PF2023 Brochure - Flipbook - Page 4
2021 PRESTEIGNE FESTIVAL | COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE
CECILIA McDOWALL
Born in London, Cecilia McDowall has won
many awards, having been short-listed
eight times for the annual British Composer
Awards. In 2014, her haunting work, Night
Flight, which celebrates the pioneering
cross-channel flight of the American
aviatrix, Harriet Quimby, won the Choral
category of the British Composer Awards.
Cecilia’s distinctive style speaks directly to
listeners, instrumentalists and singers alike.
Her most characteristic works fuse fluent
melodic lines with occasional dissonant
harmonies and rhythmic exuberance. She
has been commissioned and performed by
leading choirs, including the BBC Singers,
The Sixteen, Oxford and Cambridge choirs
and the Kansas City Chorale; her music
is played by orchestras, ensembles and is
included at festivals throughout the world.
Recent commissions include When time is
broke (Three Shakespeare Songs) for the BBC
Singers and Adoro te devote for Westminster
Cathedral Choir. The National Children’s
Choir of Great Britain commissioned a work
focusing on ‘children in conflict’, called
Everyday Wonders: The Girl from Aleppo.
The cantata is based on the real-life escape
of wheelchair-bound Nujeen Mustafa and
her sister, Nasrine, from war-torn Aleppo; it
tells of their harrowing 3,500-mile journey
through seven countries, eventually arriving
in Germany with relief and gratitude.
In 2019, at the Royal Festival Hall,
Wimbledon Choral Society and the
Philharmonia Orchestra premiered
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