Florence Anna Maunders
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Florence Anna Maunders
Composer
"...energised, rough-edged juxtapositions..." - The Guardian
"...an enjoyably furious mélange..." - The Telegraph
"...a wonderful crescendo of just outright queer orchestration..." - Robert Timestra
"...super-cool rhythm – biting and progressive..." - Anna Edwards
"...mere words cannot describe the vibrant orchestration [or] the inventive choral writing..." - Fiona Bennett (on Yaldo)
About
Information about multiple-international-award-winning Florence Anna Maunders & her career
Biography
Florence Anna Maunders started to compose music when she was a teenager, and her early tape-based pieces from this time reveal an early fascination with the unusual juxtapositions of sounds and collisions of styles which have been a hallmark of her music-making ever since. This is perhaps a reflection of the music which interested and excited her from a very young age – medieval dance music, prog-rock, electronic minimalism, bebop jazz, Eastern folk music, the music of Stravinsky & Messiaen, and the grand orchestral tradition of the European concert hall. Flori started out young, as a chorister, clarinetist and saxophone player, but following an undergraduate degree at the Royal Northern College of Music, where she studied with Anthony Gilbert, Adam Gorb, Simon Holt & Clark Rundell, she's enjoyed a mixed and international career as a jazz pianist, orchestral percussionist, vocalist arranger, electronic music producer and teacher. Since 2018 she's had a bit of a radical transformation of her self and her career, and returned to composition as a main artistic focus, winning a series of awards & competitions, and with her music performed across the UK, Europe, the USA and the rest of the world - performances and collaborations with leading ensembles, orchestras and soloists.
Flori is very grateful for the assistance she's received from Help Musicians UK
Stylistic Fingerprints
One of her main aims as a composer has always been to write music which excites and moves an audience – not to say that she has embraced populism, but that her music often pulsates and dances, or allows the luxury of melody to dominate. Her music often draws together a number of different stylistic currents to make something totally new and original, for instance her recent (and extensive) cantata Yaldo draws upon Syrian folk music, the music of the Byzantine Church in the middle ages, free jazz, Hebrew cantillation & complex Stravinskian rhythms to create a compulsive and explosive sound world. With a background in electronic music production, it's not surprising to hear the influence of dance culture in her compositions often to the fore – as an example take the piece Badder Gyrations, an “urban orchestral riot” which grows into a growling dubsteb-flavoured groove, before fragmenting into a kaleidoscopic melee of broken and recycled funk and soul fragments, coming together into a pulsating trance beat. Flori particularly enjoys collaborating with other musicians and creative artists. She's found that her identity as a transgender woman (and the formative experiences involved in reaching that point) to have had a profound influence on her perspectives towards composition, and this is overtly referenced in some works, more subtle in others - but in all cases her interest in musical transformations is very evident to even a casual listener.
Recent & Upcoming Events
Flori has been recently working on a number of exciting projects, although many of her performances and premieres have been put on hold by the current global pandemic. She's currently working on a major commission with Strange Trace Opera - a new opera called Goliath, which will be recorded and filmed as part of the Stencils Festival in 2021. She's also collaborating with Fulham Brass Band as part of Sound and Music's very exciting "Adopt A Music Creator" program, and is composing in an ongoing participation with the NYC-based The Brass Project, in addition to new commissions from ORA Singers (a new piece called Vessel in collaboration with Tate Modern), the Villiers Quartet and the Hypotenuse Trio. She's also working on a new piece for 'cello and piano as part of the Psappha "Composing for..." program, and newly commissioned solo works for Lynn Henderson, Stephanie Frye-Clarke, Cort Reynolds and others. In addition she's working on the score to an upcoming short film...
Other Work
Beside composing Flori also performs regularly as a freelance orchestral percussionist, teaches piano (for Berkshire Maestros), teaches music classes to A-Level (for St Bartholomew's School), conducts choirs & orchestras, accompanies choirs, shows & recitals (for example Newbury Childrens' Choir), sings with various chamber groups, produces arrangements for bands and orchestras of all abilities & plays piano & organ for church services around the local area.
