Clemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation (in whole or in part) of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves. A pardon is the forgiveness of a crime and the cancellation of the relevant penalty; it is usually granted by a head of state (such as a monarch or president) or by a competent church authority. Commutation or remission is the lessening of a penalty without forgiveness for the crime; the beneficiary is still considered guilty of the offense. A reprieve is the temporary postponement of punishment.

Today, pardons are granted in many countries when individuals have demonstrated that they have fulfilled their debt to society, or are otherwise considered to be deserving. Pardons are sometimes offered to persons who are wrongfully convicted or claim they have been wrongfully convicted. Some believe accepting such a pardon implicitly constitutes an admission of guilt, so in some cases the offer is refused. Cases of wrongful conviction are nowadays more often dealt with by appeal than by pardon however, a pardon is sometimes offered when innocence is undisputed to avoid the costs of a retrial. Clemency plays a very important role when capital punishment is applied.

By country[link]

Canada[link]

Pardons[link]

The Parole Board of Canada (PBC) is the federal agency responsible for making pardon decisions under the Criminal Records Act (CRA). Under the CRA, the PBC can issue, grant, deny and revoke pardons.

A pardon keeps a judicial record of a conviction separate and apart from other criminal records, and gives law abiding citizens an opportunity to reintegrate into Canadian society.

The CRA removes all information about the conviction for which an individual received the pardon from the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC). Federal agencies cannot give out information about the conviction without approval from the Minister of Public Safety Canada.

A pardon does not, however, erase the fact that an individual was convicted of a crime. The criminal record is not erased, but it is kept separate and apart from other (non-pardoned) criminal records.

A pardon removes disqualifications caused by a criminal conviction, such as the ability to contract with the federal government, or eligibility for Canadian citizenship.

If an individual in receipt of a pardon is convicted of a new offence, the information may lead to a reactivation of the criminal record for which the pardon was received in CPIC.

A pardon does not guarantee entry or visa privileges to another country. Before travelling to another country, individuals must still contact the authorities of the country in question to find out what the requirements are to enter that country.

Processing of pardons by the National Parole Board generally takes on average 60 days for a summary offence and 180 days for an indictable offence.

Individuals can apply for a Pardon if they were convicted as an adult of a criminal offence in Canada, or of an offence under a federal act or regulation of Canada, or if they were convicted of a crime in another country and were transferred to Canada under the Transfer of Offenders Act or International Transfer of Offenders Act. Non-Canadian citizens are not eligible for a Canadian pardon unless they were convicted of a crime in Canada.

To be eligible for a pardon, individuals must have completed all of their sentences and a waiting period.

Individuals are considered to have completed all of their sentences if they have:

• paid all fines, surcharges, costs, restitution and compensation orders
• served all sentences of imprisonment, conditional sentences, including parole or statutory release
• completed their probation order

Following completion of all of their sentences, individuals must also complete a waiting period, as follows:

• 3 years for summary convictions under the Criminal Code or other federal act or regulation, except sexual crimes against children
• 3 years under the National Defence Act, if fined $2,000 or less, detained or imprisoned 6 months or less, or subjected to various lesser punishments for a service offence
• 5 years for indictable convictions under the Criminal Code or other federal act or regulation and summary convictions of sexual crimes against children
• 5 years for all convictions by a Canadian offender transferred to Canada under the Transfer of Offenders Act or International Transfer of Offenders Act
• 5 years under the National Defence Act, if you were fined more than $2,000, detained or imprisoned more than 6 months, or dismissed from service
• 10 years for indictable convictions for sexual crimes against children and criminals receiving more than 2 years of imprisonment time for "serious personal injury offence" such as manslaughter or other designated offence under section 752 of the Criminal Code.^[1]

Individuals can apply for a pardon by filling out the application forms available from the Parole Board and by paying a $150 pardon application fee. Be sure to send all required documents or the application can be delayed. The NPB has a toll-free pardons helpline at 1-800-874-2652 and a website.[1].^[2]

Clemency[link]

In Canada, clemency is granted by the Governor-General of Canada or the Governor in Council (the federal cabinet) under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy. Applications are also made to the National Parole Board, as in pardons, but clemency may involve the commutation of a sentence, or the remission of all or part of the sentence, a respite from the sentence (for a medical condition) or a relief from a prohibition (e.g., to allow someone to drive that has been prohibited from driving).

