Lynne Plowman
Lynne Plowman is a composer and flautist based in Wales. Probably best known for her two highly successful operas, she has also composed a wide variety of concert music.
In 2003, she was awarded the British Composers Award for Stage Works, for her first opera, Gwyneth and the Green Knight. Created for family audiences with the librettist, Martin Riley and performed by Music Theatre Wales, it was described as "one of the most brilliantly accomplished new operas I have heard for many a year" (The Times); "one of the most entertainingly theatrical of all recent British operas" (Opera Now); "a perfect new opera" (The Independent).
Lynne Plowman's second opera was House of the Gods, also with a libretto by Martin Riley and commissioned by MTW. Containing larger-than-life characters inspired by Irish mythology and combining eerily atmospheric music with twisted comedy music hall numbers, House of the Gods was completed in 2005 and toured the UK in 2006, again to rave reviews:
"gripping throughout...it grabbed me instantly...bags of character, atmosphere, humour and originality" (The Telegraph); "totally and utterly absorbing...one of the finest modern operas I have seen" (Brighton Argus); "there is something beguiling about Plowman's fluent writing, equally well crafted for voices and instruments alike... Plowman is a mistress of theatrical effect" (The Guardian)
Lynne Plowman's most recent works include Cries Like Silence, a large-scale choral/orchestral work commissioned by Portsmouth Grammar School for Remembrance Day in 2006. This dramatic setting of poems by Ted Hughes ('Crow's Account of the Battle') and e e cummings (these children singing in stone) was premiered in Portsmouth Cathedral with the London Mozart Players and has just been recorded for release on cd this autumn. Siren Song, a setting of the Margaret Atwood poem for mezzo soprano and piano, was commissioned by Les Azuriales Opera Festival for a premiere on the French Riviera in August 2007 and Hall of Mirrors, a quirky piece for six pianos, was commissioned by Piano Circus and premiered by them at Newcastle University this spring.
Supported by the Arts Council of Wales, Lynne is currently composing an ambitious new film score to the extraordinary classic silent movie, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. This highly theatrical seventy minute score for chamber orchestra will be performed live by the London Mozart Players, alongside screenings of the film, throughout Wales and England in 2009.
In addition to her busy composing commitments, Lynne Plowman is also an experienced flautist, teacher and animateur of creative music projects in schools and colleges. In this capacity she has worked internationally for companies including Opera North, Welsh National Opera, California State University and the Vadstena Academy, Sweden, among others. Last year, Lynne was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where she is a tutor of composition. She is also the composer in residence for Young Composer of Dyfed, a scheme which takes composition workshops and tutorials to schools in West Wales.