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Anna Meredith

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the academic, see Anna Meredith (veterinary surgeon). For the artist, see Anne Meredith Barry.

Anna Meredith
Anna Meredith at the Barbican in 2022
Background information
Born (1978-01-12) 12 January 1978 (age 46)
Tufnell Park, North London, England
Genres
Years active2008–present
LabelsMoshi Moshi
Websiteannameredith.com

Anna Howard Meredith MBE (born 12 January 1978)[1] is a Scottish composer and performer of electronic and acoustic music. She is a former composer-in-residence with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra[2] and former PRS/RPS Composer in the House with Sinfonia ViVA.[3][4]

In 2016, Meredith released her debut studio album, Varmints, to widespread critical acclaim. An electronica-based release, the album won the 2016 Scottish Album of the Year Award.

Career

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Meredith was born in Tufnell Park, North London and moved to South Queensferry, Scotland[5] at the age of two. She read for a degree in music at University of York, where she was awarded first class honours, and gained her master's degree from the Royal College of Music.[5] In 2003, aged 24, she was made the Constant and Kit Lambert junior fellow of the Royal College of Music.[5]

Meredith first came to widespread public attention through her work froms created for the 2008 BBC Last Night of the Proms which was broadcast to 40 million people.[4][6] She has since written another BBC Prom commission, her first opera (Tarantula in Petrol Blue – with libretto by Philip Ridley) and collaborated with the beatboxer Shlomo, writing the Concerto for Beatboxer and Orchestra.[1] Meredith has been a judge for BBC Young Musician of the Year, a mentor to Goldie for the TV show Classical Goldie[4] and is a frequent guest and commentator for the BBC Proms and other BBC Radio 3 and 4 shows.

She was the classical music nominee for the 2009 Times Breakthrough Award[7] and won the 2010 Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Composers.[8]

Meredith's pieces include Four Tributes to 4am for orchestra, electronics and visuals by (her sister) Eleanor Meredith,[9] and HandsFree, a PRS NewMusic20x12 Commission for the National Youth Orchestra, which received warm reviews after being performed as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad in the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.[1][10]

Meredith has moved into electronic music,[2] which she has performed throughout Europe alongside a diverse range of artists including supporting These New Puritans in Berlin, James Blake, Seb Rochford and Max de Wardener at Ether 2011[11] and a solo set at La Carrière de Normandoux.[12] In 2012 Meredith released her debut EP Black Prince Fury, on Moshi Moshi Records,[13] which a reviewer compared favourably to the work of the avant-garde jazz composer Moondog.[14] In August 2013, Moshi Moshi Records and VF Editions released Meredith's second EP, Jet Black Raider.[15][16] In an interview with Pitchfork, Meredith noted that her second EP featured "clarinets, singing, glocks, drums, lots of cello," unlike Black Prince Fury, which was entirely synthesised.[2]

Meredith's debut album, entitled Varmints, was released in March 2016.[17]

She featured in the First Night of the 2018 Proms with a new collaboration, Five Telegrams, with 59 Productions.[18] Meredith produced the soundtrack for the 2018 film Eighth Grade.[19] She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to music.[20]

Anna Meredith and her band performing live at Fabric, London on 10 November 2021, in support of the album Fibs. From left to right are Meredith (keys, electronics, percussion, clarinet), Tom Kelly (tuba), Sam Wilson (drums), Jack Ross (electric guitar) and Maddie Cutter (cello).

Her second studio album, Fibs, was released on 25 October 2019.[21] The album was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize 2020. With her band, she toured in support of the album in 2021.[22]

Discography

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Studio albums

  • Varmints (2016)
  • Anno (2018)
  • Fibs (2019)
  • Bumps Per Minute: 18 Studies for Dodgems (2021)
  • Nuc (2023), with the Ligeti Quartet

EPs

  • Black Prince Fury (2012)
  • Jet Black Raider (2013)

Soundtracks

References

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  1. ^ a b c Chilton, Martin (5 January 2012). "A concert without musical instruments". Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  2. ^ a b c Snapes, Laura (3 July 2013). "Rising: Anna Meredith". Pitchfork. Pitchfork Media Inc. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  3. ^ "Sinfonia Viva to feature Derby's 'night sounds'". BBC News. 7 October 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  4. ^ a b c "Composer Anna to spend two years with Viva". Derby Telegraph. 24 December 2009. Retrieved 15 August 2013.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ a b c Bruce, Keith (2 October 2003). "Anna is calling the tune; The Royal College of Music is breaking with tradition to award Scot Anna Meredith its composers' fellowship". Glasgow Herald. p. 17.
  6. ^ Hewett, Ivan (11 September 2008). "Anna Meredith: daring, challenging -and a recipe for chaos". Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  7. ^ Barber, Martin (24 February 2009). "National award for dancer Sillis". BBC News. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  8. ^ "Previous awards". Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  9. ^ "About Viva". Sinfonia Viva. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  10. ^ Ashley, Tim (6 January 2012). "NYO/Daniel – review". Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 15 August 2013. It's a tour de force for the NYO, who performed it from memory and were greeted with a standing ovation, richly deserved.
  11. ^ "Press Release: Ether 2011" (PDF). Southbank Centre. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  12. ^ "Anna Meredith Composer in the House" (PDF). Retrieved 15 August 2013.[permanent dead link]
  13. ^ Black Prince Fury at MusicBrainz (list of releases)
  14. ^ Powell, Mike. "Anna Meredith: Black Prince Fury". Pitchfork Media Inc. Retrieved 15 August 2013. like Moondog... Meredith's music feels dense, busy and isolated, but essentially fun, as though it was designed first and foremost to amuse the people making it
  15. ^ "ELECTRONIC COMPOSER ANNA MEREDITH RETURNS WITH STRIKING SECOND EP "JET BLACK RAIDER"". The Vinyl Factory. 23 July 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  16. ^ "Anna Meredith – Jet Black Raider EP". Moshi Moshi Records. Archived from the original on 15 August 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  17. ^ "LISTEN: Anna Meredith Announces Debut Album". Moshi Moshi Records. Retrieved 12 January 2016.[permanent dead link]
  18. ^ "Proms 2018 Prom 1: First Night of the Proms - BBC Proms". BBC. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  19. ^ "Eighth Grade (2018)". Retrieved 9 November 2018 – via www.imdb.com.
  20. ^ "No. 62666". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 June 2019. p. B19.
  21. ^ Minsker, Evan (10 July 2019). "Anna Meredith Announces New Album FIBS, Shares New Song: Listen". Pitchfork. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  22. ^ "The final day of Mutations Festival acts are reviewed". 14 November 2021.
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