Chile[link]

In Chile, the institution of pardon (indulto) is regulated in the Criminal Code (article 93, Nº 4º),^[3] which deals with the extinction of criminal liability. “Pardon only grants the remission or the commutation of the sentence; it does not remove the condition of having been condemned […]”. The pardon may be either general, when it is granted to all those covered by a specific law passed by qualified quorum in National Congress, or particular, when it is granted by Supreme Decree of the President of the Republic. In Chile's presidential regime, the President is the Head of State; in this capacity, he has the discretionary power to grant particular pardons. He is not obliged to seek opinion or approval from other authorities, although, the granting of pardons is limited by the norms of Law No. 18.050 (1981)^[4] and its Regulations (Decree No. 1542 of 1981 on particular pardons),^[5] which forbid particular pardons for those convicted of a crime of terrorism.^[6]

France[link]

Pardons and acts of clemency (grâces) are granted by the President of France, who, ultimately, is the sole judge of the propriety of the measure. It is a prerogative of the President which is directly inherited from that of the Kings of France. The convicted person sends a request for pardon to the President of the Republic. The prosecutor of the court that pronounced the verdict reports on the case, and the case goes to the Ministry of Justice's directorate of criminal affairs and pardons for further consideration.

If granted, the decree of pardon is signed by the President, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice and possibly other ministers involved in the consideration of the case. It is not published in the Journal Officiel.

The decree may spare the applicant from serving the balance of his or her sentence, or commute the sentence to a lesser one. It does not suppress the right for the victim of the crime to obtain compensation for the damages it suffered, and does not erase the condemnation from the criminal record.

When the death penalty was in force in France, all capital sentences resulted in a presidential review for a possible clemency. Executions were carried out if and only if the President reject clemency, by signing a document on which it was written : "decides to let justice take its course".

The Parliament of France, on occasions, grants amnesty. This is a different concept and procedure from that described above, although the phrase "presidential amnesty" (amnistie présidentielle) is sometimes pejoratively applied to some acts of parliament traditionally voted upon after a presidential election, granting amnesty for minor crimes.

Germany[link]

Similar to the United States, the right to grant pardon in Germany is divided between the federal and the state level. Federal jurisdiction in matters of criminal law is mostly restricted to appeals against decisions of state courts. Only "political" crimes like treason or terrorism are tried on behalf of the federal government by the highest state courts. Accordingly, the category of persons eligible for a federal pardon is rather narrow. The right to grant a federal pardon lies in the office of the President of Germany, but he or she can transfer this power to other persons, such as the chancellor or the minister of justice.

In early 2007, there was a widespread public discussion about the granting of pardons in Germany after convicted Red Army Faction terrorist Christian Klar, who was serving six consecutive sentences of life imprisonment, filed a petition for pardon. President Horst Köhler ultimately denied his request.

For all other (and therefore the vast majority of) convicts, pardons are in the jurisdiction of the states. In some states it is granted by the respective cabinet, but in most states the state constitution vests the authority in the state prime minister. As on the federal level, the authority may be transferred. Amnesty can be granted only by federal law.

Greece[link]

The Constitution of Greece grants the power of pardon to the President of the Republic (Art. 47, § 1). He/She can pardon, commute or remit punishment imposed by any court, on the proposal of the Minister of Justice and after receiving the opinion (not the consent necessarily) of the Pardon Committee.

Hong Kong[link]

Prior to the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the power of pardon was a royal prerogative of mercy of the monarch of the United Kingdom. This was used and cited the most often in cases of inmates who had been given the death penalty: from 1965 to 1993 (when the death penalty was formally abolished) those who were sentenced to death were automatically commuted to life imprisonment under the Royal Prerogative.

Since the return, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong now exercises the power to grant pardons and commute penalties under section 12 of article 48 Basic Law of Hong Kong. "The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall exercise the following powers and functions... To pardon persons convicted of criminal offences or commute their penalties".

India[link]

Under the Constitution of India (Article 72), the President of India can grant a pardon or reduce the sentence of a convicted person, particularly in cases involving capital punishment. A similar and parallel power vests in the Governors of each State under Article 161.

However, it is important to note that India has a unitary structure of government and there is no body of state law. All crimes are crimes against the Union of India. Therefore, a convention has developed that the Governor's powers is exercised for only minor offenses, while requests for pardons and reprieves for major offenses and offenses committed in the Union Territories are deferred to the President.

