Charlotte Bray
Charlotte Bray (born 1982, Oxford) is a British composer.[1] She was raised in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
Bray studied cello and composition at Birmingham Conservatoire, graduating with First Class Honours having studied with Joe Cutler. She then completed an MMus in composition with Distinction at the Royal College of Music, where she studied with Mark Anthony Turnage.[2] She studied at Tanglewood Music Centre in 2008, and in 2011 was made an Honorary Member of Birmingham Conservatoire. She has won numerous prizes, including the Royal Philharmonic Society composition prize 2010.
Bray was appointed apprentice Composer-in-Residence with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group/Sound and Music for 2009/10,[3] during which time violinist Alexandra Wood and BCMG gave the première of her violin concerto Caught in Treetops conducted by Oliver Knussen.[4] Her orchestral work Beyond a Fallen Tree was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding (UBS Soundscapes Pioneers commission), May 2010. Her song cycle Verre de Venise (tenor, piano, string quartet), was co-commission by Aldeburgh, Aix-en-Provence and Verbier Festivals in 2010. And Scenes from Wonderland by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, for soloist Jennifer Pike, and violinists from London Music Masters, 2011.
July 2012 saw the première of At the Speed of Stillness, a BBC Proms commission, with Sir Mark Elder conducting the Aldeburgh World Orchestra. Also, Invisible Cities, commissioned by Verbier Festival and performed by Lawrence Power and Julien Quentin; and Making Arrangements, a new chamber opera written for Tête à Tête Opera Festival, London.
Bray looks forward to the première of a new string quintet with Daniel Hope at Savanna Music Festival, Georgia. Also to be premièred in 2013- a sinfonia concertante piece for Ensemble 360; a soprano cycle for Claire Booth and Andrew Matthews-Owen; a Mezzo cycle for Birmingham Contemporary Music Group to be premièred at Aldeburgh Festival; and a new work for the CBSO Youth Orchestra.
Selected works
Orchestral and Large ensemble works
- At the Speed of Stillness for orchestra (2012)
- Scenes from Wonderland for solo violin & orchestra (2011)
- Caught in Treetops for solo violin & large ensemble (2010)
- Beyond a Fallen Tree for orchestra (2009)
- In The Cold Light of Day for orchestra (2007/9)
- Beneath The Dawn Horizon for large ensemble (2008)
Chamber and Solo works
- Replay for piano, violin, viola, cello (2011)
- A Match with the Moon for solo violin (2010)
- Midnight Closes for soprano, piano, clarinet and cello (2010)
- Verre de Venise for tenor, piano and string quartet (2010)
- Throw Back for saxophone quartet (2009)
- Three Rhapsodies for clarinet quintet (2009) [arrangement of "Throw Back"]
- Alliance for small ensemble (2008)
- Renga Miniatures for flute, clarinet, horn, piano, violin, cello (2007)
- Off The Rails for piano (2005)