Deborah Mollison (born 29 May 1958) is a British composer and songwriter, who works in both the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. She is best known for her score for the 1999 independent British film '' East is East''.

Life

Mollison began composing at the age of seven, having received free music lessons at school. From the age of thirteen, she studied composition, piano and flute at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

where she won the Else Cross Prize for pianoforte. She then moved to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and to

Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated to MDX) is a public research university based in Hendon, northwest London, England. The university also has campuses in Dubai and Mauritius. The name of the university is ...

where she received her PhD in music. Mollison subsequently taught composing at Middlesex for eight years. Mollison is best known for her scores for films and television programmes, but she has a greater diversity of style: songs, jazz, rock and orchestral works. She has composed for commissions from the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...

and the

Britten Sinfonia Britten Sinfonia is a chamber orchestra ensemble based in Cambridge, UK. It was created in 1992, following an initiative from Eastern Arts and a number of key figures including Nicholas Cleobury, who recognised the need for an orchestra in the ...

. She is best known for her score for the 1999 independent British film '' East is East''. Mollison regularly conducts her own work and has conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Irish Film Orchestra. ref name=":1" /> Mollison's "Global Nation" celebrates a multi-cultural world set into England's "green and pleasant land"; "Ocean Witness" highlights the suffering of whales and dolphins at the hands of people. Her 2020 orchestral work Secret Garden was inspired by reading the Pope's book Laudate Si' while recovering from Covid. It became an eduational project funded by the Jesuit Fund for Social Justice and supported by the

Dicastery for Culture and Education The Dicastery for Culture and Education is an administrative unit of the Roman Curia. It began operations on 5 June 2022 as established by the apostolic constitution ''Praedicate evangelium'' promulgated on 19 March 2022. It was formed through th ...

Works

Her works include: * Earth Story (1998) TV documentary mini-series * Simon Magus (1999) * Secrets of the Ancients (1999) TV documentary mini-series * East Is East (1999) *

The Thing About Vince ''The Thing About Vince...'' is a 2000 British made-for-television three-episode comedy-drama mini-series directed by Christopher King and starring Timothy Spall and Sheila Hancock. Plot Vince, a self-employed builder from London, is a middle- ...

(2000) TV mini-series * What the Romans Did for Us (2000) TV documentary series * The Boys of Sunset Ridge (2001) * Landscape Mysteries (2003) *

Souli Souli () is a municipality in Epirus, northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town of Paramythia. Name and history The origin of the name Souli is uncertain. In the earliest historical text about Souli, written by Christoforos ...

(2004) * Too Much Too Young (2005) * Violin concerto: "Ocean Witness" * Horn concerto: "Global Nation" * May's Words (tone poem inspired by

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credi ...

) *

For Real For Real is an American R&B and soul quartet, that formed in 1990. In the latter part of that decade they were nominated for a Billboard Music Award and a Soul Train Music Award. The ladies have now reunited and are touring. Biography For Real ...

(2009) *

Uncle Max ''Uncle Max'' is a British children's comedy television series originally aired on CITV, and CBBC. It features David Schneider as the title character, Uncle Max, and William Howe as Luke, Max's nine-year-old nephew. However, in the second ser ...

(2011) *

Tied to a Chair ''Tied to a Chair'' is a 2011 American-French-British comedy film written and directed by Michael Bergmann and starring Mario Van Peebles, Bonnie Loren, Robert Gossett and Sayed Badreya. Cast *Bonnie Loren as Naomi Holbroke *Mario Van Peebles ...

(2011) * Horace K48 0.5 (2013) * Echo Road (2014) * Luna Park (2015) * Sipped (2016) * Heather's Painting (2017) * The Secret Garden (2020)

Awards

She has won the following awards: * UK Song '92, * Gold Medal – Best Short Film at the New York Film Festival "Stand Up the Real Glynn Vernon"

References

External links

Deborah Mollison
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mollison, Deborah 1958 births 20th-century British classical composers 21st-century British classical composers Alumni of Middlesex University Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music English classical composers English television composers Living people British women classical composers British women film score composers 20th-century English composers 20th-century English women musicians 21st-century English women musicians 20th-century British women composers 21st-century British women composers