Charlotte Bray
Charlotte Bray is a British composer. Her work has been performed by The Royal Opera, London Sinfonietta, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, and BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Biography
Charlotte Bray was born in 1982 and raised in High Wycombe. She studied cello and composition at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, graduating with First Class Honours having studied with Andrew Downes and Joe Cutler. She then completed a Master of Music with Distinction in composition at the Royal College of Music, where she studied with Mark-Anthony Turnage. She participated in the Britten–Pears Contemporary Composition Course in 2007 with Oliver Knussen, Colin Matthews, and Magnus Lindberg and studied at Tanglewood Music Center in 2008. In 2011, Bray was made an honorary member of Birmingham Conservatoire and in 2014 was named their Alumni of the Year in the field of Excellence in Sport or the Arts. She was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize in 2010, resulting in a piano quartet commission for Cheltenham Music Festival for which she wrote Replay. She was also winner of the 2014 Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund Prize.Bray was appointed Birmingham Contemporary Music Group/Sound and Music Apprentice Composer-in-Residence for 2009/10, during which time violinist Alexandra Wood and the BCMG premiered her violin concerto Caught in Treetops under conductor Oliver Knussen. Her orchestral work Beyond a Fallen Tree was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding on 23 May 2010. Her song cycle Verre de Venise, was co-commissioned by the Aldeburgh, Aix-en-Provence, and Verbier Festivals in 2010. Her Scenes from Wonderland was commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra for soloist Jennifer Pike and violinists from London Music Masters in 2011. As inaugural Composer-in-Residence at the Oxford Lieder Festival 2011, Bray composed a baritone song cycle for Roderick Williams.
In July 2012, At the Speed of Stillness premiered, a BBC Proms commission, with Mark Elder conducting the Aldeburgh World Orchestra. In the same year, Invisible Cities was commissioned by the Verbier Festival and performed by Lawrence Power and Julien Quentin; as well as Making Arrangements, a chamber opera written for Tête à Tête Opera Festival.
In 2015, Bray's chamber opera Entanglement was premiered by the Nova Music Opera. Bray collaborated with librettist Amy Rosenthal on the story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain. Also premiered in 2015 were Out of the Ruins and Come Away for the Chester Cathedral Choir. Falling in the Fire was premiered in 2016, written for cellist Guy Johnston.
Bray has written for the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble 360, Britten Sinfonia, London Sinfonietta, Dover Quartet, Jennifer Pike, Lawrence Power, Huw Watkins, Samantha Crawford, and Mona Asuka Ott. She has also composed for the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh Festival, Cheltenham Music Festival, Aix-en-Provence Festival, and Verbier Festival. Her work has been conducted by Mark Elder, Oliver Knussen, Daniel Harding, and Jac van Steen.
She was in residence at the MacDowell program in the summer of 2013 and then at the Liguria Study Centre, having been awarded a Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship.
Selected works
Orchestra or large ensemble
A Dark Doorway Stone Dancer, orchestraFalling in the Fire, solo cello and orchestraFanfare for Birmingham, ensemble of 8 playersBlack Rainbow, orchestraAt the Speed of Stillness, orchestraScenes from Wonderland, solo violin and orchestraCaught in Treetops, solo violin and large ensembleChamber
Renga Miniatures, flute, clarinet, horn, piano, violin, celloTrail of Light, flute and viola/celloThree Rhapsodies, clarinet quintetThrow Back, saxophone quartetMidnight Interludes, clarinet and celloInvisible Cities, viola and pianoReplay, piano, violin, viola, celloThe Sun Was Chasing Venus, string quintetSecret, flute duetThe Barred Owl, piano duetCircling Point, alto saxophone and pianoThose Secret Eyes, piano trioThat Crazed Smile, flute and guitarPerseus, cello and pianoSolo
On the Other Shore, celloBeyond, violinOneiroi, pianoSuya Dalmak, cello and tapeOff the Rails, pianoAll at Sea, pianoChapter One, pianoPassing Shadows, guitarLate Snow, oboeElegy for George, violaVocal
Midnight Closes, soprano, piano, clarinet, celloVerre de Venise, tenor, piano, string quartetSonnets and Love Songs, baritone, pianoYellow Leaves, soprano, pianoFire Burning in Snow mezzo-soprano, oboe/English horn, B-flat clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello- ''Crossing Faultlines''