Judith Weir

Weir was born in Cambridge, England, to Scottish parents from Aberdeen.Dreyer, Martin. Judith Weir, composer A talent to amuse. The Musical Times. Vol. 122, No. 1663 (Sep., 1981), pp. 593-596. It was a musical household, with her father playing the trumpet and her mother the viola; the family moved house to Harrow and she began to play the oboe in her early teens.

She studied with John Tavener while at the North London Collegiate School{{cite news |last=Morrison |first=Richard |title=The wonderful Judith Weir – With a Barbican weekend devoted to her music, the composer Judith Weir is being feted as never before |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article3205137.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706062101/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article3205137.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 July 2008 |work=The Times & Sunday Times Archives |publisher=Times Newspapers |location=London |date=18 January 2008 |access-date=31 January 2011}} and subsequently with Robin Holloway at King's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1976.

The first of her works to be heard professionally was Where the Shining Trumpets Blow, given by the New Philharmonia in 1974. Before going to Cambridge Weir had a six-month period at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology learning about computer music and acoustics. Her work Campanile "in which a concertino core derived from Bach's Nun ist das Heil is framed by two Brahmsian elegies" won the first prize in the International Festival of Youth Orchestras in Aberdeen in 1974 where the jury included Aaron Copland. She won a Koussevitzky fellowship the following summer resulting in several compositions including what "she consider[ed] her true opus 1", Out of the Air. In early 1976 she won the Greater London Arts Association young musicians' composition award.

From 1976 to 1979 Weir was the Composer-in-Residence with the Southern Arts Association in southern England, where she ran courses for children and adults and took part in artistic projects. She lectured at Glasgow University from 1979 to 1982, and similarly from 1983 to 1985 at Trinity College, Cambridge.[https://brahms.ircam.fr/en/judith-weir Judith Weir British composer Resources.IRCAM page on Judith Weir] accessed 15 October 2024. From 1995 to 2000, she was Artistic Director of the Spitalfields Festival in London. She held the post of Composer in Association for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1995 to 1998.

Weirs music often draws on sources from medieval history, as well as the traditional stories and music of her parents' homeland, Scotland. Although she has achieved international recognition for her orchestral and chamber works, Weir is best known for her operas and theatrical works. Her musical language is fairly conservative, with a "knack of making simple musical ideas appear freshly mysterious".{{cite news |last=Clements |first=Andrew |title=Miss Fortune – review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/mar/13/miss-fortune-review |location=London |work=The Guardian |date=13 March 2012}} Her first stage work, The Black Spider, is a one-act opera that was premiered in Canterbury in 1985, loosely based on the short novel of the same name by Jeremias Gotthelf. She has subsequently written one more "micro-opera", three full-length operas, and an opera for television. In 1987, her first half-length opera, A Night at the Chinese Opera, was premiered at Kent Opera. This was followed by a further three full-length operas: The Vanishing Bridegroom (1990); Blond Eckbert (1994, commissioned by English National Opera{{cite web|url=http://opera.stanford.edu/composers/W.html|title=Opera Composers: W|website=opera.stanford.edu|access-date=22 October 2018}}); and Miss Fortune (Achterbahn) (2011). Her opera Armida, an opera for television, was premiered on Channel Four in the United Kingdom in 2005. The work was made in co-operation with Margaret Williams.{{cite web|url=http://www.chesternovello.com/default.aspx?TabId=2432&State_3041=2&workId_3041=34840|title=Judith Weir – Armida (2005) – Music Sales Classical|website=www.chesternovello.com|access-date=22 October 2018}} Weir's commissioned works most notably include We are Shadows (1999) for Simon Rattle and woman.life.song (2000) for Jessye Norman. In January 2008, Weir was the focus of the BBC's annual composer weekend at the Barbican Centre in London. The four days of programmes ended with a first performance of her new commission, CONCRETE, a choral motet. The subject of this piece was inspired by the Barbican building itself – she describes it as 'an imaginary excavation of the Barbican Centre, burrowing through 2,500 years of historical rubble'.{{cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/musical-work-rises-from-the-concrete-barbican-6636654.html|title=Musical Work rises from the concrete Barbican|newspaper=London Evening Standard|date=28 December 2007|access-date=18 October 2017}}

She was a visiting distinguished research professor in composition at Cardiff University from 2006 to 2009.

