Rhian Samuel (born Aberdare, Wales, 1944) is a Welsh 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. She currently resides in the coastal town of Aberdyfi.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 is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

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, broadc ...

/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. 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 '' T ...

; she was commissioned by the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

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 sit ...

, to write programme essays on both ''

Gawain Gawain ( ), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Matter of Britain, Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and one of the premier Knights of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned und ...

'' and '' The Minotaur'' 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. Her ''Path Through the Woods'' for recorder and strings was premiered at Temple of Peace, Cardiff, 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 research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

(BA, BMus) in the UK and

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

(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 music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...

. Later, she taught composition at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

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

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

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

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Samuel, Rhian 1944 births Living people 21st-century Welsh composers 20th-century British classical composers 21st-century British 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 British women composers 21st-century British women composers 20th-century British women educators 21st-century Welsh 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 Welsh women classical composers British writers about music Women writers about music Washington University in St. Louis alumni Welsh women academics