Charlotte Bray

The composer Charlotte Bray has emerged as an outstanding talent of her generation. Her music exhibits an uninhibited ambition and desire to communicate and is described as vivid, exhilarating, and richly expressive with a lyrical intensity.

Born in Britain in 1982, Bray studied with Joe Cutler and graduated from Birmingham Conservatoire with First Class Honours. Then, with Mark Anthony Turnage, she completed her Masters at the Royal College of Music in 2008 gaining a Distinction. She studied at Tanglewood Music Centre in 2008, and in 2011 was made an Honorary Member of Birmingham Conservatoire. She has won numerous prizes, including the RPS composition prize in 2010.

During Bray’s residency with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (2009/10), Alexandra Wood premiered her violin concerto Caught in Treetops under Oliver Knussen. The concerto appeared also in Aldeburgh Festival’s closing concert in 2011. Oxford Lieder Festival elected Bray their inaugural Composer-in-Residence in 2011, featuring several performances of her work, including a première by the baritone Roderick Williams. A highlight of the year was the performance of Scenes from Wonderland by Jennifer Pike and the LPO, a co-commission from the orchestra and London Music Masters.

Invisible Cities, commissioned by Verbier Festival and performed by Lawrence Power and Julien Quentin, premières in July 2012, followed by the première of At the Speed of Stillness at the 2012 BBC Proms, with Sir Mark Elder conducting the Aldeburgh World Orchestra.

Other notable achievements include Beyond a Fallen Tree by the LSO (UBS Soundscapes Pioneers commission) under Daniel Harding; Verre de Venise in Aldeburgh, Aix-en-Provence and Verbier (a cocommission from the three festivals) and  soprano cycle Midnight Closes, which has been performed on numerous occasions including Wigmore Hall, Holywell Music Room, Music in the Round and the Purcell Room.