Judith Weir facts for kids

Dame Judith Weir (born May 11, 1954) is a famous British composer. From 2014 to 2024, she held a special job called Master of the King's Music. Queen Elizabeth II chose her for this role. Judith Weir was the very first woman to ever have this important position.

Early Life and Education

Judith Weir was born in Cambridge, England. Her parents were from Aberdeen, Scotland. Music was a big part of her family life. Her dad played the trumpet, and her mom played the viola.

When she was a teenager, her family moved to Harrow. That's when she started playing the oboe. She studied music with John Tavener at the North London Collegiate School. Later, she went to King's College, Cambridge and studied with Robin Holloway. She finished her studies there in 1976.

A Composer's Journey

Early Career and Awards

Judith Weir's music was first played by a professional orchestra in 1974. This piece was called Where the Shining Trumpets Blow. Before going to Cambridge, she spent six months at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There, she learned about computer music and how sound works.

In 1974, her work Campanile won first prize at a festival in Aberdeen. A famous composer named Aaron Copland was one of the judges. The next summer, she won a special award called a Koussevitzky fellowship. This led to more music, including a piece she felt was her first real important work, Out of the Air.

From 1976 to 1979, Weir was a Composer-in-Residence. This meant she worked with the Southern Arts Association in England. She taught music classes for kids and adults. She also worked on different art projects. Later, she taught at Glasgow University and Trinity College, Cambridge.

Music and Inspiration

Judith Weir's music often gets ideas from old medieval history. She also uses traditional stories and music from Scotland, where her parents came from. She is known for her operas and plays with music. Her music style is often described as clear and simple, but also a bit mysterious.

Her first stage work was a short opera called The Black Spider. It was first performed in 1985. Since then, she has written several other operas. These include A Night at the Chinese Opera (1987) and Blond Eckbert (1994). She even wrote an opera for television called Armida in 2005.

Some of her other well-known pieces include We are Shadows (1999) and woman.life.song (2000). In 2008, the BBC held a special weekend to celebrate her music. She wrote a new piece for it called CONCRETE. This piece was inspired by the building where it was performed.

Master of the King's Music

On July 21, 2014, Judith Weir was officially named Master of the Queen's Music. This is a very important role in the United Kingdom. The person in this job writes music for royal events. She was the first woman to ever hold this position. She served for ten years.

She wrote music for important royal occasions. In 2015, her arrangement of "God Save the Queen" was played at the reburial of King Richard III. In 2022, she wrote a special song called "Like as the hart" for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. In 2023, she wrote an orchestral piece called Brighter Visions Shine Afar for the coronation of Charles III and Camilla.

Awards and Recognition

Judith Weir has received many awards for her music.

• In 1995, she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
• She won the Stoeger Prize in 1997.
• In 2007, she received the Queen's Medal for Music. This is a very special award given by the monarch.
• In 2015, she won The Ivors Classical Music Award.
• In 2018, she became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
• In 2023, she was made an Honorary Fellow of Royal Holloway, University of London.
• In 2024, she was promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE). This means she can use the title "Dame" before her name.

List of compositions

Opera and music theatre

• King Harald's Saga (1979)
• The Black Spider (1985)
• The Consolations of Scholarship (1985)
• A Night at the Chinese Opera (1987)
• The Vanishing Bridegroom (1990)
• Scipio's Dream (1991, for television)
• The Skriker (1994, music for a play)
• Blond Eckbert (1994)
• Armida (2005, for television)
• Miss Fortune (opera) (Achterbahn) (2011)

Other compositions

• Music for 247 Strings (1981)
• Thread! (1981)
• Scotch Minstrelsy (1982)
• The Art of Touching the Keyboard (1983, for piano)
• Missa Del Cid (1988, for choir)
• String Quartet (1990)
• Musicians Wrestle Everywhere (1994, for chamber ensemble)
• Forest (1995, for orchestra)
• Piano Concerto (1997)
• Storm (1997, for choirs and ensemble)
• Natural History (1998, for soprano and orchestra)
• Piano Trio (1998)
• We Are Shadows (1999, for choirs and orchestra)
• Piano Quartet (2000)
• woman.life.song (2000, premiered by Jessye Norman)
• The welcome arrival of rain (2001–2002, for orchestra)
• Tiger Under the Table (2002, for chamber ensemble)
• Piano Trio Two (2003–2004)
• Winter Song (2006, for orchestra)
• CONCRETE (2007, for speaker, choir, and orchestra)
• I give you the end of a golden string (2013, for strings)
• In the Land of Uz (2017, for choir and instruments)
• Oboe Concerto (2018)
• The Prelude (2018–2019, for flute, violin, viola, cello)
• The True Light (2018, for choir and organ)
• By Wisdom (2018, for choir and organ)
• On White Meadows (2020, for mezzo-soprano and piano)
• Music, Spread Thy Voice (2022, for orchestra)
• Like as the hart (2022, for choir and organ)
• Begin Afresh (2022, for orchestra)
• Brighter Visions Shine Afar (2023, for orchestra)

See also

In Spanish: Judith Weir para niños