Awards
Selection of recent prizes and awards
Mirari Brass Quintet Call For Scores (2022)
1st prizewinner
Khemia Ensemble Prize (2022)
Joint 1st prizewinner & commissioned to write for the ensemble
Royal Philharmonic Society Prize (2022)
Prizewinner
Mid Wales Strings - call for scores (2022)
Selected from call for scores to work with MWS
Uitgast Festival Prize (2022)
1st prizewinner
Third Coast Percussion Currents Creative Partner (2022-23)
Commissioned to create a new piece for/with Third Coast Percussion
London Chamber Orchestra "LCO New" (2022)
Selected as one of the 2022 cohort
Flourish! Commission (2022)
Commissioned to compose a new work for BGSO through BCMG's project for the Commonwealth Games
Drake Music Ascendant Commission (2022)
Commissioned to write a new work in 2022
Black Pencil Prize (2021)
Finalist - Honourable Mention
International Guitar Federation (2021)
Commissioned to write a new piece for solo guitar
LGBTViola Competition (2021)
First Prize Winner
Villiers Quartet "From Home" Commissions (2021)
Commissioned to write for the quartet
Hypotenuse Trio Call For Scores (2020)
Selected to be commissioned to write a new piece
ORA Singers Emergency Composers' Fund (2020)
Selected and commissioned to write a new piece in collaboration with Tate Modern
Adopt A Music Creator (2020-21)
Selected to work with Fulham Brass Band
Psappha "Composing for..." Scheme (2020)
Selected on the 'cello & piano scheme
Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize (2020)
Shortlisted Finalist
Diversity Initiative Call for Scores (2020)
1st Prize (Quartet) 1st Prize (Septet) Honorable Mention (Duet) Overall Grand Prize Winner
A4 Brass Quartet Composition Competition (2020)
Shortlisted Finalist
Brixworth International Composition Competition (2020)
1st Place Winner
Women's Orchestra of Arizona Composition Prize (2020)
1st Place Winner
London Consorts of Winds Competition (2020)
Shortlisted Finalist & Runner-up
Prix Annelie de Man 2020
Finalist
Black Pencil Prize 2020
Honorable Mention
Musica Prospettiva 2019-2020 - International Call for Scores
Finalist
International Isolda Composition Foundation London (2019)
Shortlisted & Finalist
Filipino American Symphony Orchestra Composition Competition (2019)
2nd Prize
Piano Teachers Congress of New York (PTCNY) Commissioning Award (2018)
Commissioning award for a new piece to be performed in Carnegie Hall (NYC) in Fall 2020
Royal Northern Symphonia Young Composers' Competition (2018)
Finalist & 2nd prizewinner
ARmusic Publishing House Award (2018)
"Khosk Im Vordum" (Words From My Mother) - a piece for solo (spoken) soprano & double-reed quartet to be published by ARMusic
2018 AGBU Sayat Nova International Composition Competition
3rd prize for Khosk Im Vordun (Words from My Mother) - a piece for solo (spoken) soprano & double-reed quartet
Bromley Symphony Orchestra Centenary Prize (2018)
Orchestra's choice prizewinner
Vienna "Sounds of Matter" (2018)
2nd prizewinner
Selection of Work
A selection of recent and historical performances
"Not Getting Out"
Exciting new string quartet piece in a fabulous performance by the Villers Quartet who commissioned it as part of their "From Home" series
"Either Everything Is Or Nothing Is"
Exciting & dramatic duet for 'cello & piano in a fantastic performance by Ben Powell & Jen Langridge
"Desert Spaces"
Created for and performed by Black Pencil Ensemble at Orgelpark Amsterdam as part of the Prix Annelli De Mann
"Fleeting Images"
Wind Quintet for players of the Moonlight Symphony Orchestra
"Badder Gyrations"
Performed by the Royal Northern Sinfonia at The Sage Gateshead
"Nest/Mound"
Duet for piano and percussion performed by the GBSR Duo as part of the Vale of Glamorgan Festval 2020
"Bacchanal"
For large orchestra - played by Bromley Symphony Orchestra conducted by Adrian Brown
"Kraken II"
Live performance from The Anvil, Basingstoke, performed by Clifton Band, conducted by Ben Copeman, and narrated by Neil Streeter.
"B'thulto Yeldath Dumoro"
The 6th movement of the Christmas cantata "Yaldo" performed by Newbury Chamber Choir directed by Ed Lambert
"Peeping Out"
For amplified flute & electronics
"Breathelated Spirits"
Quirky track from the album Jazzsteppin' - available on Bandcamp (click link to buy)
"...and This Machine Was Their God"
Trio for clarinet, 'cello & percussion (2018) based on the writings of Karl Marx, jazz & post-minimalism.
"Chain Growth"
2nd Prize winner at the 2018 "Sounds of Matter" competition in Vienna
"Symphonia Concertante"
Large work for 'cello & orchestra performed by Nicholas Trygstadt with the RNCMSO, conducted by Stuart Stratford.
Education
Royal Northern College Of Music
BMus(hons) GRNCM PPRNCM
Composition
University Of Reading
PGCE
Secondary Music
Birmingham City University
Listen Imagine Compose MTL/MEL
Masters in Education/Musical Leadership
Discography
Click links to listen to & buy these recordings
None Of Them Are Ever Coming Back
On the compilation I hope this finds you well in these strange times – Vol. 4 on the Nonclassical label
Your Dog
On the compilation Feed The Hound performed by Sarah Watts & Jon Iles
Not Getting Out
On the compilation From Home performed by the Villiers Quartet
Goliath:
An opera
On the compilation Stencils performed by Strange Trace Opera
Harbingers of Change:
EP
5-track EP of original compositions from the HoC collective available on Bandcamp
Press/Media
Interview with 4BarsRest Aug 2022
Article on LCO website June 2022
Article from Skipton Camerata Feb 2022
Interview with Villiers Quartet Oct 2021
Article from International Guitar Federation Jul 2021
Feature with ORA Singers Dec 2020
Article in 4-Bars-Rest October 2020
Interview on Jazz South UK Sept 2020
From "100 Days of Social Listening"
Interview and performance of collaboration with PRISM Ensemble July 2020
Video Interview with The Diversity Initiative Jun 2020
Page on Help Musicians UK Jun 2020
Article in South London Press Mar 2020
Article on Planet Hugill Mar 2020
Article in Diapason (French) Feb 2020
Article in "Slipped Disc" Feb 2020
Article in Piano Teachers Congress of New York Jan 2020
Article in AGBU Jan 2019
Instagram Post Dec 2019
Review in Newbury Weekly News Dec 2018
Article in Newbury Weekly News Dec 2018
Florence Anna Maunders © 2021