On 30 June 2014, The Guardian stated that her appointment as Master of the Queen's Music,{{cite news |last=Brodeur |first=Michael Andor |title=Queen had 'immensely detailed knowledge' of music, says royal composer |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/09/how-will-king-charles-rule/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=9 September 2022 |access-date=20 September 2022}} succeeding Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (whose term of office expired in March 2014), would be announced;{{cite news |last=Booth |first=Robert |title=Judith Weir to be appointed first female master of Queen's music |url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jun/29/judith-weir-female-master-queens-music |newspaper=The Guardian |date=29 June 2014 |access-date=20 September 2022}} this was officially confirmed on 21 July.{{cite web |title=Judith Weir appointed Master of the Queen's Music |url=http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/news/2995 |website=www.musicsalesclassical. |access-date=22 October 2018}} She was appointed for a decade.{{cite web |last=Tilden |first=Imogen |title=Judith Weir: the female music master with royal seal of approval |url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jul/03/judith-weir-master-of-the-queens-music-candidate |website=The Guardian |date=3 July 2014 |access-date=20 September 2022}}

The first public performance of Weir's arrangement of "God Save the Queen" was performed at the reburial of King Richard III at Leicester Cathedral on 26 March 2015. She was commissioned to compose an a cappella work for the state funeral of Elizabeth II on 19 September 2022, and wrote a setting of Psalm 42, "Like as the hart".{{cite web |url=https://www.royal.uk/state-funeral-and-committal-service-her-majesty-queen |title=The State Funeral and Committal Service for Her Majesty The Queen |work=The Royal Family |date=15 September 2022 |access-date=19 September 2022}}

In 2023, Weir was one of twelve composers asked to write a new piece for the coronation of Charles III and Camilla.{{cite news |title=Andrew Lloyd Webber piece among new coronation music |work=BBC News |date=18 February 2023 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64682655 |access-date=20 February 2023}} Her composition for orchestra, Brighter Visions Shine Afar, was performed before the ceremony began.[https://www.royal.uk/coronation-music-commissions Royal Family, "New music commissions for the coronation service at Westminster Abbey"], 17 April 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.

Dame Judith is President of the Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain (RSM).https://www.rsmgb.org/meet-the-team

Weir is a member of the Incorporated Society of Musicians.{{cite web |title=Incorporated Society of Musicians |website=ISM |date=4 August 2015 |url=https://www.ism.org/ |access-date=19 September 2022}}

Weir was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1995 Birthday Honours for services to music.{{London Gazette |issue=54066 |date=16 June 1995 |pages=9 |supp=1}}

She received the Lincoln Center's Stoeger Prize in 1997, the South Bank Show music award in 2001 and the Incorporated Society of Musicians' Distinguished Musician Award in 2010.

In 2007, she was the third recipient of the Queen's Medal for Music.

In May 2015, Weir won The Ivors Classical Music Award at the Ivor Novello Awards.{{cite news |title=The Ivors 2015 Winners, Ivor Novello Awards, Judith Weir |url=http://theivors.com/the-ivors-2015-winners/ |url-status=dead |agency=BASCA |magazine=The Ivors |date=22 May 2015 |access-date=28 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303061210/http://theivors.com/the-ivors-2015-winners/ |archive-date=3 March 2016}}

In 2018 she was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.{{cite news|url=https://www.rse.org.uk/fellow/judith-weir/|title=Ms Judith Weir HonFRSE |work=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|access-date=14 March 2018|language=en-GB}}

In 2023, she was made an Honorary Fellow of Royal Holloway, University of London.{{cite web |date=8 June 2023 |title=Royal Holloway presents Honorary Fellowships |url=https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/about-us/news/royal-holloway-presents-honorary-fellowships/ |access-date=30 December 2023 |website=Royal Holloway, University of London}}