Both the President and Governor are bound by the advice of their respective Councils of Ministers and hence the exercise of this power is of an executive character.It is therefore subject to Judicial Review (Maru Ram v Union of India, confirmed by Kehar Singh vs Union of India,1989). It also depends upon other provisions of law, i.e. sections 54 and 55 of the Indian penal code, Sections 432,433 and 433A of the criminal procedure code of the Indian criminal justice system and also the sentencing policies of state. ("the power under articles 72 /161.... is absolute and cannot be fettered by any

Iran[link]

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Supreme Leader has the power to pardon and offer clemency under Article 110, § 1, §§ 11.

Ireland[link]

In Ireland the power of clemency is nominally exercised by the president. However the President of Ireland must act "on the advice" of the cabinet, so in practice such decisions are made by the government of the day and the president has no discretion in the matter. The responsibility can also be vested in persons or bodies other than the president. The Irish constitution states (in Article 13.6) that "The right of pardon and the power to commute or remit punishment imposed by any court exercising criminal jurisdiction are hereby vested in the President, but such power of commutation or remission may also be conferred by law on other authorities".

List of people who have received a Presidential Pardon since 1938

• 1940 Thomas Quinn granted by Douglas Hyde
• 1943 Walter Brady granted by Douglas Hyde
• 1992 Nicky Kelly granted by Mary Robinson
• 1999 William Geary granted by Mary McAleese

• Source: Murdoch's Dictionary of Irish Law by Henry Murdoch, Page 566: 3rd Edition: ISBN 0-9514032-5-7

Israel[link]

In Israel the President of Israel has the power to pardon criminals or give them clemency. The pardon is given following a recommendation by the Minister of Justice.

After the Kav 300 affair President Chaim Herzog issued a pardon to four members of the Shin Bet prior to them being indicted. This unusual act was the first of its kind in Israel.

Italy[link]

In Italy, the President of the Republic may “ ... grant pardons, or commute punishments ...” according to article 87 of the Italian Constitution. Like other acts of the president, the pardon requires the countersignature of the competent government minister. The Constitutional Court of Italy has ruled that the Minister of Justice is obliged to sign acts of pardon.^{[citation needed]}

The pardon may remove the punishment altogether or change its form. Unless the decree of pardon states otherwise, the pardon does not remove any incidental effects of a criminal conviction, such as a mention in a certificate of conduct (174 c.p.).

According to article 79 of the Italian Constitution the Parliament may grant amnesty (article 151 c.p.) and pardon (article 174 c.p.) by law deliberated a majority of two thirds of the components.

Poland[link]

In Poland, the President is granted the right of pardon by Article 139 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. As for October 2008, 7819 people were pardoned, while 3046 people's appeals were declined.

• Lech Wałęsa
  • approved - 3,454
  • declined - 384
• Aleksander Kwaśniewski
  • approved - 3,295 (the first term); 795 (the second term); total - 4,090
  • declined - 993 (the first term); 1,317 (the second term); total - 2,310
• Lech Kaczyński (until October 2007)
  • approved - 77
  • declined - 550

Russia[link]

The President of the Russian Federation is granted the right of pardon by Article 89 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The Pardon Committee manages lists of people eligible for pardon and directs them to the President for signing. While President Boris Yeltsin frequently used his power of pardon, his successor Vladimir Putin was much more hesitant; in the final years of his presidency he did not grant pardons at all.

De-jure pardon can be requested after half of the sentence has been served (one year minimum), de facto even after sentence made in force. But in practice, the president reduced the sentence only to those eligible for parole.

There were only 2 pardons where full sentences were discarded: one for espionage (20 years sentence), another for robbery (fled under arrest).

South Africa[link]

Under section 84(2)(j) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996), the President of the Republic of South Africa is responsible for pardoning or reprieving offenders. This power of the President is only exercised in highly exceptional cases.

To pardon a person is to forgive a person for his/her deeds. The pardon process is therefore not available to persons who maintain their innocence and is not an advanced form of appeal procedure.

Pardon is only granted for minor offences after a period of 10 years has elapsed since the relevant conviction.

For many serious offences (for example if the relevant court viewed the offence in such a serious light that direct imprisonment was imposed) pardon will not be granted even if more than 10 years have elapsed since the conviction.

