Diana Burrell facts for kids

Diana Elizabeth Jane Burrell (born October 25, 1948) is an English composer and viola player. She is known for creating many different kinds of music, from big pieces for orchestras to special music for young people.

Life and Music Journey

Diana Burrell was born in Norwich, England, on October 25, 1948. Her father was a schoolteacher and also played the organ at Norwich Cathedral. Diana went to school in Norwich and then studied music at Girton College, Cambridge.

She started her career playing the viola, which is a musical instrument similar to a violin. But soon, people noticed her amazing compositions. She became so good at writing music that she decided to become a full-time composer.

Early Compositions

One of Diana's first pieces was for the St Endellion Music Festival in 1980. She used to play the viola there, but the festival organizer, Richard Hickox, encouraged her to write something. The result was a large piece called Missa Sancte Endeliente. It used words from both the Cornish language and Latin.

Orchestral Works

Diana's first big piece for an orchestra was called Landscape (1988). This music tries to describe the feeling of wild, windy countryside. It was so good that it won an "Encore" award from the Royal Philharmonic Society and BBC Radio 3.

Another famous orchestral work is Das Meer, das so groß und weit ist, da wimmelt's ohne Zahl, große und kleine Tiere. This long German title means "The Sea is so big and wide and swarming with numerous little animals." This piece captures the sounds and feeling of the ocean.

Music for Everyone

Diana Burrell has written many other types of music. She has created concertos for instruments like the viola, flute, and clarinet. A concerto is a piece of music where one instrument plays a solo with an orchestra. She also wrote an opera called The Albatross (1997), which is like a play set to music.

She has composed many choral works, which are pieces for a group of singers called a choir. She also writes chamber music, which is for a small group of instruments. Diana likes modern architecture (the design of buildings), and sometimes her music shows this in its structure.

She has a special interest in writing music for young people. For example, her piece Lights and Shadows (1989) includes a children's choir, a recorder group, and lots of percussion instruments.

Teaching and Leadership

Diana Burrell also teaches music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 2006, she became the Artistic Director of the Spitalfields Festival in London. This means she helps plan and organize the music events for the festival. She also received a special award from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to compose a series of organ works. Today, she lives in Harwich, Essex.

Selected Musical Pieces

Here are some of Diana Burrell's notable compositions:

Orchestra Music

• Concerto
• Gate (for string orchestra)
• Landscape (1988)
• Das Meer, das so gross und weit ist, da wimmelt's ohne Zahl grosse und kleine Tiere
• Symphonies of Flocks, Herds, and Shoals

Concertos (Solo Instrument with Orchestra)

• Clarinet Concerto (1996)
• Flute Concerto (1997)
• Viola Concerto “...calling, leaping, crying, dancing...” (1994)

Opera

• The Albatross (1987; first performed in 1997)

Choir Music

• Alleluia (for mixed choir)
• Ave Verum Corpus (for mixed choir)
• Benedicam Dominum (for five-part choir and organ)
• Come and See/Christ Child (for piano and solo voice)
• Creator/Stars of Night (for mixed choir, English Horn, Organ Pedals)
• Hymn to Wisdom (for mixed choir)
• Magnificat/Nunc (for treble voices and piano)
• Michael's Mass (for solo voice and piano)
• Missa Sancte Endeliente (1980)
• Heil’ger Geist in’s Himmels Throne (1993, for mixed choir, organ, and percussion)

Other Works

• Arched Forms with Bells (for organ)
• Aria (for violin)
• Barrow
• Festival (for organ)
• Gold (for piano and brass, also for piano solo)
• Gulls and Angels (1983, for string quartet)
• Heron (for cello and piano)
• King Shall Bright (for soprano, oboe, French horn, violin, and harp)
• North Star (for trumpet and organ)
• Songs for Harvey (for violin solo or viola solo) (1988)