Charlotte Bray

The composer Charlotte Bray has emerged as a distinctive and outstanding talent of her generation. Exhibiting uninhibited ambition and desire to communicate, her music is exhilarating, inherently vivid, and richly expressive with lyrical intensity. Bray has been championed by numerous world-class ensembles and orchestras, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London Sinfonietta and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

Her work has featured at the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Tanglewood, Aix-en-Provence and Verbier Festival. Several renowned conductors have performed her work and these include Sir Mark Elder, Oliver Knussen, and Jessica Cottis.

In December 2019 Natalie Clein and the Aurora Orchestra premiered The Certainty of Tides, a new work for solo cello and strings, at Kings Place, London. May 2019 saw the premiere of Germinate, a triple concerto written for the Sitkovetsky Trio and the Philharmonia, commissioned by Investec International Music Festival. An ensemble work entitled Red Swans Floating premiered in June 2019, commissioned by the Tonhalle Düsseldorf for the combined forces of notabu.ensemble and Spectra Ensemble (Gent). Also in June, pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard premiered Bring Me All Your Dreams at Aldeburgh Festival.

Recent highlights include: In Black Light commissioned by Aix-en-Provence Festival for Tabea Zimmerman (July 2018); Reflections In Time commissioned by London Sinfonietta as part of their 50th anniversary season (May 2018); Scottish premiere of Stone Dancer with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Geoffrey Paterson (March 2018); At the Speed of Stillness by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in the ISCM World Music Days Festival 2017; Voyage by The Nordic Saxophone Quartet (Torún, Poland); Black Rainbow by the DalaSinfonietta and Wermland Opera Orchestra (Falun and Karlstad, Sweden); cello concerto Falling in the Fire under Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Guy Johnston, BBC Proms 2016; and a stage work Out of the Ruins (Royal Opera House Covent Garden).

Bray’s second recording, a disc of chamber and solo works, was released in 2018 on the Richard Thomas Classical label. At the Speed of Stillness, Bray’s debut recording is available on NMC Records. Her many accolades include the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize; Lili Boulanger Prize; Critics’ Circle Award; named in The Evening Standard's Most Influential Londoners (2011); Honorary Member of Birmingham Conservatoire and named Alumni of the Year (2014).
 

Biography

The composer Charlotte Bray has emerged as a distinctive and outstanding talent of her generation. Exhibiting uninhibited ambition and desire to communicate, her music is exhilarating, inherently vivid, and richly expressive with lyrical intensity. Bray has been championed by numerous world-class ensembles and orchestras, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London Sinfonietta and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

Her work has featured at the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Tanglewood, Aix-en-Provence and Verbier Festival. Several renowned conductors have performed her work and these include Sir Mark Elder, Oliver Knussen, and Jessica Cottis.

In December 2019 Natalie Clein and the Aurora Orchestra premiered The Certainty of Tides, a new work for solo cello and strings, at Kings Place, London. May 2019 saw the premiere of Germinate, a triple concerto written for the Sitkovetsky Trio and the Philharmonia, commissioned by Investec International Music Festival. An ensemble work entitled Red Swans Floating premiered in June 2019, commissioned by the Tonhalle Düsseldorf for the combined forces of notabu.ensemble and Spectra Ensemble (Gent). Also in June, pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard premiered Bring Me All Your Dreams at Aldeburgh Festival.

Recent highlights include: In Black Light commissioned by Aix-en-Provence Festival for Tabea Zimmerman (July 2018); Reflections In Time commissioned by London Sinfonietta as part of their 50th anniversary season (May 2018); Scottish premiere of Stone Dancer with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Geoffrey Paterson (March 2018); At the Speed of Stillness by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in the ISCM World Music Days Festival 2017; Voyage by The Nordic Saxophone Quartet (Torún, Poland); Black Rainbow by the DalaSinfonietta and Wermland Opera Orchestra (Falun and Karlstad, Sweden); cello concerto Falling in the Fire under Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Guy Johnston, BBC Proms 2016; and a stage work Out of the Ruins (Royal Opera House Covent Garden).

Bray’s second recording, a disc of chamber and solo works, was released in 2018 on the Richard Thomas Classical label. At the Speed of Stillness, Bray’s debut recording is available on NMC Records. Her many accolades include the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize; Lili Boulanger Prize; Critics’ Circle Award; named in The Evening Standard's Most Influential Londoners (2011); Honorary Member of Birmingham Conservatoire and named Alumni of the Year (2014).
 

Recordings by this composer

Recordings
At the Speed of Stillness cover

At the Speed of Stillness

NMC Recordings

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Compilations with this composer

Compilations
Music of Memory

Music of Memory

NMC Recordings

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NMC Mixtape

NMC Mixtape

NMC Recordings

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External Links

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