Spain[link]

The "derecho de gracia" (right of grace) or "indulto" (pardon) is acknowledged by the Spanish Constitution of 1978 as a privilege of the King of Spain (article 62.i: "Functions of the King"). The Spanish Constitution defines it as a renounce on the State's part of its own punitive power on behalf of an individual, founded on reasons of equity or public interest. The Constitution subjects royal pardons to the Law and forbids general pardons, so they have to be granted individually. Theoretically, royal pardon can be granted for the general offense or the accessory offenses alone; if it is granted for the general offense, the accessory ones it implies are also pardoned, with the exception of punishments involving political rights (i.e., removal of the right to run for a public office as a result of a sentence), which have to be explicitly mentioned in the pardon decree if they are going to be pardoned.

The procedure and requirements for the grant of the pardon are given by the Law of 18 June, 1870, modified by the Law 1/1988 of 14 January. The application for royal pardon has to be carried out by the convicted person himself, his relatives or any other person in his name. The convicting Court will then issue a report of the case, which shall be considered along with the public comments of the Prosecutor and the victims of the crime if there were any. All this is gathered by the Minister of Justice, who will present the pardon issue it to the Cabinet of Ministers. If the Cabinet decides pardon to be granted, then the Minister of Justice will recommend it to be granted to the King. Pardons are issued by Royal Decree and have to be published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado (the Public Journal).

Pardons are not commonly conceded in Spain but for offenders convicted for minor crimes who are about to complete their sentence and have shown good behaviour and repentance. Dating back to medieval times, several organisations and religious brotherhoods still hold the right of granting pardons as part of some privilege or other granted to them by the King of Spain. The scope of this privilege depends on the royal charter received by the organisation when their right to concede pardons was granted, though it usually holds only for minor offenses in very especial conditions; this right is implicitly acknowledged by the public offices nowadays, though it is not exercised but following the usual procedure for royal pardons. Traditionally, they will propose some petty criminal about to end his sentence for pardon being granted to him, and he/she will be released following the tradition to which the pardon holds, usually during the Holy Week. This type of pardons are distinguished from the usual ones in that they only release the prisoner from jail, halting the sentence, but do not pardon the offense itself.

Switzerland[link]

In Switzerland, pardons may be granted by the Swiss Federal Assembly for crimes prosecuted by the federal authorities. For crimes under cantonal jurisdiction, cantonal law designates the authority competent to grant pardons (if any). In most cantons, the cantonal parliament may pardon felonies, and the cantonal government may pardon misdemeanors and minor infractions.

United Kingdom[link]

The power to grant pardons and reprieves in the United Kingdom is known as the royal prerogative of mercy. It was traditionally in the absolute power of the monarch to pardon and release an individual who had been convicted of a crime from that conviction and its intended penalty. Pardons were granted to many in the 18th century on condition that the convicted felons accept transportation overseas, such as to Australia. The first General Pardon in England was issued in celebration of the coronation of Edward III in 1327. In 2006 all British soldiers executed for cowardice during World War I were pardoned, resolving a long-running controversy about the justice of their executions.^[7] (See Armed Forces Act 2006.)

There are significant procedural differences in the present use of the royal pardon, however. Today the monarch only grants pardons on the advice of a government minister: the Justice Secretary within England and Wales, the First Minister of Scotland, or the Northern Ireland Secretary. The Defence Secretary is responsible for military cases. It is government policy to only grant pardons to those who are "morally" innocent of the offence, as opposed to those who may have been wrongly convicted by misapplication of the law. Pardons are generally no longer issued prior to conviction, but only after conviction. A pardon is no longer considered to remove the conviction itself, but only removes the penalty which was imposed. Use of the royal prerogative of mercy is now rare, particularly since the establishment of the Criminal Cases Review Commission and Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which provide a statutory remedy for miscarriages of justice.

Therefore, the granting of pardons is very rare and the vast majority of recognised miscarriages of justice were decided upon by the courts. During the Birmingham Six controversy, then Home Secretary Douglas Hurd stressed that he could only make the decision for a pardon if he was "convinced of innocence", which at the time he was not.^[8]

One notorious recent case was that of the drug smugglers John Haase and Paul Bennett. They were pardoned in July 1996 from 18-year sentences, having served ten months, on the advice of then Home Secretary Michael Howard.^[9] This was intended to reward them for information they gave to the authorities, but there was speculation about Howard’s motives.^[10] In 2008, they were given 20-year and 22-year sentences after it was found that their information was unreliable.

