Cecilia McDowall

Cecilia McDowall has a distinctive style which speaks directly to listeners, instrumentalists and singers alike. Her instrumental and choral output has been described as having a "freshness, brightness and fidelity" about it, combining flowing melodic lines and occasionally astringent harmony with rhythmic vitality. Born in London in 1951, she read music at Edinburgh and London Universities, later continuing her studies at Trinity College of Music. She has studied composition with Joseph Horovitz, Robert Saxton and Adam Gorb and has won several major composition awards. She has received many commissions which include those from London Musici, London Mozart Players, Presteigne Festival of Music and the Arts, Susan Milan, Fibonacci Sequence and Ensemble Lumihre. Recent commissions include Stabat Mater for the St Albans Choral Society, Radnor Songs for the soprano Rachel Nicholls and Paul Plummer (piano) for the 2005 Presteigne Festival, Lonely Hearts, for equal voice choir for the Canterbury Chamber Choir, a choral work for New College Choir, Oxford, for the 2005 Yoxford Festival and Century Dances for The Thorne Trio. McDowall's music has been widely performed throughout the United Kingdom and abroad, and at a variety of festivals including, Aberystwyth MusicFest, Dartington International Summer School, Deal, Hampstead and Highgate, and Presteigne Festival. Her works are regularly broadcast on BBC Radio and Television. Dutton Epoch recently recorded a CD of her orchestral and instrumental music with Orchestra Nova and the Tippett Quartet, released in autumn 2005.

Three Antiphons (2004) was performed during the 2006 AFNOM festival in London.

Contact information

Cecilia McDowall
58 Abinger Road
Chiswick
London W4 1EX
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 208 994 6270
Email: mcdowall@ceceliamcdowall.co.uk
www.ceciliamcdowall.co.uk