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Wallen, Errollyn
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BIOGRAPHY |
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© Mark Goddard
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Errollyn Wallen (b.1968)
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Errollyn Wallen - 'renaissance woman of contemporary British music' (The Observer) - is as respected a singer-songwriter of pop influenced songs as she is a composer of contemporary new music. Communication is at the centre of both worlds: engaging the audience, speaking directly to hearts and minds.
Born in Belize, Errollyn Wallen gave up her training at the Dance Theater of Harlem, New York to study composition at universities of London and Cambridge. She founded her own Ensemble X and its motto, we don’t break down barriers in music… we don’t see any, reflects her genuine, free-spirited approach and eclectic musicianship. She has been commissioned by outstanding music institutions from the BBC to the Royal Opera House and performed her songs internationally.
Errollyn Wallen’s song Daedalus appears alongside songs by Björk, Sting, Elvis Costello and Meredith Monk on the Brodsky Quartet’s recent CD 'Moodswings'. The two solo albums Meet Me at Harold Moores and most recently Errollyn feature her songs in her own voice/piano performance and in collaboration with outstanding jazz artists. Her multi-media show Jordan Town, a modern day song cycle with dance and film, was a sell-out hit at the Edinburgh Festival. The Errollyn Wallen Songbook published by Peters Edition comprises twelve of her celebrated songs for voice with piano accompaniment.
Errollyn Wallen’s quality as a writer for the human voice becomes also apparent in her more classical vocal works: Are You Worried About the Rising Cost of Funerals is a song cycle for soprano and string quartet commissioned by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and recorded on her classical solo album The Girl in My Alphabet which received rave reviews at its release. Fairy Scary comprises song settings of fairy stories for voice and small instrumental ensemble and was commissioned by the Wigmore Hall. The Dunedin Consort commissioned and world-premičred Comfort Me with Apples for soloists and instrumental ensemble with words from ‘The Song of Songs’ in September 2006.
The on-going operatic project Another America is an exploration into the black condition, past, present and future: The Royal Opera House and Nitro commissioned Another America: Earth, premičred the opera in November 2003 at the Linbury Theatre and revived the piece in 2005, including a BBC television broadcast. Another America: Fire was commissioned by Push and first seen at Sadler’s Wells in September 2004.
Errollyn Wallen’s forthcoming opera The Silent Twins about the love-hate relationship of black twin girls has been commissioned by Almeida Opera for performance in July 2007. It is based on real live events as depicted in the book by Marjorie Wallace and will be composed on a libretto by acclaimed playwright April de Angelis. Welsh National Opera have commissioned Carbon 12: A Choral Symphony, an oratorio about South Wales. The librettist is John Binias and the work will be premičred at the Welsh Millennium Centre ,Cardiff, in June 2008 with a subsequent tour.
Other stage works include the ballet Horseplay which was commissioned and choreographed by Tom Sapsford for the Royal Ballet. Horseplay is also used in a new ballet called ‘Tempest’ choreographed by James Bailey to be first performed by Leipzig Ballet in April 2007; for this occasion Leipzig Ballet commissioned a one orchestra version of Spirit Symphony to form part of the music for this dance piece. When the Wet Wind Sings for 40 voices was premičred by the Tallis Scholars in 2003 alongside Tallis’ 'Spem in Alium', the work that inspired it. A maritime theme can also be found in Errollyn Wallen’s latest choral commission from BBC Radio 3 Our English Heart, a cantata to mark the 200th anniversary of Trafalgar Day and the death of Admiral Lord Nelson; the piece was first performed in Portsmouth Cathedral on 21 October 2005 by the joint forces of Catherine Bott (soprano), the male voices of the BBC Singers and the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Stephen Cleobury.
The BBC has also been involved in the commissioning of some of Errollyn Wallen‘s most popular orchestral works: Colin Currie premičred her Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra for the Young Musician of the Year Award in 1994. This work which was selected by the British Council to represent the UK in the opening concert of the Cervantino Festival in Mexico in October 2006 where it received a rapturous reception. Spirit Symphony - Speed-Dating for Two Orchestras was first performed at the final event of the ‘Listen up!’ Festival at the Royal Festival Hall in November 2004 and won the 2005 British Composer Awards in the BBC Radio 3 Listeners’ Award category. The Philharmonia Orchestra premičred Mighty River, a new orchestral work to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery in February 2007 at Holy Trinity Church Clapham. This work is scheduled to be heard also in other UK cities directly associated with the Slave Trade.
The Orchestra of the Swan commissioned Errollyn Wallen’s Photography for string orchestra which was premičred in March 2006 and toured the UK widely. The Orchestra of the Swan have continued its association with Errollyn Wallen, by appointing her Composer in Association and by commissioning a new Cello Concerto to be world-premičred by Matt Sharp in May 2007.
Recent chamber works include a quintet for flute and string quartet All the Blues I See premičred by Emily Beynon and the Brodsky Quartet, Romeo Turn for viola, cello and double bass, Dervish for cello and piano and a series of piano duets and piano solo pieces, Errollyn Wallen’s very own instrument. The Schubert Ensemble commissioned and premičred Music for Tigers, a piano quintet, in October 2006.
Errollyn Wallen, singer composer, musician, renaissance woman of contemporary British music - The Observer
Explosive stuff – The Independent
Bright, funky, irreducible - What’s On (London)
A major new compositional voice - Gramophone
She is a spectacular composer - International Record Review
A vigorous and lively musical intellect - The Guardian
Moments of rare beauty - The Times
The most gifted in the crowd - The Independent
Total brilliance - Melody Maker
Expect the unexpected - The Observer
If Wallen was to become a household name it could only be a good thing - The Independent on Sunday |
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www.errollynwallen.com
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