Cecilia McDowall facts for kids

Cecilia McDowall is a talented British composer, born in London, England, in 1951. She is especially famous for writing music for choirs.

Life and Career of a Composer

Cecilia McDowall grew up in London and studied music at the University of Edinburgh. She continued her studies at Trinity College of Music in London, where she focused on composing. She learned from well-known composers like Joseph Horovitz.

Cecilia McDowall has won many awards for her music. She was even nominated seven times for the British Composer Awards. In 2014, she won a British Composer Award for her choral piece called Night Flight.

Since 2010, her music has been published by Oxford University Press. This means they help share her music with the world. Since 2015, she has been a special "Visiting Composer" at Dulwich College in London, where she shares her knowledge. She lives in Chiswick, a part of London.

Exploring Cecilia McDowall's Music

Cecilia McDowall's music is often requested and performed by both professional and amateur choirs. Many of her choral pieces are inspired by interesting stories or real-life events.

For example, her piece The Shipping Forecast was inspired by the famous weather reports for ships at sea. It uses poetry and words from the actual shipping forecast. This piece brought her a lot of attention in 2011.

Another work, 70 Degrees Below Zero, was written for an event about explorer Robert Falcon Scott's journey to the South Pole. It premiered in 2012. Her piece Night Flight (2013) celebrates Harriet Quimby, the first American woman to fly across the English Channel.

In 2018, she composed Everyday Wonders: The Girl from Aleppo. This five-part piece tells the story of Nujeen Mustafa, a young girl who traveled a long way from Syria. Cecilia McDowall also wrote the large-scale Da Vinci Requiem in 2019. This piece uses texts from Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks and traditional Requiem prayers. It was performed at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

While she is best known for choral music, Cecilia McDowall also writes other types of music. She has composed four stage works, including a small opera called Airbourne (2014). She also writes music for orchestras, like Great Hills (2007) for violin and strings. Her chamber music, which is for smaller groups of instruments, includes pieces like Dream City (2002) and The Night Trumpeter (2002).

Selected Recordings of Her Works

Many of Cecilia McDowall's musical pieces have been recorded. This means you can listen to them on CDs or online. Some notable recordings include:

• Rise heart; thy Lord is risen, All shall be Amen (2023)
• Century Dances (2023)
• Da Vinci Requiem, 70 Degrees Below Zero (2023)
• Sacred Choral Music (2021)
• Works for Organ (2021)
• A Time for All Seasons (2019)
• Colour of Blossoms (2017)