Jonathan Lloyd, born in 1948, received his first lesson in composition from Emile Spira, a former pupil of Anton Webern. After this Lioyd was a junior exhibitioner at the RCM, then went on to study composition with John Lambert and Edwin Roxburgh. While at College he worked with the Twentieth Century Music Ensemble, and in due course won the Mendelssohn scholarship, thereafter attending classes given by Pousseur, and street muisician before taking up a Composer-in-Residence appointment in the Dartington theatre department in 1978–79. Several of his early works were played while he was still at the RCM, including Cantique for small orchestra. In 1981, Toward the Whitening Dawn, a 10-miniute piece for chorus and chamber orchestra written in memory of John Lennon, was performed at a BBC Concert conducted by Michael Gielen. With that work Lioyd be said to have ‘arrived’ as a compiser of unusual talent and promise.