Roxanna Panufnik studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music and, since then, she has written a wide range of pieces – opera, ballet, music theatre, choral works, chamber compositions, and music for film and television – which have been performed all over the world.
Highlights of her work include Westminster Mass, commissioned for Westminster Cathedral Choir on the occasion of Cardinal Hume’s 75th birthday, and available on CD; The Music Programme, an opera for Polish National Opera’s millennium season which received its UK premiere at the BOC Covent Garden Festival; and settings for solo voices and orchestra of Vikram Seth’s Beastly Tales – the first of which was commissioned by the BBC for Patricia Rozario and City of London Sinfonia.
Other recent compositions comprise Roxanna’s critically acclaimed harp concerto Powers & Dominions; Letters from Burma for oboist Dougie Boyd and the Vellinger String Quartet; Leda, a ballet for English National Ballet and Wratislavia Cantans and Abraham – a violin concerto commissioned by Savannah Music Festival for Daniel Hope, incorporating Christian, Islamic and Jewish music. Commissions for 2006-8 include various choral and chamber works from within the UK, Poland and USA, and solo works for ‘cellist Han-Na Chang and flautist Emily Beynon.
Three CDs have been released recently – Beastly Tales on the EMI British Composers label, Angels Sing, Roxanna’s religious choral works with The Joyful Company of Singers, on Warner Classics and The Upside Down Sailor with librettist & narrator Richard Stilgoe, accompanied by David Campbell‘s Soundwood Ensemble, on the Black Box label.
Commissions and Performances
Japanese Spring - 2008
5 May 2008: Civic Hall, Stratford-upon-Avon (world premiere)
Japanese Spring
This piece is part of a long-term project commissioned by Tasmin Little and Orchestra of the Swan for the Spring Sounds Festival. It is the first of a 21st Century Four Seasons – each movement taking its influence from a country culturally associated with that season.
The music is all about the precipitation and anticipation of Spring, starting with one bud shooting up through the ground and eventually bursting into a myriad of petals and the glorious cherry blossoms of Japan. Its nationality is signified by the use of the Japanese “in” mode which is fundamentally pentatonic. Birdsong also appears – the song of the Japanese Bush Warbler which is prevalent in Spring. The piece starts very low and quiet as the first hints of new life appear and ends very high and jubilant after a build up of exploding blossom and a cacophony of birdsong! It is dedicated to Tasmin and the Orchestra of the Swan.
Roxanna Panufnik
Tibetan Winter - 2009
1 May 2009: Civic Hall, Stratford-upon-Avon (world premiere)
Tibetan Winter
This beautiful Tibetan song has been sung for centuries in many different ways. I first heard a “folk opera” version, sung exquisitely by a popular singer, Namgyal Lhamo, in a softer, more romanticized, rubato (and some would say “westernized”) way. Then I heard a more traditional performance by a Tibetan nomad from the East of the country – complete with frequent glottal stops (translated to the violin into grace notes) and brief bursts of tremelo at the start of longer notes. I have used both of these versions as they both have their individual appeal – and the rawness of the nomad version enhances the trembling chill of a Tibetan Winter.
My thanks go to Tibetan music expert Anna Morcom for all her help and advice – and to Tasmin Little and David Curtis for making it happen. It is dedicated to Tasmin and the Orchestra of the Swan.
Roxanna Panufnik
Indian Summer – 2010
28 May 2010: Civic Hall, Stratford-upon-Avon (world premiere)
Indian Summer
I’m using poetic license here, as “Indian Summer” is often used to describe an uncharacteristically warm UK autumn, but the intense warmth and colour of India seemed perfect for summer music. Over a double-bass drone, the solo violin plays the main theme in the sweeping portamento (sliding)-style of the traditional Northern Indian violin. Slightly Bhangra-ized tabla (Indian drums) rhythms and four Northern Indian modes (Kalyan, Marva, Purvi and Kafi ) are used to bring the kaleidoscopic hues and vivacity of this stunning subcontinent.
My thanks go to Northern Indian music expert and performer Kartik, for all his help and advice – and to Tasmin & David Curtis for making it happen. It is dedicated to Tasmin and the Orchestra of the Swan.
Roxanna Panufnik