Errollyn Wallen CBE | |
|---|---|
 Wallen at Snape Maltings | |
| Born | 10 April 1958 |
| Alma mater | Goldsmiths, University of London; King's College London; King's College, Cambridge |
| Years active | 1976–present errollynwallen.com |
| Relatives | Byron Wallen |
| Website | www |
Errollyn Wallen CBE (born 10 April 1958 [1] ) is a Belize-born British composer and musician.
Errollyn Wallen moved to London, England, from Belize with her family when she was two years old. [2] While her parents moved to New York in the United States, she and her three siblings (one of whom is the trumpeter Byron Wallen) were brought up by an aunt and uncle and she was educated at a boarding school. [3] She credits her interest in poetry and music to her uncle, whom she described in an interview as "Victorian" and responsible for her taking lessons in piano. [4]
Before studying music, she trained as a dancer at the Maureen Lyons School of Dance and the Urdang Academy, both in London. She moved to New York City to train further at the Dance Theatre of Harlem (1976–78) [1] but later abandoned her training, turned to music composition and returned to the United Kingdom. She studied music at Goldsmiths (1981) and composition at King's College London (1983), and earned an MPhil at King's College, Cambridge. [5] [3] Wallen has stated that she had begun composing professionally before her studies at Cambridge University. [4]
Her memoir Becoming a Composer was published in November 2023. [6] [7] Leah Broad concluded in a review by saying: "Becoming A Composer is a generous, warm-hearted book that all aspiring musicians should read. Her message that very real difficulties can be best faced with kindness, consideration, and collaboration feels important at the present moment, giving a blueprint for an optimistic future for classical music. ‘I am glad that I eventually gave myself the permission to do this thing’, she writes, ‘there is endless treasure if we can but dare to walk the path that opens up for each of us." [8]
Wallen's music draws on a wide range of influences, including avant-garde classical music, as well as popular songwriting. Her work has been performed in leading concert halls and theatres around the world.
Her first orchestral commission was a concerto for percussion and orchestra, written for percussionist Colin Currie and premiered by him during the finals of the BBC Young Musician competition in 1994. [9] [10] This piece was subsequently performed at the 1998 BBC Proms, making Wallen the first black female composer to receive a performance at that festival. [11]
Her compositions include the "multi-media song cycle" Jordan Town (2001), Dervish for cello and piano (2001), La Luga for guitar quintet (2002), the opera Another America: Earth (2003), and All the Blues I See for flute and string quartet (2004).
In 2006, she co-wrote a song with the astronaut Steve MacLean while he was aboard the space shuttle STS-115.
In 2007, Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Leipzig Ballet performed Wallen's work The Tempest, with choreography by James McMenemy. Her opera The Silent Twins, with a libretto by April De Angelis, was first performed by the Almeida Opera in 2007.
In June 2008, Wallen had a world premiere of Carbon 12- A Choral Symphony with the Welsh National Opera.
In 2010, her piano quintet Music for Tigers was performed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City as part of the Summergarden concert series. [12]
In 2012, her song "Daedalus" from the album Errollyn served as the opening and closing theme for the BBC drama One Night , and her "Principia", which has lyrics about science, was featured in the London Paralympics Opening Ceremony.
In 2014, Melodia Women's Choir of New York City commissioned and performed the World Premiere of Full Fathom Five. [13]
In 2017, her work, Mighty River, which marks the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in England, was performed at the Southbank New Music Biennial. [14]
The premiere of her Piano Concerto, which was commissioned by Julian Lloyd-Webber, then outgoing principal of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, was planned for June 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The work was ultimately first performed on 4 November 2022 by the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire's Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Seal, at the conservatoire's Bradshaw Hall, with soloist Rebeca Omordia. [15]
In 2004, Wallen recorded an album of her own songs and solo piano music, entitled Errollyn. Her CDs include: The Girl In My Alphabet, Meet Me at Harold Moores, featured on the Brodsky Quartet Mood Swings alongside Björk, Sting and Elvis Costello.
