Deborah Pritchard

Deborah Pritchard

Deborah Pritchard is a British composer. She is known for her concert works, a compositional approach informed by her synaesthesia, and her collaborative work with visual artists, most notably Maggi Hambling.^[1] She also paints music in the form of visualisations and music maps. In 2017 she won a British Composer Award for her solo violin piece Inside Colour.^[2]

Education[]

Pritchard was awarded her undergraduate degree from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she trained as a composer and double bassist.^[3] She then completed a MMus degree in composition at the Royal Academy of Music where she studied with Simon Bainbridge, subsequently holding the position of Manson Fellow in Composition. She was awarded her DPhil from Worcester College, Oxford where she studied with Robert Saxton, now holding Associate Membership of The Faculty of Music. She was made Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2019.

Career[]

Her work received early attention following the inclusion of her piece Chanctonbury Ring on the album "The Hoxton Thirteen", released by NMC Recordings in 2001.^[4][5] Her music has since been released by labels including Signum and Nimbus.^[6]

Her music has been commissioned and premiered by ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Singers, Choir of New College, Oxford, Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Allegri String Quartet, English String Orchestra, Orchestra of the Swan and Composers Ensemble.^[6]

She was composer in residence at the 2016 Lichfield Festival.^[7]

Synaesthesia[]

Pritchard experiences synaesthesia, specifically perceiving sound as colour, light and darkness. In her own words;

"Ever since I was a small child, I’ve been aware that some harmonies seemed warm whilst others appeared cold. The relationship between colours and intervals seemed so natural to me that I didn’t question it ... When I engage with colour, light and darkness in my work, I become aware of a broader emotional content and hope to illuminate some kind of beauty to the listener.^[8]"

Pritchard frequently paints visualisations of her musical works, and has also been commissioned by the London Sinfonietta to paint music maps of works by other composers (such as György Ligeti, Unsuk Chin and Thomas Adès) for inclusion in concert programme notes.^[9][10][3] Her visualisations and music maps were exhibited at the Royal Academy of Music's Amazing Women of the Academy exhibition from 2018-2019. In 2020 she was commissioned a graphic score Colour Circle by the London Sinfonietta to launch their Postcard Pieces project over lockdown, inspired by Wassily Kandinsky's book Concerning the Spiritual in Art.

Pritchard's visualisation of her solo violin piece Inside Colour

Works inspired by visual art[]

Pritchard has written several works in response to paintings by Maggi Hambling, having collaborated with the artist at her studio in Suffolk.^[8]

The first of these was the violin concerto Wall of Water (2014), which was premiered by violinist Harriet Mackenzie and the English String Orchestra during the Frieze Art Fair in London. Images of Hambling's series of seascape paintings, also titled Wall of Water, were projected during the performance.^[11]

Subsequent pieces written in response to Hambling's work were Waves and Waterfalls (2015) for chamber ensemble, commissioned by the London Sinfonietta,^[12] and Edge (2017), a double concerto for violin, harp and string orchestra, after Hambling's paintings on the theme of global warming, which was premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival.^[13] In 2020 Pritchard wrote a solo violin piece for Harriet Mackenzie called March 2020 in response to Hambling's painting of the same name, with both works written in lockdown.

Other artists on whose work Pritchard has drawn include Hughie O'Donoghue, George Shaw, Yinka Shonibare, Steinunn Thorarinsdottir, J.M.W. Turner and James Turrell.

Selected works^[1][6][]

• March 2020 (2020) for solo violin, in response to the painting by Maggi Hambling
• Green Renewed (2020) for solo cello
• Colour Circle (2020) graphic score for any instrument
• Trophies of Peace (2020) for choir, in response to Trophies by Steinunn Thorarinsdottir
• New College Service - Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (2020) for choir
• The Heavens Declare (2019) for choir
• River Above (2018) for solo saxophone
• Storm Song (2017) for soprano, piano and cello
• Edge (2017) for violin, harp and string orchestra, in response to the paintings by Maggi Hambling
• Inside Colour (2016) for solo violin
• Ode to Trumpet Boy (2016) for voice and double bass, in response to artwork by Yinka Shonibare
• Seven Halts on the Somme (2016) for trumpet, harp and string orchestra, in response to paintings by Hughie O'Donoghue^[14]
• From Night (2015) for solo cello
• Of The Heart (2015) for string orchestra
• The Angel Standing in the Sun (2015) for orchestra, in response to artwork by J.M.W. Turner
• Waves and Waterfalls (2015) for ensemble
• Benedicite (2014) for choir and trumpet
• From An Opaque Space (2014) for solo viola and film
• From Night (2014) for solo cello
• I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes Unto The Hills (2014) for choir
• Wall of Water (2014) for violin and string orchestra
• Skyspace (2012) for solo piccolo trumpet and string orchestra, in response to artwork by James Turrell.^[15]
• Lord's Prayer (2009) for choir
• Ascent (2001) for trumpet and piano
• Chanctonbury Ring (2000) for Pierrot Ensemble
• Four Short Movements (2000) for cello and piano

References[]