Anna Meredith

Anna Meredith
Background information
Born 1978
Edinburgh, Scotland
Labels Moshi Moshi
Website annameredith.com

Anna Meredith (born 1978 in Edinburgh, Scotland)[1] is a Scottish composer and performer of electronic and acoustic music. She is a former composer-in-residence with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra[2] and former PRS/RPS Composer in the House with Sinfonia ViVA.[3][4]

Career

Meredith was born and brought up in South Queensferry, Edinburgh, Scotland.[5] She read for a degree in Music at York University, where she was awarded first class honours, and gained her Masters degree from the Royal College of Music.[5] In 2003, aged 24, she was made the Constant and Kit Lambert junior fellow of the Royal College of Music.[5]

Meredith first came to widespread public attention through her work froms created for the 2008 BBC Last Night of the Proms which was broadcast to 40 million people.[4][6] She has since written another BBC Prom commission, her first opera (Tarantula in Petrol Blue – with libretto by Philip Ridley) and collaborated with the beatboxer Shlomo – writing the Concerto for Beatboxer and Orchestra.[1] Meredith has been a judge for BBC Young Musician of the Year, a mentor to Goldie for the TV show Classical Goldie[4] and is a frequent guest and commentator for the BBC Proms and other BBC Radio 3 and 4 shows.

She was the classical music nominee for the 2009 Times Breakthrough Award[7] and won the 2010 Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Composers.[8]

Meredith's recent pieces include Four Tributes to 4am for orchestra, electronics and visuals by Eleanor Meredith,[9] and HandsFree, a PRS NewMusic20x12 Commission for the National Youth Orchestra, which received warm reviews after being performed as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad in the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.[1][10]

Alongside her acoustic work, Meredith has made forays into electronic music,[2] which she has performed throughout Europe alongside a diverse range of artists including supporting These New Puritans in Berlin, James Blake, Seb Rochford and Max de Wardener at Ether 2011[11] and a solo set at La Carrière de Normandoux.[12]

In 2012 Meredith released her debut EP, Black Prince Fury, on Moshi Moshi Records,[13] which a reviewer compared favourably to the work of the avant-garde jazz composer Moondog.[14]

In August 2013, Moshi Moshi Records and VF Editions released Meredith's second EP, Jet Black Raider.[15][16] In an interview with Pitchfork, Meredith noted that her second EP featured "clarinets, singing, glocks, drums, lots of cello," unlike Black Prince Fury, which was entirely synthesised.[2]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Chilton, Martin (5 January 2012). "A concert without musical instruments". Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Snapes, Laura. "Rising: Anna Meredith". Pitchfork. Pitchfork Media Inc. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  3. "Sinfonia Viva to feature Derby's 'night sounds'". BBC News. 7 October 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Composer Anna to spend two years with Viva". Derby Telegraph. 24 December 2009. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Bruce, Keith (2 October 2003). "Anna is calling the tune; The Royal College of Music is breaking with tradition to award Scot Anna Meredith its composers' fellowship". Glasgow Herald. p. 17.
  6. Hewett, Ivan (11 September 2008). "Anna Meredith: daring, challenging -and a recipe for chaos". Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  7. Barber, Martin (24 February 2009). "National award for dancer Sillis". BBC News. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  8. "Previous awards". Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  9. "About Viva". Sinfonia Viva. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  10. Ashley, Tim. "NYO/Daniel – review". Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 15 August 2013. It's a tour de force for the NYO, who performed it from memory and were greeted with a standing ovation, richly deserved.
  11. "Press Release: Ether 2011" (PDF). Southbank Centre. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  12. "Anna Meredith Composer in the House" (PDF). Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  13. Black Prince Fury at MusicBrainz (list of releases)
  14. Powell, Mike. "Anna Meredith: Black Prince Fury". Pitchfork Media Inc. Retrieved 15 August 2013. like Moondog... Meredith's music feels dense, busy and isolated, but essentially fun, as though it was designed first and foremost to amuse the people making it
  15. "ELECTRONIC COMPOSER ANNA MEREDITH RETURNS WITH STRIKING SECOND EP "JET BLACK RAIDER"". The Vinyl Factory. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  16. "Anna Meredith – Jet Black Raider EP". Moshi Moshi Records. Retrieved 15 August 2013.

External links