Deborah Pritchard

Deborah Pritchard was awarded a British Composer Award for her solo violin piece Inside Colour in 2017. Her music has been performed by world-class ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Philharmonia, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata and the English Symphony Orchestra, with soloists including Natalie Clein, Nicola Benedetti and Tina Thing Helseth. Recent works are Green Renewed (2020) for solo cello, commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and premiered by Susan Monks of the BBC Symphony Orchestra over lockdown, and a graphic score Colour Circle (2020), commissioned by the London Sinfonietta.

As a synaesthetic composer she has worked with visual artists such as Maggi Hambling, Hughie O'Donoghue and Icelandic sculptor Steinunn Thorarinsdottir. Her large orchestral piece The Angel Standing in the Sun, after the painting by JMW Turner, was commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra (Panufnik Scheme) and premiered by Martyn Brabbins and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at the Lichfield Festival in 2016. Her violin concerto Wall of Water after the paintings by Maggi Hambling was performed at the National Gallery by violin soloist Harriet Mackenzie and the English String Orchestra, conducted by Kenneth Woods in 2015, held to critical acclaim by Gramophone as a 'work that will take one's breath away'. She also paints music and has been commissioned a series of 'music maps' for the London Sinfonietta, described in The Times as 'beautifully illustrated...paying visual homage to those wonderful medieval maps of the world.'

Choral works include New College Service (2020), commissioned and premiered by the Choir of New College Oxford, conducted by James Lancelot to commemorate forty years since the admission of women, EXODUS (2015) performed by the BBC Singers for a BASCA concert inspired by the refugee experience on BBC Radio 3 in 2018, and Benedicite (2014) for choir and trumpet, commissioned and premiered by the Worcester College Chapel Choir and Simon Desbruslais, conducted by Nicholas Freestone to celebrate the Tercentenary of Worcester College, Oxford. She has also worked with the Christ Church Cathedral Choir, the Cantoque Ensemble and the Genesis Sixteen. 

Deborah was awarded an entrance scholarship to study composition with Simon Bainbridge for her MMus Degree at the Royal Academy of Music and was awarded her DPhil from Worcester College, Oxford where she studied with Robert Saxton. She was composer in residence at the Lichfield Festival, 2016 through the Sound and Music Embedded scheme and her work featured in the 'Hitting the right note: Amazing Women of the Royal Academy of Music' exhibition from 2017-2018. She currently teaches composition tutorials at the University of Oxford and was made Associate of the Faculty of Music in 2020.  

Biography

Deborah Pritchard was awarded a British Composer Award for her solo violin piece Inside Colour in 2017. Her music has been performed by world-class ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Philharmonia, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata and the English Symphony Orchestra, with soloists including Natalie Clein, Nicola Benedetti and Tina Thing Helseth. Recent works are Green Renewed (2020) for solo cello, commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and premiered by Susan Monks of the BBC Symphony Orchestra over lockdown, and a graphic score Colour Circle (2020), commissioned by the London Sinfonietta.

As a synaesthetic composer she has worked with visual artists such as Maggi Hambling, Hughie O'Donoghue and Icelandic sculptor Steinunn Thorarinsdottir. Her large orchestral piece The Angel Standing in the Sun, after the painting by JMW Turner, was commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra (Panufnik Scheme) and premiered by Martyn Brabbins and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at the Lichfield Festival in 2016. Her violin concerto Wall of Water after the paintings by Maggi Hambling was performed at the National Gallery by violin soloist Harriet Mackenzie and the English String Orchestra, conducted by Kenneth Woods in 2015, held to critical acclaim by Gramophone as a 'work that will take one's breath away'. She also paints music and has been commissioned a series of 'music maps' for the London Sinfonietta, described in The Times as 'beautifully illustrated...paying visual homage to those wonderful medieval maps of the world.'

Choral works include New College Service (2020), commissioned and premiered by the Choir of New College Oxford, conducted by James Lancelot to commemorate forty years since the admission of women, EXODUS (2015) performed by the BBC Singers for a BASCA concert inspired by the refugee experience on BBC Radio 3 in 2018, and Benedicite (2014) for choir and trumpet, commissioned and premiered by the Worcester College Chapel Choir and Simon Desbruslais, conducted by Nicholas Freestone to celebrate the Tercentenary of Worcester College, Oxford. She has also worked with the Christ Church Cathedral Choir, the Cantoque Ensemble and the Genesis Sixteen. 

Deborah was awarded an entrance scholarship to study composition with Simon Bainbridge for her MMus Degree at the Royal Academy of Music and was awarded her DPhil from Worcester College, Oxford where she studied with Robert Saxton. She was composer in residence at the Lichfield Festival, 2016 through the Sound and Music Embedded scheme and her work featured in the 'Hitting the right note: Amazing Women of the Royal Academy of Music' exhibition from 2017-2018. She currently teaches composition tutorials at the University of Oxford and was made Associate of the Faculty of Music in 2020.  

Recordings by this composer

Recordings
Inside Colour

Inside Colour

NMC Recordings

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Compilations with this composer

Compilations
Hoxton 13 cover

The Hoxton 13

NMC Recordings

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External Links

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