RPS Young Artist Biography
Charlotte Bray
2010 RPS Composition Prize Winner
Charlotte Bray is London-based composer of contemporary music and music for screen. She has recently completed orchestral commissions for the LSO, part of their UBS Soundscapes Pioneersscheme and for the Mills Williams Foundation, performed at the Royal College of Music in December 2009. Over the coming year she looks forward to composing a song cycle co-commissioned by Aldeburgh, Aix-en-Provence and Verbier festivals, and a violin concerto for Birmingham Contemporary Music Group as part of her role as Apprentice Composer-in-Residence.
Originally from Buckinghamshire, Charlotte graduated from her undergraduate degree at Birmingham Conservatoire with First Class Honours, studying under Joe Cutler. She went on to gain a distinction for her Master’s degree as a scholar at the Royal College of Music, under Mark-Anthony Turnage.
Recent performances of her work include Alliance, commissioned by Britten Sinfonia and Sea of Cycles, for ensemble and choreography. She received critical acclaim in The Observer for Throw Back, performed by the Sirocco Saxophone Quartet in the PLG Young Artist Series. In 2008, she was selected for the SPNM Shortlist and chosen for a workshop with BCMG led by Pierre Boulez. Other successes include Cityscape, for chamber ensemble, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra; and a work for mezzo-soprano and piano commissioned by Gemini.
Winner of The Vaughan Williams Scholarship, Birmingham Conservatoire's Composers' Prize, and Birmingham Chamber Music Society Prize, Charlotte attended the Tanglewood Music Center (2008) and the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme (2007). Her work has been performed at various venues including Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Cadogan Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, St Giles Cripplegate, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
www.charlottebray.co.uk
(Updated July 2010)