Rhian Samuel

Rhian Samuel (born 1944) is a Welsh composer.

Education

Samuel was born in Aberdare, Wales, was educated at Reading University (BA, BMus) in the UK and Washington University, St Louis, USA (MA, PhD), and joined the teaching staff of City University, London in 1995, where she became Professor of Music in 1999 and is now Emeritus Professor. Later, she taught composition at Magdalen College, Oxford (2007–2016). Previously, she taught at the University of Reading (1984–95, as Head of Department, 1993–95) and at the St. Louis Conservatory, St. Louis, United States.[1]

Composition

Samuel has composed over 120 published works. Her music has been performed in many countries. She has written chamber, vocal, choral, and orchestral music spanning from Elegy-Symphony (St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin, cond., 1981) to Tirluniau/Landscapes (BBC commission, BBC NOW, Proms 2000); in 1983 she won the ASCAP/Rudolf Nissim Prize for her choral/orchestral work, La Belle Dame sans Merci. She has also written about music: as co-editor of the New Grove (Norton) Dictionary of Women Composers,[2] she has been prominent on issues concerning gender and music.[3] She also writes on the operas of Harrison Birtwistle, having been commissioned by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, to write programme essays on both Gawain and The Minotaur.[4] Amongst many CDs which contain her compositions, a CD entirely devoted to her chamber music, Light and Water, is issued on the Deux-Elles label. In 2006 she was awarded the Glyndŵr Award for an Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Wales and in 2016 she was awarded an Hon DMus by the University of Wales.

Her Path Through the Woods for recorder and strings was premiered at Temple of Peace, Cardiff, in April 2011 by Pamela Thorby and the Welsh Sinfonia, conducted by Mark Eager.[1]

References
  1. "Rhian Samuel". Stainer & Bell. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  2. The New Grove Dictionary of Women Composers, 1994. ISBN 0-333-51598-6
  3. Heathcote, Graham (16 September 1994). "Welsh music festival devotes month to neglected compositions by women". The Daily Gazette. AP. p. D4. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
  4. Cambridge Opera Journal, 4:2, July 1992, pp. 163–78 and 20:2, November 2008, pp. 215–36.
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