Anna Meredith
{{about||the academic|Anna Meredith (veterinary surgeon)|the artist|Anne Meredith Barry}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Anna Meredith
| image = Anna Meredith at the Barbican (52040727792).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Anna Meredith at the Barbican in 2022
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1978|01|12}}
| birth_place = Tufnell Park, North London, England
| origin =
| genre = {{hlist|Modern classical|experimental}}
| occupation =
| instrument =
| years_active = 2008–present
| label = Moshi Moshi
| associated_acts =
| website = {{URL|https://annameredith.com/}}
}}
Anna Howard Meredith {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE}} (born 12 January 1978){{cite news|last=Chilton|first=Martin|title=A concert without musical instruments|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/8994621/A-concert-without-musical-instruments.html|accessdate=15 August 2013|newspaper=Daily Telegraph|date=5 January 2012|location=London}} is a Scottish composer and performer of electronic and acoustic music. She is a former composer-in-residence with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra{{cite web|last=Snapes|first=Laura|title=Rising: Anna Meredith|url=http://pitchfork.com/features/rising/9154-anna-meredith/|work=Pitchfork|date=3 July 2013 |publisher=Pitchfork Media Inc.|accessdate=15 August 2013}} and former PRS/RPS Composer in the House with Sinfonia ViVA.{{cite news|title=Sinfonia Viva to feature Derby's 'night sounds'|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/derby/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_9070000/9070265.stm|accessdate=15 August 2013|date=7 October 2010|work=BBC News}}{{cite news|title=Composer Anna to spend two years with Viva|url=http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/story-11586196-detail/story.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130815134037/http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/story-11586196-detail/story.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 August 2013|accessdate=15 August 2013|newspaper=Derby Telegraph|date=24 December 2009}}
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
Meredith was born in Tufnell Park, North London and moved to South Queensferry, Scotland{{cite news|last=Bruce|first=Keith|title=Anna is calling the tune; The Royal College of Music is breaking with tradition to award Scot Anna Meredith its composers' fellowship|newspaper=Glasgow Herald|date=2 October 2003|page=17|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12529960.anna-is-calling-the-tune-the-royal-college-of-music-is-breaking-with-tradition-to-award-scot-anna-meredith-its-composers-fellowship-by-keith-bruce/}} 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. In 2003, aged 24, she was made the Constant and Kit Lambert junior fellow of the Royal College of Music.
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.{{cite news|last=Hewett|first=Ivan|title=Anna Meredith: daring, challenging -and a recipe for chaos|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3560242/Anna-Meredith-daring-challenging-and-a-recipe-for-chaos.html|accessdate=15 August 2013|newspaper=Daily Telegraph|date=11 September 2008|location=London}} 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. Meredith has been a judge for BBC Young Musician of the Year, a mentor to Goldie for the TV show Classical Goldie 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{{cite news|last=Barber|first=Martin|title=National award for dancer Sillis|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/norfolk/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_7907000/7907581.stm|accessdate=15 August 2013|date=24 February 2009|work=BBC News}} and won the 2010 Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Composers.{{cite web|title=Previous awards |url=http://www.phf.org.uk/artists/landing.asp?id=284 |publisher=Paul Hamlyn Foundation |accessdate=15 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521145457/http://www.phf.org.uk/Artists/landing.asp?id=284 |archivedate=21 May 2014 }}
Meredith's pieces include Four Tributes to 4am for orchestra, electronics and visuals by (her sister) Eleanor Meredith,{{cite web|title=About Viva |url=http://www.vivaorch.co.uk/staff-ameredith.shtml |publisher=Sinfonia Viva |accessdate=15 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406183341/http://www.vivaorch.co.uk/staff-ameredith.shtml |archivedate=6 April 2012 }} 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.{{cite web|last=Ashley|first=Tim|title=NYO/Daniel – review|date=6 January 2012|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/jan/06/nyo-daniel-review|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|quote=It's a tour de force for the NYO, who performed it from memory and were greeted with a standing ovation, richly deserved.|accessdate=15 August 2013}}
