Errollyn Wallen

Errollyn Wallen (born 1958) is a Belize-born British composer.
Life.
Errollyn Wallen moved to London with her family when she was two. While her parents moved to New York, she and her three siblings (one of whom is the trumpeter Byron Wallen) were brought up by an aunt and uncle.
After a period at a boarding school, Wallen studied composition at Goldsmiths' College and at King's College London, and earned an MPhil at King's College, Cambridge.
Compositions.
Wallen's music draws on a wide range of influences, including avant-garde classical music as well as popular songwriting. Her work has been performed in leading concert halls and theatres around the world.
Her first orchestral commission was a concerto for percussion and orchestra, written for percussionist Colin Currie and premiered by him during the finals of the BBC Young Musician competition in 1994. This piece was subsequently performed at the 1998 BBC Proms, making Wallen the first black female composer to receive a performance at that festival.
Compositions include the "multi-media song cycle""Jordan Town" (2001), "Dervish" for cello and piano (2001), "La Luga" for guitar quintet (2002), the opera "Another America: Earth" (2003) and "All the Blues I See" for flute and string quartet (2004).
In 2006 she co-wrote a song with the astronaut Steve MacLean while he was aboard the space shuttle STS-115.
In 2007, Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Leipzig Ballet performed her work, "The Tempest", with choreography by James McMenemy. Her opera "The Silent Twins", with a libretto by April De Angelis, was first performed by the Almeida Opera in 2007.
In June 2008, she had a World Premiere of "Carbon 12- A Choral Symphony" with the Welsh National Opera.
In 2010, her piano quintet "Music for Tigers" was performed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City as part of the Summergarden concert series.
In 2012, her song "Daedalus" from the album "Errollyn" served as the opening and closing theme for the BBC drama "One Night", and her "Principia", which has lyrics about science, was featured in the London Paralympics Opening Ceremony.
In 2014, Melodia Women's Choir of New York City commissioned and performed the World Premiere of "Full Fathom Five".
In 2017, her work, "Mighty River", which marks the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in England, was performed at the Southbank New Music Biennial.
Recordings and publication.
In 2004, Wallen recorded an album of her own songs and solo piano music, entitled "Errollyn". Her CDs include: "The Girl In My Alphabet", "Meet Me at Harold Moores", featured on the Brodsky Quartet "Mood Swings" alongside Björk, Sting and Elvis Costello.
Wallen's music is published by Peters Edition.
Honours and awards.
Wallen was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2007 Birthday Honours and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours, both for services to music. She has also received an Ivors Composer Award. In 2018, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.