In 1980, after the courts refused to, the Home Secretary William Whitelaw used the royal prerogative of mercy to free David Cooper and Michael McMahon, both accused of murder and convicted on poor evidence.^[11] They died in the 1990s, and were fully cleared posthumously.^[12]

According to the Act of Settlement a pardon cannot prevent a person from being impeached by Parliament, but may rescind the penalty following conviction. In England and Wales nobody may be pardoned for an offence under section 11 of the Habeas Corpus Act 1679 (unlawfully transporting prisoners out of England and Wales).^[13]

United States[link]

Federal law[link]

In the United States, the pardon power for federal crimes is granted to the President of the United States under Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution which states that the President "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment." The Supreme Court of the United States has interpreted this language to include the power to grant pardons, conditional pardons, commutations of sentence, conditional commutations of sentence, remissions of fines and forfeitures, respites and amnesties.^[14]

All federal pardon petitions are addressed to the President, who grants or denies the request. Typically, applications for pardons are referred for review and non-binding recommendation by the Office of the Pardon Attorney, an official of the United States Department of Justice. The percentage of pardons and reprieves granted varies from administration to administration (fewer pardons have been granted since World War II).^[15]

The pardon power was controversial from the outset; many Anti-Federalists remembered examples of royal abuses of the pardon power in Europe, and warned that the same would happen in the new republic. Alexander Hamilton defended the pardon power in Federalist Papers, particularly in Federalist No. 74. In his final day in office, George Washington granted the first high-profile federal pardon to leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion.

Many pardons have been controversial. Critics argue that pardons have been used more often for the sake of political expediency than to correct judicial error. One of the more famous recent pardons was granted by President Gerald Ford to former President Richard Nixon on September 8, 1974, for official misconduct which gave rise to the Watergate scandal. Polls showed a majority of Americans disapproved of the pardon, and Ford's public-approval ratings tumbled afterward. Other controversial uses of the pardon power include Andrew Johnson's sweeping pardons of thousands of former Confederate officials and military personnel after the American Civil War, Jimmy Carter's grant of amnesty to Vietnam-era draft dodgers, George H. W. Bush's pardons of 75 people, including six Reagan administration officials accused and/or convicted in connection with the Iran-Contra affair, and Bill Clinton's commutation of sentences for 16 members of FALN in 1999 and of 140 people on his last day in office, including billionaire fugitive Marc Rich. Most recently, George W. Bush's commutation of the prison term of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was controversial.

The Justice Department recommends anyone requesting a pardon must wait five years after conviction or release prior to receiving a pardon. A presidential pardon may be granted at any time, however, and as when Ford pardoned Nixon, the pardoned person need not yet have been convicted or even formally charged with a crime. Clemency may also be granted without the filing of a formal request and even if the intended recipient has no desire to be pardoned. In the overwhelming majority of cases, however, the Pardon Attorney will consider only petitions from persons who have completed their sentences and, in addition, have demonstrated their ability to lead a responsible and productive life for a significant period after conviction or release from confinement.^[16]

It appears that a pardon can be rejected, and must be affirmatively accepted to be officially recognized by the courts. Acceptance also carries with it an admission of guilt.^[17] However, the federal courts have yet to make it clear how this logic applies to persons who are deceased (such as Henry Ossian Flipper - who was pardoned by Bill Clinton), those who are relieved from penalties as a result of general amnesties and those whose punishments are relieved via a commutation of sentence (which cannot be rejected in any sense of the language.)^[18]

While a presidential pardon will restore various rights lost as a result of the pardoned offense and should lessen to some extent the stigma arising from a conviction, it will not erase or expunge the record of that conviction. Therefore, even if a person is granted a pardon, they must still disclose their conviction on any form where such information is required, although they may also disclose the fact that they received a pardon.^[19] In addition, most civil disabilities attendant upon a federal felony conviction, such as loss of the right to vote and hold state public office, are imposed by state rather than federal law, and also may be removed by state action. Because the federal pardon process is exacting and may be more time-consuming than analogous state procedures, pardon recipients may wish to consult with the appropriate authorities in the state of their residence regarding the procedures for restoring their state civil rights.

A symbolic use of the presidential pardon is the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation each Thanksgiving, in which a domestic turkey is pardoned from being slaughtered for Thanksgiving dinner and allowed to live out its life on a farm.

State law[link]

The pardon power of the President extends only to offenses cognizable under federal law. However, the governors of most of the 50 states have the power to grant pardons or reprieves for offenses under state criminal law. In other states, that power is committed to an appointed agency or board, or to a board and the governor in some hybrid arrangement (in some states the agency is merged with that of the parole board, as in the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board).

