Rhian Samuel (born Aberdare, Wales, 1944) is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

woman composer who resided in the USA for many years. She has composed over 140 published works, including orchestral, chamber, vocal, and choral music. She now divides her time between mid-Wales and London.rhiansamuel.com
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Composition

Samuel's orchestral music spans from ''Elegy-Symphony'' (St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin, cond., 1981) to ''Tirluniau/Landscapes'' (BBC commission, BBC NOW,

BBC Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

2000); in 1983 she won the

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

/Rudolf Nissim Prize (USA) for her choral/orchestral work, ''La Belle Dame sans Merci''. A BIS CD containing her BBC-commissioned work for soprano and orchestra, ''Clytemnestra'', was short listed for a Gramophone Award in 2020. As well as orchestral song-cycles (''Clytemnestra'' and ''The White Amaryllis''), she has written a large number of voice-and-piano cycles for major festivals including the Oxford Lieder Festival (''Wildflower Songbook'', to poems by Anne Stevenson), the Three Choirs Festival (''A Swift Radiant Morning'', to poems by WWI poet, Charles Sorley, the Fishguard Festival, UK (''Cerddi Hynafol/Ancient Songs'', to anonymous early Welsh texts), and the Ludlow English Song Weekend (''The Moon and I'', to poems by Anne Stevenson and Tabitha Hayward) and has written music for choirs including New College Choir (Oxford), the BBC Singers, and a number of American college choirs as well as her own choirs at Reading University and City University, London. She has also written about music: as co-editor of the ''New Grove (Norton) Dictionary of Women Composers'', she has been prominent on issues concerning the reception of music by women. She has also written on the operas of

Harrison Birtwistle Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his many compositions, his better known works include ''Th ...

; she was commissioned by the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

, to write programme essays on both ''

Gawain Gawain (), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest ...

'' and ''

The Minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur ( , ;. grc, ; in Latin as ''Minotaurus'' ) is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "pa ...

'' and subsequently published diaries of their first productions.''Cambridge Opera Journal'', 4:2, July 1992, pp. 163–78 and 20:2, November 2008, pp. 215–36. Amongst many CDs which contain her compositions, one entirely devoted to her chamber music, ''Light and Water'', is issued on the Deux-Elles label, and another, ''Songs of Earth and Air'', to her music for baritone and piano, on the Lorelt label. In 2006 she was awarded the

Glyndŵr Award The Glyndŵr Award (Welsh: Gwobr Glyndŵr) is made for an outstanding contribution to the arts in Wales. It is given by the Machynlleth Tabernacle Trust to pre-eminent figures in music, art and literature in rotation. The award takes its name aft ...

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 The Welsh National Temple of Peace and Health, known as the Temple of Peace and Health or commonly the Temple of Peace, is a non-religious civic building in Cathays Park, Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. It was designed by the architect Sir ...

, in April 2011 by Pamela Thorby and the Welsh Sinfonia, conducted by Mark Eager.

Education

Samuel was educated at

Reading University The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

(BA, BMus) in the UK and

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

(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. While there, she also supervised the research of post-graduate students at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

. Later, she taught composition at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

(2007–2016). Previously, she taught at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

(1984–95, as Head of Department, 1993–95) and at the St. Louis Conservatory,

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Samuel, Rhian 1944 births Living people 20th-century British composers 21st-century British composers 20th-century British women musicians 21st-century British women musicians 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers 20th-century Welsh educators 21st-century Welsh educators 20th-century Welsh musicians 21st-century Welsh musicians 20th-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh writers 20th-century women composers 21st-century women composers 20th-century women educators 21st-century women educators Welsh scholars and academics Welsh classical composers People from Aberdare Academics of City, University of London Academics of the University of Reading Academics of the University of Oxford Alumni of the University of Reading Women classical composers British writers about music Women writers about music Washington University in St. Louis alumni Welsh women academics