Lucy Armstrong

Lucy Armstrong
Born (1991-09-02) September 2, 1991 (age 33)
EducationUniversity of Bristol, Royal Northern College of Music
OccupationComposer

Lucy Armstrong (born 2 September 1991) is a British composer based in London, who was appointed Fellow of Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London in 2018. She is currently doing a three year residency at Glydnebourne.[1]

Armstrong composed a chamber opera, Nadja's Song, for the Bergen National Opera which premiered in Bergen and was later performed at the Tête à Tête Opera Festival in London and in Bogotá.[2][3][4]

In 2022, Salford Choral Society and The Piccadilly Symphony orchestra premiered a 25 minute work for chorus and orchestra by Armstrong and Rebecca Hurst.[5] In 2023, The Cambridge Philharmonic and chorus commissioned a piece which was premiered in March 2023.

Conductor Chloé van Soeterstède and The Arch Sinfonia commissioned a 20 minute saxophone concerto which was premiered with Gillian Blair playing alto saxophone in June 2023.[6]

She has composed for: Psappha, London Sinfonietta, Glyndebourne, Grange Park Opera, Fontana Mix (Italy) Size Zero Opera, The Borealis Saxophone Quartet, RNCM Engage, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, The Meon Valley Orchestra, John Miller's Brazmataz, Gillian Blair, Erin Royer and A4 Brass.[7][8][9] Her work has been performed in venues such as St Martin-in-the-Fields, The Lyric Theatre, The Bridgewater Hall, RADA Studios and St James Piccadilly and her music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3.[10]

Armstrong was an Royal Philharmonic Society composer in 2021, where she wrote a piece for horn and piano for Wigmore Hall.[11]

Education

Armstrong studied music at The University of Bristol. She then studied composition at the Royal Northern College of Music under Adam Gorb and Gary Carpenter between 2013 and 2015 where she was awarded the Alan Rawsthorne Prize for Composition in 2015 and was highly commended in the RNCM Gold Medal competition.[12] In 2017 and 2018 she then studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Julian Philips.

Selected works

Opera

Gods of the Game (written with Julian Philips, Aran O'Grady, Abel Esbenshade and Blasio Kavuma) (2022; opera)[13]

A Risk of Lobsters (2018; Chamber Opera)[14]

Tale of the Tell-Tale Tail (2017; Chamber Opera)[15]

Nadja's Song (2015; Chamber Opera)[16]

The Library (2014; Chamber Opera)

Choir and Orchestra

The Alchemical Kitchen (2023; Chorus and Symphony Orchestra)

The Gardener (2022; Chorus and Chamber Orchestra)

Orchestra

Saxophone Concerto (2023; alto saxophone and chamber orchestra)

Wind band

Life is a Daring Adventure or Nothing (2015; Wind Band)

Marine Overture (2012; Wind Band)

Chamber music

Dynamic Corpse (2022; flute, Bass Clarinet, piano, electric guitar, violin, viola and cello)

The Executioner's Pond (2019; clarinet/ bass clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, cello and double bass)

The Whale's Cabaret (2022; horn/piano)

The Other Dust (2016; alto saxophone, tenor saxophone and piano)

The Singing Fish (2016; alto saxophone and piano)

Space Adventure (2015; percussion and loop pedal)

SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT (2016; Saxophone Quartet)

Attraction (2015; solo piano)

DARTH MAHLER (2015; solo trumpet)

Melodrama for Saxophone and Piano  (2014; soprano saxophone and piano)

Vocal music

Masculine/Feminine (2015; baritone and piano)

Cheese! (2015, Vocal Octet)

Interior (2014; mezzo-soprano and piano)

References

  1. ^ Glyndebourne, Glyndebourne (March 2023). "Balancing the Score 2023". Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  2. ^ "Nadjas song til Tete-a-Tete - Bergen Nasjonale Opera". old.bno.no (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 7 November 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  3. ^ "Synger for Nadjas gjenferd". Bergens Tidende (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  4. ^ "Eventos - Universidad Nacional de Colombia". patrimoniocultural.bogota.unal.edu.co. 25 August 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  5. ^ Choral, Salford (April 2022). "Our Wonderful World".
  6. ^ Hurgul, Planet (9 May 2023). "Women of Note: Arch Sinfonia and Chloé Van Soeterstède in music by Lucy Armstrong, Ylva Skog and Emilie Mayer".
  7. ^ "Starry Night – Psappha". www.psappha.com. Archived from the original on 7 November 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  8. ^ "Caught in Treetops – Psappha". www.psappha.com. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  9. ^ "Classical Events: Caught in Treetops". Classical Events. 15 February 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  10. ^ "Lucy Armstrong - Concerts, Biography & News - BBC Music". BBC. Archived from the original on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  11. ^ Philarmonic, Royal (2021). "Lucy Armstrong – RPS Composer 2021 | Commission for Wigmore Hall as the Rosie Johnson RPS Wigmore Hall Apprentice Composer". Archived from the original on 10 December 2023.
  12. ^ "RNCM's 2015 Gold Medal Winners - Royal Northern College of Music". RNCM. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  13. ^ Park, Grange (November 2022). "Gods of the Game: a Football Opera". Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  14. ^ "Opera Makers". www.barbican.org.uk. 5 July 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  15. ^ "New Opera Scenes Square". Archived from the original on 13 July 2024.
  16. ^ "Nadjas song til Tete-a-Tete - Bergen Nasjonale Opera". old.bno.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 11 September 2018.