• World premiere of The Gorgeous Nothings at the BBC Proms with the BBC Philharmonic and The Swingles

• New album, SHORTHAND, presents Clyne’s music performed by Yo-Yo Ma, Avi Avital, Colin Jacobsen, Pekka Kuusisto and The Knights

• St Louis Symphony Orchestra gives the world premiere of Clyne’s Concerto for Augmented Orchestra – PALETTE – exploring the correlations between music and art

• Further premieres across the world include clarinet concerto Weathered, saxophone concerto Glasslands and violin concerto Time and Tides

One of the most in-demand composers today, Anna Clyne’s forthcoming year sees major instrumentalists and orchestras presenting her music to audiences across the globe, as well as the release of a new album on SONY Classical.

 Boldly bringing a contemporary take to classical music through cross-genre collaborations and new technology, Clyne was named the world’s most performed living female British composer in both 2022 and 2023 by Bachtrack. For a complete list of performances of Anna Clyne’s work please click here.

 New album – SHORTHAND

On Friday 23 August SONY Classical will release a new all-Clyne album of music for strings - SHORTHAND. Bringing together a host of internationally acclaimed artists, the album is underpinned by New York-based orchestra The Knights and presents some of Clyne’s best-known works, including its title-track, Shorthand for cello and string orchestra and recorded here by Yo-Yo Ma. Three Sisters is performed by its dedicatee Avi Avital and her double violin concerto Prince of Clouds places violinists Colin Jacobsen and Pekka Kuusisto in the spotlight. The final work on the album is Within Her Arms, written for string ensemble by the composer in memory of her mother in 2008.

 The album was recorded over two years, starting at the Clark Art Institute in Massachusetts and ending at Power Station Studios in New York City.  

 Anna Clyne says:

‘SHORTHAND is a new album that explores string-based sound-worlds. Spanning more than a decade, the four works also explore musical conversations between the soloists and ensemble, and within the ensemble itself. SHORTHAND represents over two decades of artistic friendships and collaborations – each of the artists on this album has played an important part in my life as a composer. It has brought together so many creative spirits and it has been an honor to record these works with them all.’

 The Gorgeous Nothings: world premiere (BBC Philharmonic / BBC Proms)

As part of Clyne’s role as Composer in Association with the BBC Philharmonic, the BBC Proms presents the world premiere of The Gorgeous Nothings, scored for orchestra, seven amplified voices and real-time electronic processing, and which is inspired by the ‘spellbinding wordsmithery’ of American poet Emily Dickinson (Tuesday 30 July, Royal Albert Hall, London). The work sets seven of Dickinson’s envelope poems – fragments of poetry that she wrote on scraps of paper and envelopes – each glimpses into the process of the great American poet. The seven selected poems are book-ended by Dickinson’s infamous poem ‘This is my letter to the world’, written in 1862. The world premiere is performed by the BBC Philharmonic and The Swingles, and conducted by Nicholas Collon. The Gorgeous Nothings is commissioned by The Swingles and the BBC Philharmonic.

 The work utilises the Augmented Orchestra (AO) - created, developed and implemented by Clyne and sound designer Jody Elff and used for the first time last year in the world premiere of Wild Geese at the Cabrillo Festival with conductor Cristian Mӑcelaru. AO augments elements of the orchestra across multiple modalities, including tone, amplitude, dynamics, location and environment – all through the use of processes controlled by custom software designed by Jody Elff. By developing AO, Clyne and Elff have expanded on the traditional orchestral configuration to introduce audiences to new sonic experiences. 

