Composer of the Week: Errollyn Wallen

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Errollyn Wallen: Public and Private

Public and Private

Errollyn Wallen

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Errollyn Wallen, Public and Private

Donald Macleod and Errollyn Wallen discuss the role of the composer in today’s world.

Donald Macleod chats to Errollyn Wallen about her most public and meaningful commissions, her daily routine and the role of the composer in today’s world.

Donald Macleod and Errollyn Wallen discuss the role of the composer in today’s world.

Belize-born British composer Errollyn Wallen has been called a “renaissance woman of contemporary music”. She’s a remarkably versatile and prolific composer, pianist and songwriter and one of our most in-demand musical voices today. She was the first black woman to have a piece performed at the Proms in 1998 and her music opened the 2012 Paralympic games. She's even been performed in space, aboard Nasa’s STS115 mission. Wallen writes in a kaleidoscopic range of styles; her music constantly crosses and re-crosses musical boundaries and it brims over with a sense of adventure and delight. All this week, Donald Macleod gets to know Errollyn as she dials into his studio from her Scottish lighthouse where she retreats to concentrate on her work.

Today, Donald and Errollyn talk about some of her most public and meaningful commissions, marking large events and anniversaries, as well as pieces dedicated to people close to her. She speaks about the importance of a composer being “in the world” and her role in reflecting society through music. We hear about her daily life as a composer, and how she feels the world of classical music is changing for the future. 

Jerusalem, our clouded hills
Golda Schultz, soprano
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska, conductor

gun gun gun
Heloise Werner, soprano
Hermes Experiment

Mighty River
Orchestra X

Cello Concerto (excerpt)
Matthew Sharp, cello
Orchestra X
Nicholas Kok, conductor

See That I am God
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
Stephen Cleobury, conductor


Produced in Cardiff by Amelia Parker

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod talks to British composer Errollyn Wallen about her life and career.

Donald Macleod talks to Errollyn Wallen - a versatile and prolific composer, pianist and songwriter and one of our most in-demand musical voices today - about her life and career.

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