She was promoted Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to music.{{London Gazette|issue=64269|supp=y|page=N9|date=30 December 2023}}

• King Harald's Saga (1979, soprano, singing eight roles)
• The Black Spider (6 March 1985, Canterbury);{{cite web | last=Evans | first=Rian | title=The Black Spider review – Weir's opera is ghastly gothic treat | website=The Guardian | date=29 May 2022 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/may/29/the-black-spider-review-weirs-opera-is-ghastly-gothic-treat | access-date=20 September 2022}} also exists in an expanded version for Hamburg State Opera (8 February 2009, Hamburg)
• The Consolations of Scholarship (5 May 1985, Durham, soprano, chamber ensemble)
• A Night at the Chinese Opera (8 July 1987, Cheltenham)
• HEAVEN ABLAZE in His Breast (5 October 1989, Basildon), based on E.T.A. Hoffmann's The Sandman, which won the prize for innovative work at OperaScreen in 1991.Weir, Judith. Memoirs of an Accidental Film Artist. In: A Night in at the Opera – Media representations of Opera. Edited by Jeremy Tambling. John Libbey & Company Ltd, London, 1994, p57.
• The Vanishing Bridegroom (1990, Glasgow); also exists in a chamber version (1990)
• Scipio's Dream (24 November 1991,{{cite web | url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?q=judith+weir+scipio%27s+dream#top | title=Search – BBC Programme Index }} television broadcast for the BBC), based on Il sogno di Scipione by Metastasio
• The Skriker (27 January 1994, London) – music for Caryl Churchill's play of the same name
• Blond Eckbert (20 April 1994, London); also exists in a so-called "pocket version" (reduced to one act from two) (2006)
• Armida (2005, television broadcast for Channel Four in the United Kingdom)
• Miss Fortune (opera) (Achterbahn "rollercoaster") (21 July 2011, Bregenzer Festspiele)

• Music for 247 Strings (1981, violin, piano)
• Thread! (1981, narrator, chamber ensemble)
• Scotch Minstrelsy (1982, tenor or soprano, piano)
• The Art of Touching the Keyboard (1983, piano)
• Missa Del Cid (1988, SAAATTTBBB choir), originally part of BBC's Sound on Film series; later used independently in concert and on stage.Weir, Judith. Memoirs of an Accidental Film Artist. In: A Night in at the Opera – Media representations of Opera. Edited by Jeremy Tambling. John Libbey & Company Ltd, London, 1994, p58.
• String Quartet (1990)
• Musicians Wrestle Everywhere (1994, flute, oboe, bass clarinet, horn, trombone, piano, cello, double bass)
• Forest (1995, orchestra)
• Piano Concerto (1997, piano, strings)
• Storm (1997, children's choir, SSAA choir, chamber ensemble)
• Natural History (1998, soprano, orchestra)
• Piano Trio (1998)
• We Are Shadows (1999, children's choir, SATB choir, orchestra)
• Piano Quartet (2000)
• woman.life.song (2000, premiered by Jessye Norman at Carnegie Hall, soprano, chamber ensemble)
• The welcome arrival of rain (2001–2002, orchestra)
• Tiger Under the Table (2002, chamber ensemble)
• Piano Trio Two (2003–2004)
• Winter Song (2006, orchestra)
• CONCRETE (2007, speaker, SATB choir, orchestra)
• I give you the end of a golden string (2013, strings)
• In the Land of Uz (2017, SATB choir, soprano saxophone, trumpet, tuba, organ, viola, double bass)
• Oboe Concerto (2018, oboe, orchestra)
• The Prelude (2018–2019, flute, violin, viola, cello)
• The True Light (2018, SATB choir, organ) for the First World War centenary
• By Wisdom (2018, SATB choir, organ) for the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/09/15/queen-music-royal-composer-weir/ |title=Queen had 'immensely detailed knowledge' of music, says royal composer |last=Brodeur |first=Michael Andor |date=15 September 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=17 December 2022}}
• On White Meadows (2020, mezzo-soprano and piano){{Cite book |last=Weir |first=Judith |url=https://catalogtest.lib.uchicago.edu/vufind/Record/12829485# |title=On white meadows: for mezzo-soprano voice and piano |last2=Müller |first2=Wilhelm |date=2023 |publisher=Chester Music, part of Wise Music Group |location=London |oclc=on1359415988 |quote=Composed in 2020. Commissioned by the 11th International Chamber Music Competition "Franz Schubert and Modern Music", at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.}}
• Music, Spread Thy Voice (2022, orchestra) for the 150th Anniversary of the Royal Orchestral Society
• Like as the hart (2022, SATB choir, organ) for the state funeral of Elizabeth II.{{cite news

