Sally Beamish
Encyclopedia
Sally Beamish is a British composer
of 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.
Beamish studied the viola
at the Royal Northern College of Music
, where she received lessons from Anthony Gilbert
and Lennox Berkeley
. She later studied in Germany with the Italian violinist Bruno Giuranna
.
As a violist in the Raphael Ensemble
, she recorded four discs of string sextets. However, it was as a composer that she made her mark, particularly after moving from London to Scotland. She has written a large amount of music for orchestra
, including two symphonies
and several concerto
s (for violin
, viola
, cello
, oboe
, saxophone
,saxophone quartet, trumpet
, percussion, flute
and accordion
). She has also written chamber and instrumental music, film scores, theatre music, and music for amateurs.
In September 1993 Beamish received the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for outstanding achievement in composition. In 1994 and 1995 she co-hosted the Scottish Chamber Orchestra
(SCO) composers' course in Hoy
with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
.
From 1998 to 2002 she was composer in residence with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra
and the SCO, for whom she wrote four major works.
Beamish won a 'Creative Scotland' Award from the Scottish Arts Council
which enabled her to write her oratorio for the 2001 BBC Proms - the Knotgrass Elegy premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra
and Chorus with Sir Andrew Davis.
Future projects include a second percussion concerto for Colin Currie with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Stanford Lively Arts and the Bergen Symphony Orchestra to be premiered in 2012. Also planned for 2012 is a clarsach and fiddle concerto for traditional musicians Catriona Mackay and Chris Stout
. In December 2010, it was announced that Beamish had been selected as one of twenty composers to participate in the New Music 20x12 project as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Beamish will compose a new work for the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
to be premiered in 2012.
She has a series of recordings on the BIS
label.
She lives in Stirlingshire in Scotland and has three children.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
of 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.
Beamish studied the viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
at the Royal Northern College of Music
Royal Northern College of Music
The Royal Northern College of Music is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Chorlton on Medlock, at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester and is one of four conservatories associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music...
, where she received lessons from Anthony Gilbert
Anthony Gilbert
Anthony Gilbert may refer to:*Anthony Gilbert *Anthony Gilbert *Anthony Gilbert -See also:*Tony Gilbert, Antonio Gilbert, American football player...
and Lennox Berkeley
Lennox Berkeley
Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley was an English composer.- Biography :He was born in Oxford, England, and educated at the Dragon School, Gresham's School and Merton College, Oxford...
. She later studied in Germany with the Italian violinist Bruno Giuranna
Bruno Giuranna
Bruno Giuranna is an Italian violist.According to Giuranna's website:"Bruno Giuranna, born in Milan, completed his musical studies at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome receiving his diploma in violin and viola...
.
As a violist in the Raphael Ensemble
Raphael Ensemble
The Raphael Ensemble is a classical string sextet formed in 1982 that concentrates on expanding the representation of popular and neglected works of the quintet and sextet repertoire. Their debut recording of Brahms' String Sextets was selected for BBC Radio 3's Critics' Choice of 1989...
, she recorded four discs of string sextets. However, it was as a composer that she made her mark, particularly after moving from London to Scotland. She has written a large amount of music for orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, including two symphonies
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
and several concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
s (for violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
, saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
,saxophone quartet, trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, percussion, flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
and accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
). She has also written chamber and instrumental music, film scores, theatre music, and music for amateurs.
In September 1993 Beamish received the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for outstanding achievement in composition. In 1994 and 1995 she co-hosted the Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is Scotland's national chamber orchestra, based in Edinburgh. One of Scotland’s five National Performing Arts Companies, the SCO performs throughout Scotland, including annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland. The SCO appears...
(SCO) composers' course in Hoy
Hoy
Hoy is an island in Orkney, Scotland. With an area of it is the second largest in the archipelago after the Mainland. It is connected by a causeway called The Ayre to South Walls...
with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies
Peter Maxwell Davies
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
.
From 1998 to 2002 she was composer in residence with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Swedish Chamber Orchestra
The Swedish Chamber Orchestra is Scandinavia's only full-time professional chamber orchestra. It was established in May 1995 by merging a string orchestra, the Örebro Kammarorkester with a wind ensemble, the Örebro Kammarblåsare...
and the SCO, for whom she wrote four major works.
Beamish won a 'Creative Scotland' Award from the Scottish Arts Council
Scottish Arts Council
The Scottish Arts Council is a Scottish public body that distributes funding from the Scottish Government, and is the leading national organisation for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland...
which enabled her to write her oratorio for the 2001 BBC Proms - the Knotgrass Elegy premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
and Chorus with Sir Andrew Davis.