 PALETTE: world premiere (St Louis Symphony Orchestra)

PALETTE is a concerto for Augmented Orchestra that explores the correlations between music and art, where the symbiotic relationship between the two has resulted in seven movements and seven corresponding paintings. Each movement explores a different sound world that correlates to a different colour palette: Plum, Amber, Lava, Ebony, Teal, Tangerine and Emerald. PALETTE also incorporates AO on a larger scale, and the premiere will feature immersive lighting that reflects the different colour palettes of each movement. The world premiere will be given by the St Louis Symphony Orchestra and its Music Director Stéphane Denève (14 February, Touhill Performing Arts Centre, Saint Louis). PALETTE is co-commissioned by the St Louis Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, National Orchestra Institute, and others tba. Clyne and Elff are developing the work in partnership with The Juilliard School with two workshops in 2023.

 Weathered – German premiere

Clyne’s five-movement clarinet concerto, Weathered, explores five elements - Metal, Heart, Stone, Wood, and Earth – while touching on our collective experience of being weathered by the pandemic and, on a larger scale, the alarm of global warming. Following its world premiere by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in January 2023, the work now received its German premiere this month, with clarinettist Martin Fröst and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra under the baton of Cristian Măcelaru (13 June, Elphilharmonie Grosser Saal, Germany). Fröst will also perform the work with the Dresdner Philharmonie in October 2024. Weathered was commissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic and the Philharmonia.

 Glasslands – Canadian, Danish and Scottish premieres

Clyne’s saxophone concerto, Glasslands, received its world premiere with Jess Gillam and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under conductor Han-Na Chang in February 2023. Now, Gillam leads the work in its Canadian, Scottish and Danish premieres –  this month with the National Arts Centre Orchestra conducted by Alexander Shelley (19-20 June, National Arts Centre, Canada); the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and conductor Jonathan Heyward (3-5 April) and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, also conducted by Jonathan Heyward (25 March, DR Koncerthuset, Denmark).

 Glasslands is set in three movements and conjures an imaginary world of three realms governed by the banshee – a female spirit who, in Irish folklore, heralds the death of a family member (usually by wailing, shrieking, or keening in the silence of the night). Glasslands was commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, National Arts Centre Orchestra and Castilla y León Symphony Orchestra.

 Time and Tides – US premiere

Clyne’s violin concerto Time and Tides draws on folk tunes from Finland, Scotland and America, exploring themes of water, boating and parting from loved ones. Violinist Pekka Kuusisto gave the world premiere of the work with the Helsinki Philharmonic in September 2023 under conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste as part of Clyne’s composer residency with the orchestra, before presenting the Scottish premiere with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in March 2024. This season, Kuusisto gives the US premiere with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tabita Berglund (18-29 October, Orchestra Hall, Detroit, US).  Time and Tides was commissioned by the Helsinki Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

 Fractured Time – Dutch premiere

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali will give the Dutch premiere of Fractured Time, a work for sinfonietta, which explores the experience of time in states of fever, lucidity and anxiety (12-14 March, Het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam). Fractured Time was commissioned by the London Sinfonietta and Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra.

Further highlights this Summer include piano concerto ATLAS, conducted by Fabio Luisi with Jeremy Denk and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, who gave the world premiere in March 2024 (29 June); the US premiere of choreographer Pam Tanowitz’s Secret Things set to Clyne’s Breathing Statues at Jacob’s Pillow in Massachusetts (3-7 July); This Moment with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Hersh (13 July); and Sound and Fury with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Gaffigan (11 August); and Music Director Eckart Preu leads two performances of Quarter Days - with the Portland Symphony Orchestra (22 September) and Long Beach Symphony (5 October).

Clyne often collaborates on creative projects across the music industry, including Between the Rooms, a film with choreographer Kim Brandstrup and LA Opera, as well as The Nico Project at the Manchester International Festival, a stage work about pop icon Nico’s life that featured Clyne’s reimagining of The Marble Index for orchestra and voices. Clyne has also reimagined tracks from Thievery Corporation’s The Cosmic Game for the electronica duo with orchestra, and her music has been programmed by such artists as Björk. Other recent collaborators include such notable musicians as Jess Gillam, Jeremy Denk, Martin Fröst, Pekka Kuusisto, and Yo-Yo Ma.