Nine states in the United States have Boards of Pardons and Paroles that exclusively grant all state pardons. Alabama (Board of Pardons and Paroles), Connecticut (Board of Pardons and Paroles), Georgia (Board of Pardons and Paroles), Idaho (Commission of Pardons and Paroles), Minnesota (Board of Pardons), Nebraska (Board of Pardons), Nevada (Board of Pardon Commissioners), South Carolina (Board of Probation, Parole and Pardon), and Utah (Board of Pardons and Parole) are the nine states in the United States with all state pardons granted through state boards.

On at least two occasions, state governors — George Ryan of Illinois and Toney Anaya of New Mexico — have commuted all death sentences in their respective states prior to leaving office.^{[citation needed]}

Related concepts[link]

These terms differ subtly from country-to-country, but generally:^[20][21]

• Amnesty: 'Forgetting' the crime, e.g. if a car thief witnesses a murder, he will often be granted amnesty for his crime in order to allow him to testify against the murderer, or after a civil war a mass amnesty may be granted to absolve all participants of guilt and 'move on'. Weapon amnesties are often granted so that people can hand in weapons to the police without any legal questions being asked as to where they obtained them/why they had them/etc.
• Commutation: Substituting the penalty for a crime with the penalty for another, whilst still remaining guilty of the original crime (e.g., in the USA, someone who is guilty of murder may have their sentence commuted to life imprisonment rather than death)
• Remission: Complete or partial cancellation of the penalty, whilst still being considered guilty of said crime (i.e., reduced penalty).
• Reprieve: Temporary postponement of a punishment, usually so that the accused can mount an appeal (especially if he or she has been sentenced to death)^[22]
• Clemency: Catch-all term for all of the above, or just referring to amnesty and pardons.

Controversy[link]

Among those who see some legitimate use for the power to pardon in some cases, there are those who see it as being susceptible to abuse if applied inconsistently, selectively, arbitrarily, or without strict, publicly accessible guidelines.

The principle of the rule of law is intended to be a safeguard against such arbitrary governance. The rule of law, in its most basic form, is the principle that no one is above the law. Thomas Paine stated in his pamphlet Common Sense (1776): "For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other."

The history of this debate reaches at least as far back as Plato, and evidence of it is found in many cultures (see Overview of the Rule of Law).

See also[link]

• Ius strictum
• Rule of Law

References[link]

External links[link]

Look up pardon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Canada

• Pardon application for Canada

United States

• List of pardon/clemency policies for various U.S. states
• USDOJ Office of the Pardon Attorney
• State by State listing of Pardon Information

Tarik O'Regan ( /ˈtærɨk oʊˈriːɡən/), full name Tarik Hamilton O'Regan^[1] (born 1 January 1978) is a British composer, partly of Algerian extraction.^[2] His compositions number over 90^[3] and are partially represented on 25 recordings^[4] which have been recognised with two GRAMMY^[5] nominations. He is also the recipient of two British Composer Awards.^[6][7] O'Regan has served on the Faculties of Columbia University as a Fulbright Chester Schirmer Fellow, The Radcliffe Institute of Harvard University as a Radcliffe Fellow, Yale University, Trinity College in the University of Cambridge and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton as Director's Visitor.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

Life and career[link]

Early life and education (1978–2001)[link]

Tarik O'Regan was born in London in 1978. He grew up predominantly in Croydon^[13] in South London, spending some of his early childhood in Morocco, where his mother was born, and Algeria.^[1][2] He was educated at Whitgift School then Pembroke College, Oxford, where he studied music and, in 1997, he received his first commissions from the Choir of New College, Oxford (conducted by Edward Higginbottom) and James Bowman.^[3] Following the completion of his undergraduate studies in 1999, O'Regan began serving as the classical recordings reviewer for The Observer newspaper, a position he held until 2003.^[14] During this time he also worked for JPMorgan Chase, the investment bank.^[15][16] He completed his postgraduate studies under the direction of Robin Holloway at Cambridge, where he was appointed Composer in Residence at Corpus Christi College in 2000 and formally began his career as a composer,^[17] with his first published works appearing in 2001 on the Finnish Sulasol imprint.^[18]

Early compositional career (2002–2008)[link]

