensemble. In 1995 his String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2 were released, performed by the Balanescu Quartet.

Over the last decade, his compositions have ranged widely; they include the opera Medea, produced by Robert Wilson at the Opéra de Lyon and Paris Opéra in 1984; String Quartet Nr. 1 for the Arditti Quartet (1985); By The Vaar for jazz bassist Charlie Haden in 1987; Pico's Flight recorded with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1988; a series of vocal works for the Hilliard Ensemble including Glorious Hill (1988), Incipit vita nova (1989) and Cadman Requiem (1989); and Invention of Tradition, a mixed media piece conceived with artists Bruce MacLean and David Ward for the opening of the Tate Gallery in Liverpool in 1988. In 1991, the Balanescu String Quartet gave the première of his String Quartet Nr. 2, and the following year, the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, together with saxophonist John Harle, recorded his work The Green Ray. In 1993, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus gave the première of his major new cantata, The War In Heaven. He also completed a commissioned sound installation for the French Ministry of Culture's centre of contemporary arts at Chateau d'Oiron. Recent works include commissions from Nexus Ensemble (1994), Fretwork (1995) and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (1995).

Gavin Bryars' new opera based on Jules Verne's novella Doctor Ox's Experiment, with poet Blake Morrison, jointly commissioned by Opéra de Lyon, English National Opera, Canadian Opera Company and BBC Television will receive its première in June 1997. His work has been used extensively by leading choreographers world-wide, including William Forsythe, Lucinda Childs, Carolyn Carlson, Maguy Marin, Jiri Kylian, Siobhan Davies and Edouard Lock.

He is founder and director of the Gavin Bryars Ensemble, which makes regular international tours, with performances in France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Holland and Austria, as well as annual concerts at the South Bank Centre in London.