Cecilia McDowall

Composer Information: Cecilia McDowall

Educated at Edinburgh and London Universities and a prize-winning student at Trinity College of Music, Cecilia McDowall has a distinctive style which speaks directly to listeners, instrumentalists and singers alike. Her choral output has been described as having a ‘freshness, brightness and fidelity’ about it, combining flowing melodic lines and occasionally astringent harmony with rhythmic vitality.

Her music has been commissioned and performed by leading choirs, including the BBC Singers, ensembles and at festivals nationwide. The cantata Christus Natus Est was performed at the Gewandhaus, Leipzig, on Christmas Day 2005 and broadcast live on Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. She was nominated for the 2005 British Composer Awards in two categories, the Liturgical section and the Making Music Award. Her works are regularly broadcast on BBC Radio; her St Martin’s Service and introit were broadcast last month on the BBC Choral Evensong programme from Ely Cathedral. Dutton Epoch released a CD of her choral work in the autumn of 2004 (CDLX 7146) and a CD of orchestral and chamber music in autumn 2005 (CDLX 7159). Three Antiphons have been recorded by an international trumpet ensemble consisting of players from the Berlin Philharmonic and Vienna Philharmonic and were released on the Brass Classics label last autumn.

A recent commission, Five Seasons, for which she was selected from a large list of composers by the Bournemouth Sinfonietta Choir, was for a choral and instrumental work, receiving its first performance in Sherborne Abbey last November, 2006. This exciting and unique project involved the composer, Cecilia McDowall, and the novelist and poet, Christie Dickason, taking up mini residences at five organic farms (under the auspices of the Soil Association). The brief for the commission was to ‘celebrate the organic landscape'. The work was subsequently featured on Aled Jones’ programme, The Choir, and BBC 4, Farming Today.

The Dutton label has just recorded a further CD of McDowall’s choral work with the Canterbury Chamber Choir and the Joyful Company of Singers. This will be released in the autumn of 2007.