2002 marked two important London premieres: those of Clichés with the London Sinfonietta and The Pure Good of Theory with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.^[3] In 2004 O'Regan moved to New York City to take up the Chester Schirmer Fulbright Fellowship at Columbia University and subsequently a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship at Harvard. During this period, his composition Sainte won the Vocal category of the 2005 British Composer Awards^[6] and his debut disc, VOICES was released on the Collegium label. From 2007 O'Regan began dividing his time between the UK and the US when he was appointed Fellow Commoner in the Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge, a position he held until 2009.^[15] During his tenure at Cambridge, his composition Threshold of Night won the Liturgical category of the 2007 British Composer Awards^[7] and Scattered Rhymes, his first CD on the Harmonia Mundi label, performed by the Orlando Consort and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir conducted by Paul Hillier, was released in 2008.

[edit] Threshold of Night and broadcasting (2008–2011)

O'Regan's second disc on the Harmonia Mundi label, Threshold of Night, appeared in late 2008 and awakened a wider interest in his work, demonstrated by the CD garnering two GRAMMY Award nominations in 2009: Best Classical Album, Best Choral Performance.^[5] After this, he increased his output as a music commentator in print^[19] and on air, especially on BBC Radio 3^[20][21] and BBC Radio 4.^[22] This aspect of his career broadened with the broadcasting in 2010 on BBC Radio 4 of Composing New York, a documentary written and presented by O'Regan.^[23][24][25] In the same year, he was appointed to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton as a Director's Visitor and made his BBC Proms debut with Latent Manifest performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. O'Regan's third album on the Harmonia Mundi label, Acallam na Senórach: an Irish Colloquy (based on the 12th Century Middle Irish narrative of the same name) was released in October, 2011.

[edit] Heart of Darkness (2011–present)

For the full article on the opera, see Heart of Darkness (opera)

In 2011, Heart of Darkness, O'Regan's chamber opera in one act, with an English-language libretto by artist Tom Phillips, based on the novella of the same name by Joseph Conrad was premiered at the Linbury Theatre of the Royal Opera House.^[26] The idea for the opera first came to O'Regan in 2001.^[27] It received wide critical attention and marked O'Regan's first foray into operatic writing.

Music[link]

Style[link]

O'Regan's music is mostly written in tonal, extended-tonal and modal languages (or a combination of all three), often with complicated rhythmic effects and dense textural variation.^{[28][29][30][31]}

Influences[link]

In various radio and print interviews, O'Regan has stated that he "came to music quite late", mentioning the age of 13 as when he first was able to read music, and has listed five primary influences on his work:^{[1][2][14][32][33]}

1. Renaissance vocal writing: from some of the repertoire performed by the College choirs at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge where he was educated, although O'Regan describes himself as being "a pretty bad singer".
2. The music of North Africa: from his own maternal heritage and time spent in Algeria and Morocco during his youth.
3. British rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s: such as The Who and Led Zeppelin, first encountered in his mother's LP collection.
4. Jazz: predominantly artists recorded on the Blue Note label in the 1950s and 1960s jazz, an interest first explored in his father's LP collection.
5. Minimalist music

An article in The Irish Times on 23 November 2010 suggested that O'Regan is also interested in his Irish heritage. Published on the occasion of the first performance of Acallam na Senórach (a setting of The Middle Irish narrative of the same name), the article stated that Sir William Rowan Hamilton is a direct ancestor of O'Regan (his great-great-great-grandfather), whose middle name is Hamilton.^[34]

Critical reception[link]

• His 2006 debut disc, VOICES (Collegium Records COL CD 130), recorded by the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, was released to critical acclaim, heralding O’Regan as one of the most original and eloquent of young British composers (The Observer, London),^[35] breathing new life into the idiom (The Daily Telegraph, London).^[36] International Record Review declared the recording a committed, persuasive and highly accomplished performance of an exceptional composing voice of our time,^[37] while BBC Music Magazine gave the disc a double five-star rating.^[38]

• After the June 2006 premiere of Scattered Rhymes at the Spitalfields Festival, Geoff Brown, in The Times (London), described O’Regan’s gift for lyric flight [as] boundless. You might have to reach back to Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music, or even Tallis, to find another British vocal work so exultant.^[39]

• Scattered Rhymes (2008), O'Regan's first disc from Harmonia Mundi, was described as a stunning recording (BBC Radio 3 CD Review),^[40] exquisite and delicate (The Washington Post),^[41] a fascinating disc (The Daily Telegraph, London)^[42] and typically unfaultable (BBC Music Magazine).^[43]

