Jessica Duchen is a British music writer, novelist, playwright and opera librettist.

Life

Born in London, Duchen studied music at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. She was a

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

correspondent for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' for 12 years. She has written on music for ''

BBC Music Magazine ''BBC Music Magazine'' is a British monthly magazine that focuses primarily on classical music. The first issue appeared in September 1992. BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC, was the original owner and publisher together with ...

'',

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'',

Prospect Magazine ''Prospect'' is a monthly British general-interest magazine, specialising in politics, economics and current affairs. Topics covered include British and other European, as well as US politics, social issues, art, literature, cinema, science, th ...

'', ''

The Jewish Chronicle ''The Jewish Chronicle'' (''The JC'') is a London-based Jewish weekly newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world. Its editor () is Daniel Schwammenthal. The newspaper is published every Fri ...

'', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', ''

iNews iNews, short for ''Indonesia News'', formerly named Sun TV and Sindo TV, is an Indonesian free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the approp ...

'', and classical-music.com. Duchen's ''Myra Hess: National Treasure'' (2025) was the first biography of the great pianist to appear in nearly 50 years and was praised as 'magnificent' by ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

''. Her novel ''Ghost Variations'' (2016), based on the true story of the Schumann Violin Concerto's rediscovery in the 1930s, was chosen by

John Suchet John Aleck Suchet ( ; born 29 March 1944) is an English author, television news journalist and presenter of classical music on Classic FM. His journalistic career began when he worked as a graduate trainee at the Reuters news agency in 1967 a ...

as his Best Read of 2016 for the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' 's Christmas Books selection and was book of the month in ''BBC Music Magazine''. Duchen is also a librettist, collaborating with the composer Roxanna Panufnik. She wrote the libretto for Panufnik's community opera ''Silver Birch'' (2017), commissioned by

Garsington Opera Garsington Opera is an annual summer opera festival founded in 1989 by Leonard Ingrams. The Philharmonia Orchestra and The English Concert are its two resident orchestras. For 21 years it was held in the gardens of Ingrams's home at Garsingto ...

and shortlisted for an International Opera Award in 2018. ''Dalia'' (2022) was another opera composed by Panufnik, inspired by global dialogue between war refugee children and British children. Duchen lives in London with her husband, who is a violinist.

Works

Non-fiction

* ''Erich Wolfgang Korngold''. Phaidon Press, 1996. * ''Gabriel Faure''. Phaidon Press, 2000. * (with Dorothy Bohm) ''Inside London''. Lund Humphries, 2000. * ''London Chamber Orchestra: 101 Years of Transformation''. Pimpernel Press, 2022. Foreword by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall. * ''Myra Hess: National Treasure''. Kahn & Averill, 2025.

Novels

* ''Hungarian Dances''. Hodder & Stoughton, 2008. * ''Songs of Triumphant Love''. Hodder & Stoughton, 2009. * ''Rites of Spring''. Hodder & Stoughton, 2012. * ''Alicia's Gift''. Hodder & Stoughton, 2012. * ''Ghost Variations: The Strangest Detective Story in the History of Music''. Unbound Publishing, 2016. * ''Odette''. Unbound, 2018. * ''Immortal''. Unbound Publishing, 2020.

References

External links

Official website

Jessica Duchen's classical music blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duchen, Jessica Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British writers about music Women writers about music 21st-century British novelists British women novelists Writers from London Alumni of the University of Cambridge British librettists