|url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/19/a-ringing-coda-the-music-at-the-queens-funeral-was-both-solemn-and-sublime |last= Ashley |first= Tim |title = A ringing coda: the music at the Queen's funeral was both solemn and sublime |newspaper= The Guardian |date= 19 September 2022 |access-date= 19 September 2022}}*

• Begin Afresh (2022, orchestra)
• Brighter Visions Shine Afar (2023, orchestra) for the coronation of Charles III and Camilla

• [https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/jan06/Weir_BlondEckbert_NMCD106.htm Blond Eckbert] Nicholas Folwell (baritone), Blond Eckbert; Anne-Marie Owens, Christopher Ventris, Nerys Jones; Chorus and Orchestra of English National Opera; Sian Edwards (conductor) Collins Classics: CD14612 / NMC: NMC D106 (2006)
• [https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68466&utm_medium=VV&utm_source=VV2025_06&utm_content=2025_06mailingCDA68466 In the Land of Uz] – Yale Schola Cantorum, David Hill. Hyperion CDA68466 (2025)
• [https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W17976_120087 King Harald's Saga] – Judith Weir, Ailish Tynan, Iain Burnside. Cala CACD88040 (2006)
• [https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/weir-night-at-the-chinese-opera A Night at the Chinese Opera] – Andrew Parrott, Scottish Chamber Orchestra. NMC D060 (2000)
• [https://nmc-recordings.myshopify.com/products/judith-weir-piano-concerto Piano Concerto; Distance and Enchantment; various other chamber works] – William Howard, Schubert Ensemble. NMC D090 (2002)
• [https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_SIGCD087 On Buying a Horse: The songs of Judith Weir] On Buying a Horse; Ox Mountain Was Covered by Trees; Songs from the Exotic; Scotch Minstrelsy; The Voice of Desire; A Spanish Liederbooklet; King Harald's Saga; Ständchen. Susan Bickley (mezzo-soprano), Andrew Kennedy (tenor), Ailish Tynan (soprano), Ian Burnside (piano) Signum SIGCD087 (2006)
• [https://nmc-recordings.myshopify.com/products/judith-weir-the-vanishing-bridegroom?srsltid=AfmBOor6RYlovT6OTfA1y8sictjD2210fgzKA-RkaWzXnyW6RcfUlAfs The Vanishing Bridegroom]. Ailish Tynan (soprano), Anna Stéphany (soprano), Andrew Tortise (tenor), Owen Gilhooly (baritone), Jonathan Lemalu (bass-baritone), BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Orchestra; Martyn Brabbins (conductor) – NMC D196 (2014)

{{Reflist}}

• Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, 782 pages, {{ISBN|978-0198691648}}, {{OCLC|25409395}}

• [http://bregenzerfestspiele.com/en/company/history Achterbahn Bregenz 2011] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306090429/http://bregenzerfestspiele.com/en/company/history |date=6 March 2016 }}
• [https://britishmusiccollection.org.uk/composer/judith-weir Judith Weir on the British Music Collection]

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Category:1954 births

Category:20th-century British classical composers

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Category:Academics of Cardiff University

Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge

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Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire

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