• The 2008 release of Threshold of Night marked O'Regan's international breakthrough. The disc debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard chart^[44] and garnered two GRAMMY nominations^[5] in 2009 before going on to receive wide critical acclaim.^[45]

• The 2010 BBC Proms premiere of Latent Manifest^[46] performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Litton, was widely reviewed in London: [a] personal canvas, taking us a long way from a literal reworking into the realms of evanescent fantasy, with delicately evocative results (The Guardian, London),^[47] ...a beguiling response to response itself – a mirage of intimations and allusions to [O’Regan’s] own experience of hearing Bach’s third solo Violin Sonata (The Times, London),^[48] a gracefully-controlled meditation on a single Bach phrase (The Independent, London).^[49][50]

• The premiere production of O'Regan's first opera, Heart of Darkness (2011), opened to largely positive reviews, both in print an online. Anna Picard described the opera as an "audacious, handsome debut"^[51] in The Independent on Sunday and Stephen Pritchard, in The Observer, explained that "the brilliance of [the] opera lies in its ability to convey all that horror without the compulsion to show it – the ultimate psychodrama – and to employ music of startling beauty to tell such a brutal tale". Pritchard also described the music as "a score of concise originality".^[52] For a full account of the critical response to the opera, see Heart of Darkness (opera).

Publications and works list[link]

Tarik O'Regan’s earliest works were published by Oxford University Press and Sulasol; since 2004 his music has been exclusively published by Novello & Company, part of the Music Sales group of companies.

Opera[link]

Orchestra[link]

Orchestra with soloist[link]

Orchestra with chorus[link]

Chamber ensemble[link]

Chamber ensemble with chorus[link]

Chorus[link]

Solo keyboard[link]

Solo voice[link]

Discography[link]

Solo album covers[link]

• The artwork for O'Regan's 2008 disc, Threshold of Night, is by Ed Ruscha.^[53]
• The artwork for O'Regan's 2008 disc, Scattered Rhymes, is by Günter Fruhtrunk (1923–1982).
• The artwork for O'Regan's 2006 disc, VOICES, is by Tom Phillips, librettist of the opera based on Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness written in collaboration with O'Regan.

Awards and recognition[link]

• 2005 British Composer Award (Vocal category) for Sainte^[6]
• 2007 British Composer Award for (Liturgical category) for Threshold of Night^[7]
• 2009 Two Grammy Award nominations (Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance) for Threshold of Night^[5]
• 2009 NEA Artistic Excellence Grant for Heart of Darkness^[54]
• 2011 Bronze Award at the 2011 World's Best Radio Programs Awards in New York.^[25]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Tarik O'Regan's Novello & Company works catalogue (2004–present)
• Tarik O'Regan's Oxford University Press works catalogue (1999–2003)

External links[link]

• Official website (www.tarikoregan.com)
• Publisher website

Shabazz the Disciple or Scientific Shabazz, is a rapper from the Red Hook Houses of Red Hook, Brooklyn.^[1] He is an original member of the Sunz of Man and Da Last Future.

Biography[link]

Shabazz is possibly best known for his guest appearance on the 1994 Gravediggaz hit single "Diary of a Madman," and for his controversial 1995 single "Death be the Penalty." He formed the duo the Disciples with Killah Priest, and later formed Celestial Souljahz with Freestyle of the Arsonists.^[2]

Shabazz released a handful of singles in the mid-90s, such as "Death be the Penalty", "Crime Saga", "The Lamb's Blood" and "Street Parables", in anticipation of his planned 1998 debut LP on GZA's GZA Entertainment imprint. However, the label folded and his relationship with the Clan soon strained, leading him to cut his Wu-affiliated ties.^[3] He is also known for being an influence on the late Big Pun.

Shabazz finally released his debut album, The Book of Shabazz (Hidden Scrollz), in 2003, featuring his past singles "The Lamb's Blood," "Crime Saga," "Street Parables," and "Organized Rime Part 2," as well as the single "Red Hook Day" b/w "Thieves in da Nite (Heist)." In 2008, Shabazz formed the group T.H.U.G. Angels with fellow Sunz of Man member Hell Razah and producer Ayatollah. The group's debut, Welcome to Red Hook Houses, was released July 8, 2008, on Babygrande Records.

Discography[link]

References[link]

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