Tansy Davies

Tansy Davies rose to prominence on the British scene with a sequence of ensemble works for the Composers Ensemble (Patterning), the London Sinfonietta (Torsion) and The Brunel Ensemble (The Void in this Colour), all of which bear the hallmarks of her apprenticeship under Simon Bainbridge and Simon Holt: following initial studies at Colchester Institute (French horn and composition), she freelanced professionally in orchestras and rock bands whilst studying composition with Simon Bainbridge at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and then, later, for her PhD with Simon Holt at Royal Holloway College, London, where she is Composer in Residence.

In 2006, the BBC SO and Zsolt Nagy performed and broadcast the orchestral work Tilting, and in 2007 the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and Thomas Adès gave the premiere of a 20-minute commission for large ensemble, Falling Angel, in Birmingham and at the Présences festival in Paris. Other recent commissions include works for the Britten Sinfonia, the CBSO Youth Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia, the Norwegian ensemble BIT 20, and a large-scale multi-media work, Elephant and Castle, for the 2007 Aldeburgh Festival.

In her recent work, Davies has found an accommodation between the worlds of the avant-garde and experimental rock, between – in the words of one critic – Xenakis and Prince. Filled with sounds of cracking, slapping, whipping and scraping, it is music that is utterly contemporary, inhabiting the same urban landscape as industrial techno and electronica.

Future projects include new works for the Northern Sinfonia, the Cheltenham Festival, and the BBC Concert Orchestra.