Pinar Toprak: Captain Marvel Theme Context Turkish-American composer Pinar Toprak has composed a number of soundtracks for film, television and video games. She has been the recipient of two International Film Music Critic Association Awards as well as receiving numerous nominations for other works. Soundtracks include The Lightkeepers (2009), The Read more…
Ruth Gipps: Rhapsody for Clarinet and String Quartet Context By the time of her death in 1999, Ruth Gipps had an incredible oeuvre of music to represent her career throughout the 20th century. She initially studied oboe with Léon Goossens, piano with Arthur Alexander and composition with Gordon Jacob and Read more…
Florence Price: Snapshots Context Composed between 1947-52, Florence Price’s Snapshots is an explorative three-movement piano work. One of her most expansive piano works, Snapshots was modern for the time, with an impressionistic twist threaded throughout the movements. The Music I – Lake Mirror Although the first to appear Read more…
Libby Larsen: A Lover’s Journey Context Commissioned by The King’s Singers, Libby Larsen’s six-part male vocal suite A Lover’s Journey tells the story of love. A Lover’s Journey is set into four separate songs, with Larsen using text from William Shakespeare and James Joyce. The work was premiered on Valentine’s Read more…
Elizabeth Maconchy: Nocturne for Orchestra Context Elizabeth Maconchy was born to Irish parents in Hertfordshire, 1907. After her birth, the family moved back to rural Ireland, where Maconchy began taking piano lessons. She started to compose her own music by age six and when she was in her late teens Read more…
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel: An Suleika Context Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel is, for many, one of the most celebrated female composers today. Her incredible catalogue of chamber music in particular has pleased many musicians and audiences alike over the last few decades. However, this has not always been the case. Hensel was often limited, Read more…
Kaija Saariaho: Laterna Magica Context Kaija Saariaho was born on October 14th, 1952 in Helsinki. Her serious studies within music began with her enrolling into the Sibelius Academy. Her contemporaries include the likes of Paavo Heininen and Magnus Lindberg. She continued studying under Ferneyhough and Huber, whilst also attending summer Read more…
Caroline Shaw: Limestone & Felt Context Premiered in the Netherlands in January 2012, Caroline Shaw’s Limestone & Felt is an exciting work for cello and viola. The composer describes the work on her website: “Limestone & Felt presents two kinds of surfaces – essentially hard and soft. These are Read more…
Judith Weir: Stars, Night, Music and Light Context Judith Weir was born in 1954 in Cambridge, and at a young age she began learning the oboe. Weir in her youth performed regularly with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. She studied composition whilst at school with none other than John Read more…
Wendy Mae Chambers: Mass for Trombones Context Wendy Mae Chambers was born in 1953 in the USA. She studied at Barnard College between 1971-1975, where she received a BA in Music. She went on to study at Stony Brook University, where she earned her MA in Composition. Chambers delivers her Read more…