Wallen's music is published by Peters Edition. [16]
Wallen was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2007 Birthday Honours and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours, [17] both for services to music. She has also received an Ivors Composer Award. [18] In 2018, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women. [18] Wallen was the recipient of the 2020 Incorporated Society of Musicians Distinguished Musician Award. [19]
On 3 January 2022, Wallen was chosen by presenter Donald Macleod to be BBC Radio 3's Composer of the Week . [20]
In October 2020, Wallen was appointed visiting professor of composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. [21]
Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. Among his best-known works are his Pavane, Requiem, Sicilienne, nocturnes for piano and the songs "Après un rêve" and "Clair de lune". Although his best-known and most accessible compositions are generally his earlier ones, Fauré composed many of his most highly regarded works in his later years, in a more harmonically and melodically complex style.
Clément François Théodore Dubois was a French Romantic composer, organist, and music teacher.
Joanna Clare MacGregor is a British concert pianist, conductor, composer, and festival curator. She is Head of Piano at the Royal Academy of Music and a professor of the University of London. She was artistic director of the International Summer School & Festival at Dartington Hall from 2015 to 2019.
Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: The Tempest (2004), Violin Concerto (2005), Tevot (2007), In Seven Days (2008), and Polaris (2010).
Sir James Loy MacMillan, TOSD is a Catholic Scottish classical composer and conductor.
Thea Musgrave CBE is a Scottish composer of opera and classical music. She has lived in the United States since 1972.
Dame Judith Weir is a British composer serving as Master of the King's Music. Appointed in 2014 by Queen Elizabeth II, Weir is the first woman to hold this office.
Sarah Frances Beamish is a British composer and violist. Her works include chamber, vocal, choral and orchestral music. She has also worked in the field of music, theatre, film and television, as well as composing for children and for her local community.
Mark Simpson is a British composer and clarinettist from Liverpool. In 2006, he became notable for winning both the BBC Young Musician of the Year and the BBC Proms/Guardian Young Composer of the Year, making him the first and, to date, only person to win both competitions.
Madeleine Louise Mitchell MMus, ARCM, GRSM, FRSA is a British violinist who has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in over forty countries. She has a wide repertoire and is particularly known for commissioning and premiering new works and for promoting British music in concert and on disc.
Cheryl Frances-Hoad is a British composer.
Margaret Ruth Fingerhut is a British classical pianist. She is known for her innovative recital programmes and recordings in which she explores lesser known piano repertoire.
Charlotte Bray is a British composer. She was championed by the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London Sinfonietta and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, BBC Symphony Orchestra. Her music has been performed by many notable conductors such as: Sir Mark Elder, Oliver Knussen, Daniel Harding, and Jac van Steen.
Nimrod Borenstein is a British-French-Israeli composer whose music is widely performed throughout Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, and Japan. His works are becoming part of the repertoire of many ensembles and orchestras.
Chineke! Orchestra is a British orchestra, the first professional orchestra in Europe to be made up of majority Black & ethnically diverse musicians. The word Chineke derives from the Igbo language meaning "God". The orchestra was founded by musician Chi-chi Nwanoku CBE and their debut concert was in 2015 at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.
This is a summary of the year 2018 in British music.
Lauren Zhang is an American-born pianist who won the BBC's Young Musician Contest in May 2018. In 2010, Zhang moved with her parents to Birmingham, United Kingdom, where she studied music at the junior department of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire while attending King Edward VI High School for Girls. She began studying at Harvard University in 2020.
Byron Wallen is a British jazz trumpeter, composer and educator. He was described by Jazzwise as "one of the most innovative, exciting and original trumpet players alive". As characterised by All About Jazz, "He does not fit into any pigeonhole, however, and is also something of a renaissance man: he has long been involved in cognitive psychology and also travels widely, spending extended periods in South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Morocco, Indonesia and Belize ."
Daniel Fardon is a British composer of contemporary classical music.
The London Chamber Ensemble is a flexible ensemble of 3-12 players, including voice, comprising some of the UK's most outstanding chamber musicians, with a permanent core string quartet since 2018.
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