Errollyn Wallen
Grand final
Errollyn Wallen is a Belize-born British composer whose output includes twenty operas and a large catalogue of works which are performed internationally. Her latest large-scale work, ‘Jerusalem – our clouded hills’, a re-imagining of Parry’s Jerusalem for soprano and orchestra was performed at last year’s Last Night of the Proms and broadcast around the world from Royal Albert Hall. ‘THIS FRAME IS PART OF THE PAINTING’ for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, is a Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Proms commission for 2019 and was performed by Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Elim Chan, to a sold out Royal Albert Hall. Her acclaimed ‘Concerto Grosso’ was released on the NMC label in January 2020, performed by Chineke! who also premièred the chamber work ‘NNENNA’. Her opera ‘The Silent Twins’ (libretto by April De Angelis) will receive its US première in New York in 2022.
Her arrangement of Johnetta Bryant’s song, ‘I’m a Young Black Man’ (composed in response to George Floyd’s murder) for Clean Bandit and Friends has received over 88,000 views to date on YouTube. It features Grace Chatto, Sheku and Braimah Kanneh-Mason, Nicola and Stephanie Benedetti.
Other works in progress include a piano concerto (commissioned by Royal Birmingham Conservatoire) and a new opera, ‘Dido’s Ghost’, commissioned by Dunedin Consort and the Barbican which will premiere at the Barbican in June and receive its Scottish premiere at the Edinburgh Festival. Errollyn is also composing a new opera for Chicago Opera Theatre and is writing a book on composing. Errollyn Wallen’s albums include ERROLLYN, The Girl in My Alphabet, Meet Me at Harold Moores. These have travelled 7.84 million kilometres in space, completing 186 orbits around the Earth on NASA’s STS115 mission. Her latest orchestral album, PHOTOGRAPHY with Orchestra X, was voted into the Top Ten Classical Albums by USA’s National Public Radio. Peace on Earth, an EP of her choral works performed by King’s College Choir (the last recording conducted by Sir Stephen Cleobury) was released by King’s College Recordings in November 2020 to great acclaim.
Errollyn is co-curator of Spitalfields Festival 2020 and 2021. Her new radio documentary, Classical Commonwealth, has recently been broadcast on Radio 3.
Errollyn was awarded the MBE in 2007 and was made a CBE in the 2020 New Year Honours List. In 2015 she became an Honorary Fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford and in 2019 an Honorary Fellow of Goldsmiths, London. She has received an Ivor Novello Award for Classical Music, a British Composer Award and a FIPA D’Or for Best Music for a Television Series. These honours come with further garnishes: an Honorary Doctorate from York St. John’s University, one of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ’s 100 Women 2018 and one of London University’s 150 Leading Women.
It has just been announced that Errollyn Wallen is the recipient of the ISM 2020 Distinguished Musician Award, one of the highest honours within in the music industry, for services to music.
