MEET THE COMPOSER
‘I am a very textural writer’
The British composer and pianist’s varied career has ranged from song-writing to composing music for the screen, stage and radio. Her 2022 album Continuum received high praise, while Oculus, her new release on Signum Classics, features the likes of violinist Clio Gould, pianist Rebeca Omordia and Cooper’s own Oculus Ensemble.
When I was at senior school I won the BBC’s Nationwide Carol Competition. I wrote a Christmas pop song and we recorded it in London. It was the recording session that was a massive turning point for me. I was going to do art, but I went back to my parents and told them I wanted to do music, despite all the applications already having gone in.
I started as a keyboard player in the theatre. Then I got asked to do a score for a production of Under Milk Wood, and got quite a few theatre commissions from that. I was really lucky to then get a commission to write a version of The Four Seasons for Evelyn Glennie, with a huge percussion section. We were both very much starting out in our careers.
I’ve always written music specifically for the people I hear are going to play it. It’s about the people I am working with and the feeling you create when you make music together.
Oculus is a celebration of the arts. The album celebrates people, art, dance, poetry, light, many things. Ascensio was the first track I
