Nicola LeFanu facts for kids

Nicola Frances LeFanu (born on April 28, 1947) is a talented British composer, teacher, and director. She has written many different kinds of music, including operas, orchestral pieces, and chamber music.

About Nicola LeFanu

Nicola LeFanu was born in Wickham Bishops, a village in Essex, England. Her parents were William LeFanu and Elizabeth Maconchy. Her mother, Elizabeth Maconchy, was also a famous composer.

Education and Early Career

Nicola studied music at St Hilda's College, Oxford, which is a well-known university. After that, she received a special scholarship called a Harkness Fellowship to study at Harvard University in the United States. In 1972, she won the Mendelssohn Scholarship, which is a prize given to young musicians.

Teaching and Leadership Roles

Nicola LeFanu has had a long and successful career in music education.

• From 1975 to 1977, she was the Director of Music at St Paul's Girls' School.
• She then taught at King's College London from 1977 to 1995. She started as a lecturer and later became a professor.
• After that, she became a Professor of Music at the University of York. She was also the Head of the Music Department there from 1994 to 2001.
• She stopped teaching in 2008.

In 1979, Nicola LeFanu married another composer named David Lumsdaine.

Achievements and Recognition

Nicola LeFanu earned a special degree called a Doctorate in Music from the University of London in 1988. She also has honorary doctorates from other universities, including Durham, Aberdeen, and the Open University. This means these universities recognized her great achievements in music. She is very active in the music world as a composer, teacher, and director.

Nicola LeFanu's Music

Nicola LeFanu has created about sixty musical pieces. These include music for orchestras, smaller groups of instruments (called chamber groups), and voices. She has also written four string quartets and six operas. Her music is published by companies like Chester Novello and Edition Peters.

Operas

Operas are plays where the story is told mostly through singing, often with an orchestra. Nicola LeFanu has written several:

• Dawnpath (1977) – a smaller opera.
• The Story of Mary O'Neill (1986) – an opera made for radio.
• The Green Children (1990) – an opera for children. It was based on an old story about the Green children of Woolpit.
• Blood Wedding (1992) – based on a play by Federico García Lorca.
• The Wildman (1995) – another opera created with Kevin Crossley-Holland.
• Light Passing (2004) – this opera was very popular and received good reviews.

Orchestral Music

Orchestral music is written for a large group of musicians playing many different instruments. Some of her orchestral works include:

• The Hidden Landscape (1973)
• Columbia Falls (1975)
• Saxophone Concerto (1989) – a concerto is a piece for a solo instrument with an orchestra.
• Concertino for chamber orchestra (1997) – a smaller concerto for a chamber orchestra.
• Amores for solo horn and string orchestra (2003)
• Threnody (2015)
• The Crimson Bird (2016) – this piece uses words from a poem by John Fuller.

Chamber Music

Chamber music is written for a small group of instruments, usually one player per part. Some of her chamber pieces are:

• Catena for eleven solo strings (2001)
• Echo and Narcissus for two pianos
• Invisible Places for clarinet and string quartet (1986)
• Moon Over The Western Ridge, Mootwingee for saxophone quartet (1985)
• Piano Trio (2003) – for piano, violin, and cello.
• Sextet (1986) – for six instruments.
• Songs without Words for clarinet and string trio (2005)
• Songs for Jane for soprano (a female singer) and viola (2005).
• String Quartet No 1 (1988) – a string quartet is for two violins, a viola, and a cello.
• String Quartet No 2 (1997)
• String Quartet No 3 (2010)
• String Quartet No 4 (2016) – first performed in York.
• String Quartet No 5 (2022)

Recordings

Many of Nicola LeFanu's works have been recorded so people can listen to them.

• In 2020, recordings of four orchestral pieces were released by NMC: The Crimson Bird, The Hidden Landscape, Columbia Falls, and Threnody.
• In 2024, a collection of her chamber music was released by Gemini. This collection includes The Same Day Dawns (1974), The Moth Ghost (2020), the Sextet (1996), and the Piano Trio (2003).
• Gemini also recorded Invisible Places and Songs Without Words in 2017.