Freya Waley-Cohen (born 20 February 1989) is a British-American composer based in London.
Biography
Waley-Cohen grew up in an arts-oriented family. Her mother is the American sculptor Josie Spencer[1] and her father is English theatre manager and producer
Stephen Waley-Cohen. Her sister is the violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen.[2] She began playing the violin at the age of three, and at aged 11 enrolled for a composition course at
The Walden School, New Hampshire.[3] She studied with
Giles Swayne whilst an undergraduate at Cambridge, and then afterwards with
Simon Bainbridge and
Oliver Knussen at the
Royal Academy of Music.[4] In 2016 she was a Composition Fellow at the
Tanglewood Festival.
Music
An early composition was Dark Hour, a piano quintet with clarinet, performed at the
Sage Gateshead in May 2013.[5] The choral piece Linea was written specifically for performance inside the Princess of Wales Conservatory glass house at
Kew Gardens, an installation as much as a concert piece. It was performed there by the vocal ensemble Reverie in October 2014.[6] Similarly Permutations (2017), for six recorded violins, is also site-specific. It was written to be performed inside a specially constructed building at the
Aldeburgh Festival, created with architectural designers Finbarr O’Dempsey and Andrew Skulina. The six violin parts were recorded separately and the sound distributed around the building.[7]
The song cycle Happiness for soprano and orchestra was the last piece Waley-Cohen worked on with her teacher Oliver Knussen before his death in July 2018. It premiered at
St Luke Old Street on 19 October 2018, played by the
London Symphony Orchestra with soloist
Lauren Fagan.[8]Ink for large ensemble, recorded by the
Philharmonia Orchestra on the
NMC label,[9] was inspired by the poetry collection Bottled Air by Caleb Klaces (who also provided the text for Linea).[10]Changeling, a 10-minute work for chamber orchestra, was commissioned by the
Los Angeles Philharmonic and premiered on 1 June 2019 by the LA Phil New Music Group at the
Walt Disney Concert Hall, conducted by
John Adams.[11]
Her
BBC Proms debut came with a performance of the octet Naiad at
Cadogan Hall by the Knussen Chamber Orchestra, led by
Ryan Wigglesworth, on 9 September 2019.[12]Conjure, a string trio, was commissioned by the
Wigmore Hall and given its first performance at the hall on 2 November 2019 by the Albion Quartet.[13]Spell Book for soloists and chamber orchestra, setting poems from
Rebecca Tamás’s 2019 collection WITCH, was commissioned by the
Britten Sinfonia and first performed on 21 January 2020 in Cambridge.[14]Spell Book (Volume 2) was premiered at
Conway Hall on 1 March 2020.[15] The complete cycle, eight songs lasting around 45 minutes, was given its premiere at Milton Court in London on 1 February 2024.[16]
In March 2022 the premiere of her hour-long opera WITCH (also setting Rebecca Tamás) took place at the Royal Academy of Music as part of its 200th anniversary celebrations.[17] Freya was composer in residence with the
London Chamber Orchestra for the 2021-22 season, where performances of her works included Saffron and Happiness as well as the new work Pocket Cosmos, written for the orchestra.[18]
Works
2012
Ascension, solo cello
A Pyrrhic Smile, violin and cello
2013
In the Bubble Gum Jungle, soprano & piano
Ignite, orchestra
Five Breaths, solo piano
Day Three, flute, saxophone, harp and string quartet
Dark Hour, clarinet, piano & string quartet
Sillage, ensemble and solo violin
Regen, flute, clarinet, piano and string trio
Fragments, violin and guitar
2014
Linea - Pleasure Trip, vocal ensemble (text Caleb Klaces)
Southern Leaves, solo piano
Tree Rings, organ and percussion trio
Stella, brass ensemble
To Declare, baritone or tenor & piano
Daphna, horn trio
Just so we can Dance, accordion, clarinet and string trio
2015
Glass, percussion quartet
Landay, piano and voice
Nocturne, solo clarinet
Oyster, soprano, clarinet, harp & double bass
Unveil, solo violin
Attired with Stars, choir and audience
Sunstone, horn octet
Little Poisonous Snakes, soprano, piano, oboe, cello