“all the important Bs: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Britten, plus another: Charlotte Bray”
The Times
“Bray’s rapid rise is due to an unusual combination of remarkable fluency, an absolutely sure ear and an ability to fix an emotional tone in a few sharply outlined gestures”
(Ivan Hewett, The Proms 2021)
British composer Charlotte Bray is one of the most esteemed and in-demand composers of her generation. Championed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London Sinfonietta, and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, her music has been performed at festivals in Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Tanglewood, Aix-en-Provence and Verbier and with renowned conductors including Sir Mark Elder, Oliver Knussen, Daniel Harding, Jessica Cottis and Karina Canellakis.
The world premiere of Bray’s moving piece, Ungrievable Lives for string quartet, was performed on 7 April by the Castalian Quartet at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. It was inspired by a new installation by artist Caroline Burraway, comprising 13 children’s dresses handmade from discarded refugee lifejackets. The work will also be performed on 21 October at Wigmore Hall by the Castalian Quartet.
Upcoming events include the world premiere of Bray’s majestic orchestral piece Forsaken, which will be performed by Philharmonischen Orchesters Hagen under the baton of Joseph Trafton on 14 June at Stadthalle Hagen in Germany. The work features one of Bray’s central concerns in her work; the human influence on nature. At the Aldeburgh Festival on 24 June, a piece for cellist Anssi Karttunen, From the Innermost Places, will receive its world premiere as part of a concert series celebrating Oliver Knussen. On 2-3 July, Bray’s piece The Earth Cried Out to the Sky for mezzo-soprano and piano will receive its world premiere at the Kissinger Sommer music festival in Germany.