NICOLA LEFANU
Nicola LeFanu has composed around one hundred works for a variety of mediums. Her music is published by Edition Peters and by Novello and has been widely played, broadcast and recorded. She has composed eight operas, which have been staged in UK, Ireland and USA.
She was born in England in 1947 to Irish parents; her mother was the composer Elizabeth Maconchy. LeFanu studied at Oxford, RCM and Harvard. She is active in many aspects of the musical profession and was Professor of Music at University of York, 1994-2008.
In April 2017 she celebrated her seventieth birthday, and was BBC Radio 3 ’Composer of the Week’. 2017 also saw premieres of five new works, including ‘The Crimson Bird’, commissioned by the RPS for BBCSO.
In 2020 a CD with four of her major orchestral pieces was released by NMC, supported by a grant from the PRSF. It features the RTE NSO and the BBCSO.
Receent works include both chamber music and choral pieces. Her new work, ‘Triptych’ for baritone and chamber orchestra (text, Rowan Williams) will be premiered in 2020 by the Welsh Chamber Orchestra. Current projects include a string quintet, a solo piano work and a piece for saxophone orchestra.