Anna Meredith
Musical artist and composer (born 1978)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anna Howard Meredith MBE (born 12 January 1978)[1] is a Scottish composer and performer of electronic and acoustic music. She is a former composer-in-residence with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra[2] and former PRS/RPS Composer in the House with Sinfonia ViVA.[3][4]
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Anna Meredith | |
|---|---|
Meredith at the Barbican Centre in 2022 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 12 January 1978 Tufnell Park, north London, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupations | Composer and musical performer |
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Label | Moshi Moshi |
| Website | annameredith |
In 2016, Meredith released her debut studio album, Varmints, to widespread critical acclaim. An electronica-based release, the album won the 2016 Scottish Album of the Year Award.
Career
Meredith was born in Tufnell Park, north London, England, and moved to South Queensferry, Scotland,[5] at the age of two. She read for a degree in music at the University of York, where she was awarded first-class honours, and gained her master's degree from the Royal College of Music.[5] In 2003, aged 24, she was made the Constant and Kit Lambert junior fellow of the Royal College of Music.[5]
Meredith first came to widespread public attention through her work froms, created for the 2008 BBC Last Night of the Proms, which was broadcast to 40 million people.[4][6] She has since written another BBC Prom commission, her first opera (Tarantula in Petrol Blue – with libretto by Philip Ridley) and collaborated with the beatboxer Shlomo, writing the Concerto for Beatboxer and Orchestra.[1] Meredith has been a judge for BBC Young Musician of the Year, a mentor to Goldie for the TV show Classical Goldie[4] and is a frequent guest and commentator for the BBC Proms and other BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4 shows.
She was the classical music nominee for the 2009 Times Breakthrough Award[7] and won the 2010 Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Composers.[8]
Meredith's pieces include Four Tributes to 4am for orchestra, electronics and visuals by (her sister) Eleanor Meredith,[9] and HandsFree, a PRS NewMusic20x12 Commission for the National Youth Orchestra, which received warm reviews after being performed as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad in the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.[1][10]
Meredith has moved into electronic music,[2] which she has performed throughout Europe alongside a diverse range of artists including supporting These New Puritans in Berlin, James Blake, Seb Rochford and Max de Wardener at Ether 2011[11] and a solo set at La Carrière de Normandoux.[12] In 2012 Meredith released her debut EP Black Prince Fury, on Moshi Moshi Records,[13] which a reviewer compared favourably to the work of the avant-garde jazz composer Moondog.[14] In August 2013, Moshi Moshi Records and VF Editions released Meredith's second EP, Jet Black Raider.[15][16] In an interview with Pitchfork, Meredith noted that her second EP featured "clarinets, singing, glocks, drums, lots of cello," unlike Black Prince Fury, which was entirely synthesised.[2]
Meredith's debut album, entitled Varmints, was released in March 2016.[17]
She featured in the First Night of the 2018 Proms with a new collaboration, Five Telegrams, with 59 Productions.[18] Meredith produced the soundtrack for the 2018 film Eighth Grade.[19] She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to music.[20]
Her second studio album, Fibs, was released on 25 October 2019.[21] The album was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize 2020. With her band, she toured in support of the album in 2021.[22]
Discography
Studio albums
- Varmints (2016)
- Anno (2018)
- Fibs (2019)
- Bumps Per Minute: 18 Studies for Dodgems (2021)
- Nuc (2023), with the Ligeti Quartet
EPs
- Black Prince Fury (2012)
- Jet Black Raider (2013)
Soundtracks
- Eighth Grade (2018)
- Living With Yourself (2019)
- The End We Start From (2023)
- Tuesday (2023)