Future projects include a second percussion concerto for Colin Currie with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Stanford Lively Arts and the Bergen Symphony Orchestra to be premiered in 2012. Also planned for 2012 is a clarsach and fiddle concerto for traditional musicians Catriona Mackay and Chris Stout
Chris Stout
Chris Stout is a fiddle/violin player from Shetland, now based in Glasgow. Stout grew up in Fair Isle, a small Shetland island, and lived there until 8 years of age before moving to Sandwick on the Shetland mainland, then on to Glasgow in the 1990s....
. In December 2010, it was announced that Beamish had been selected as one of twenty composers to participate in the New Music 20x12 project as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Beamish will compose a new work for the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is a British period instrument orchestra. The OAE is a resident orchestra of the Southbank Centre, London, associate orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and has its headquarters at Kings Place...
to be premiered in 2012.
She has a series of recordings on the BIS
BIS Records
BIS Records is a record label founded in 1973 by Robert von Bahr. It is located in Åkersberga, Sweden.BIS focuses on classical music, both contemporary and early, especially works that are not already well represented by existing recordings....
label.
She lives in Stirlingshire in Scotland and has three children.
Works
- The Lost Pibroch (1991) for the Scottish Chamber OrchestraScottish Chamber OrchestraThe Scottish Chamber Orchestra is Scotland's national chamber orchestra, based in Edinburgh. One of Scotland’s five National Performing Arts Companies, the SCO performs throughout Scotland, including annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland. The SCO appears...
- Winter Journey (1996) and Mary's Precious Boy (1999) are NativityNativity of JesusThe Nativity of Jesus, or simply The Nativity, refers to the accounts of the birth of Jesus in two of the Canonical gospels and in various apocryphal texts....
musicals for pre-school and primary school children - Monster (1996), an opera based on the life of Mary ShelleyMary ShelleyMary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
, commissioned by the Brighton FestivalBrighton FestivalThe Brighton Festival is an annual arts festival which takes place in the city of Brighton and Hove in England each May. It was founded in 1966, and is the largest multi-art form festival in England...
and Scottish OperaScottish OperaScottish Opera is the national opera company of Scotland, and one of the five national performing arts companies funded by the Scottish Government...
, with a libretto by Scottish novelist Janice GallowayJanice GallowayJanice Galloway is a writer of novels, short stories, prose-poetry, non-fiction and libretti-Biography:She is the second daughter of James Galloway and Janet Clark McBride. Her parents separated when she was four and her father died when she was six. Her sister Nora, sixteen years older, died in... - Black, White and Blue (1997) for harpsichord and string quartet
- Caledonian Road (1997), commissioned by the Glasgow Chamber Orchestra
- The Day Dawn (1997), commissioned by Contemporary Music-Making for Amateurs
- No I'm Not Afraid (1998)
- Awuya (1998) for harp
- Four Findrinny Songs (1998)
- Sun and Moon (1999), an unpublished dance project for pre-school children, with choreography by Rosina Bonsu
- The Imagined Sound of Sun on Stone (1999) for soprano saxophone and chamber orchestra
- Knotgrass Elegy (2001) commissioned by the BBC Proms
- Viola Concerto No. 2 'The Seafarer (2001), commissioned by Swedish and Scottish Chamber Orchestras, premiered by Tabea ZimmermannTabea ZimmermannTabea Zimmermann, born on October 8, 1966 in Lahr, , is a German violist.She began learning to play the viola at the age of three, and commenced piano studies at age five...
and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Joseph Swensen - Trumpet concerto for Håkan HardenbergerHåkan HardenbergerHåkan Hardenberger is a Swedish trumpeter. Taking up the trumpet at the age of eight under the guidance of hometown teacher Bo Nilsson, Hardenberger pursued further studies at the Paris Conservatoire, with Pierre Thibaud, and in Los Angeles with Thomas Stevens...
and the National Youth Orchestra of ScotlandNational Youth Orchestra of ScotlandThe National Youth Orchestras of Scotland has provided music education and performance experience for young musicians throughout Scotland since its formation in 1979....
, conducted by Martyn BrabbinsMartyn BrabbinsMartyn Brabbins is a British conductor. He studied at Goldsmiths College, London University, and later was a conducting student of Ilya Musin at the Leningrad Conservatory....
, was performed at the Proms in 2003. - Trance o Nicht (2004), a concerto for percussionist Evelyn GlennieEvelyn GlennieDame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie, DBE is a Scottish virtuoso percussionist. She was the first full-time solo percussionist in 20th-century western society.-Early life:Glennie was born and raised in Aberdeenshire...