Meredith has moved into electronic music, 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{{cite web|title=Press Release: Ether 2011|url=http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/sites/default/files/press_releases/Ether_2011_-_8_Feb_2011.pdf|publisher=Southbank Centre|accessdate=15 August 2013|archive-date=29 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029185646/http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/sites/default/files/press_releases/Ether_2011_-_8_Feb_2011.pdf|url-status=dead}} and a solo set at La Carrière de Normandoux.{{cite web|title=Anna Meredith Composer in the House |url=http://www.vivaorch.co.uk/pdf%20docs/Anna%20Meredith%20biography.pdf |accessdate=15 August 2013 }}{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} In 2012 Meredith released her debut EP Black Prince Fury, on Moshi Moshi Records,{{MusicBrainz release group|id=0bd1fe2a-4d7d-4bbe-a831-68c800ffdf35|name=Black Prince Fury}} which a reviewer compared favourably to the work of the avant-garde jazz composer Moondog.{{cite web|last=Powell|first=Mike|title=Anna Meredith: Black Prince Fury|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17400-black-prince-fury/|publisher=Pitchfork Media Inc.|quote=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|accessdate=15 August 2013}} In August 2013, Moshi Moshi Records and VF Editions released Meredith's second EP, Jet Black Raider.{{cite web|title=ELECTRONIC COMPOSER ANNA MEREDITH RETURNS WITH STRIKING SECOND EP "JET BLACK RAIDER"|date=23 July 2013|url=http://www.thevinylfactory.com/vinyl-factory-news/electronic-composer-anna-meredith-returns-with-striking-second-ep-jet-black-raider/|publisher=The Vinyl Factory|accessdate=15 August 2013}}{{cite web|title=Anna Meredith – Jet Black Raider EP |url=http://moshimoshimusic.com/portfolio/anna-meredith-jet-black-raider-ep/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130815134019/http://moshimoshimusic.com/portfolio/anna-meredith-jet-black-raider-ep/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 August 2013 |publisher=Moshi Moshi Records |accessdate=15 August 2013 }} 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.
Meredith's debut album, entitled Varmints, was released in March 2016.{{cite web|title=LISTEN: Anna Meredith Announces Debut Album|url=http://moshimoshimusic.com/2015/11/12/listen-anna-meredith-announces-debut-album/|publisher=Moshi Moshi Records|accessdate=12 January 2016}}{{Dead link|date=September 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
She featured in the First Night of the 2018 Proms with a new collaboration, Five Telegrams, with 59 Productions.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e8j3v2 |title=Proms 2018 Prom 1: First Night of the Proms - BBC Proms |publisher=BBC |date= |accessdate=2018-11-09}} Meredith produced the soundtrack for the 2018 film Eighth Grade.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7014006/fullcredits|title=Eighth Grade (2018)|publisher=|accessdate=9 November 2018|via=www.imdb.com}} She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to music.{{London Gazette|issue=62666|supp=y|page=B19|date=8 June 2019}}
File:Anna Meredith band, 10 November 2021.jpg
Her second studio album, Fibs, was released on 25 October 2019.{{cite web |last1=Minsker |first1=Evan |title=Anna Meredith Announces New Album FIBS, Shares New Song: Listen |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/anna-meredith-announces-new-album-fibs-shares-new-song-listen/ |website=Pitchfork |accessdate=11 July 2019 |date=10 July 2019}} The album was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize 2020. With her band, she toured in support of the album in 2021.{{Cite web|url=https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2021/11/14/the-final-day-of-mutations-festival-acts-are-reviewed/|title = The final day of Mutations Festival acts are reviewed|date = 14 November 2021}}
Discography
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
- Eighth Grade (2018)
- Living With Yourself (2019)
- The End We Start From (2023)
- Tuesday (2023)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.annameredith.com/}}
- {{MusicBrainz artist|mbid=6fc10cdb-04ce-412c-993f-fea0f4e6b95f|name=Anna Meredith}}
- {{AllMusic|mn0002255115}}
- {{imdbname|4047380}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meredith, Anna}}
Category:Scottish classical composers
Category:Scottish women classical composers
Category:Scottish women in electronic music
Category:21st-century British classical composers
Category:Alumni of the University of York
Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Music
Category:2012 Cultural Olympiad
Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Moshi Moshi Records artists
Category:People from South Queensferry
Category:People from Tufnell Park
Category:Musicians from the London Borough of Islington
Category:21st-century British composers