, received its premiere in the Northern Lights Festival, TromsøTromsøTromsø is a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population, and the seventh largest city in Norway by population... - Flute concerto (2005), commissioned by the RSNORoyal Scottish National OrchestraThe Royal Scottish National Orchestra is Scotland's national symphony orchestra. Based in Glasgow, the 89-member professional orchestra also regularly performs in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, and abroad. Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company has performed full-time since 1950,...
, was premiered and recorded by Sharon BezalySharon BezalySharon Bezaly is a flutist.Bezaly was born in Israel, but lives presently in Sweden. Her virtuosity has drawn comparisons to David Oistrakh and Vladimir Horowitz. She has been an international star since 1997, when she began her solo flute career. She made her solo debut at 14 with Zubin Mehta...
in 2005 - Shenachie, a stage musical with writer Donald Goodbrand Saunders, about the Highlands of Scotland, premiered in Gartmore in May 2006.
- Under the Wing of the Rock (2006), a viola concerto, for Lawrence PowerLawrence PowerLawrence Power is a British viola player, born 1977, noted both for solo performances and for chamber music with the Nash Ensemble and Leopold String Trio.-Career:...
and the Scottish EnsembleScottish EnsembleThe Scottish Ensemble is one of Scotland's finest string ensembles, formed from some of the most highly respected string players in Europe. Playing standing in a semicircle and without a conductor, it is led from the violin by Artistic Director, Jonathan Morton.Originally formed in 1969 as the...
. - St. Catharine's Service (2006), MagnificatMagnificatThe Magnificat — also known as the Song of Mary or the Canticle of Mary — is a canticle frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services. It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn...
and Nunc DimittisNunc dimittisThe Nunc dimittis is a canticle from a text in the second chapter of Luke named after its first words in Latin, meaning 'Now dismiss...'....
, commissioned for the choir of St Catharine's College, CambridgeSt Catharine's College, CambridgeSt. Catharine’s College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473, the college is often referred to informally by the nickname "Catz".-History:...
. - The Singing (2006), a concerto for classical accordion and orchestra, commissioned by the Cheltenham FestivalCheltenham FestivalThe Cheltenham Festival is one of the most prestigious meetings in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, and has race prize money second only to the Grand National...
and the Melbourne Symphony OrchestraMelbourne Symphony OrchestraThe Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Melbourne, Australia. It has 100 permanent musicians. Melbourne has the longest continuous history of orchestral music of any Australian city and the MSO is the oldest professional orchestra in Australia...
with Beryl Calver Jones and Gerry Mattock. First performed by James CrabbJames CrabbJames Crabb, is a classical accordion player.Scottish born James Crabb is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading ambassadors of the classical accordion. He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen with classical accordion pioneer Mogens Ellegaard and was awarded the Carl...
and the Hallé Orchestra with Martyn BrabbinsMartyn BrabbinsMartyn Brabbins is a British conductor. He studied at Goldsmiths College, London University, and later was a conducting student of Ilya Musin at the Leningrad Conservatory....
at the Cheltenham Festival, 2006 - The Lion & the Deer (2007), cycle of 14th century Iranian poems, commissioned for The Portsmouth Grammar SchoolThe Portsmouth Grammar SchoolThe Portsmouth Grammar School was founded in 1732, and is located in the historic part of the city. It is one of the top Public schools in the UK consistently ranking highly in national reviews of teaching quality and examination results.-History:...
- Suite pour Violoncelle et Orchestre (2007), commissioned for Steven IsserlisSteven IsserlisSteven Isserlis CBE is a British cellist. He is distinguished for his diverse repertoire, distinctive sound and total command of phrasing. He studied at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and was much influenced by the great iconoclast of Russian cello playing, Daniil Shafran...
and the Saint Paul Chamber OrchestraSaint Paul Chamber OrchestraThe Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra , based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is the United States' only full-time professional chamber orchestra... - Four Songs from Hafez (2007) for tenor and piano (also version for tenor and harp). Commissioned by Leeds Lieder. First performed by Mark PadmoreMark PadmoreMark Padmore is a British tenor appearing in concerts, recitals, and opera.Born in London 8 March 1961, and raised in Canterbury, Kent in England. Padmore studied clarinet and piano prior to his gaining a choral scholarship to King's College, Cambridge...
and Roger VignolesRoger VignolesRoger Vignoles is a British pianist and accompanist. He regularly performs with the world’s leading singers – including Kiri Te Kanawa, Thomas Allen, Anne Sofie von Otter, Thomas Hampson, Gitta-Maria Sjøberg, Sarah Walker, Susan Graham, Felicity Lott, Stephan Genz, Monica Groop, Wolfgang Holzmair,...
, Leeds 2007.