Diana Burrell is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

.

Life and career

She was born in Norwich and attended Norwich High School for Girls

Norwich High School for Girls

Norwich High School for Girls is an independent fee-charging school with selective entry in Norwich, Norfolk, England. It was founded in 1875 and is now one of the twenty-nine schools of the Girls' Day School Trust. The school has one of the best academic records in Norfolk...

 before studying music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

 at Cambridge University. She began her career as a viola

Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...

 player, but soon became well known for her compositions

Musical composition

Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

 and became a full-time composer.

Her first major orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

l piece was titled Landscape (1988). It describes the wild, windswept countryside. It was one of the winners of the "Encore" awards organised by the Royal Philharmonic Society

Royal Philharmonic Society

The Royal Philharmonic Society is a British music society, formed in 1813. It was originally formed in London to promote performances of instrumental music there. Many distinguished composers and performers have taken part in its concerts...

 and BBC Radio 3

BBC Radio 3

BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...

. Another notable orchestral work was Das Meer, das so groß und weit ist, da wimmelt's ohne Zahl, große und kleine Tiere ("The Sea is so big and wide and swarming with numerous little animals"). It describes the sounds and the atmosphere of the sea.

Burrell has written other orchestral works including concertos for viola, flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

 and clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

, an opera The Albatross (1997), lots of choral works and chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

. She likes modern architecture

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

 and her music sometimes shows this in the way it is shaped. She has also written music for young people, such as Lights and Shadows (1989) which includes a children's choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

, a recorder

Recorder

The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...

 group and lots of percussion.

She teaches at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...

 and became the Artistic Director of Spitalfields Festival in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 2006, taking over from Jonathan Dove

Jonathan Dove

Jonathan Dove is a British composer of opera, choral works, plays, films, and orchestral and chamber music. He has arranged a number of operas for English Touring Opera and the City of Birmingham Touring Opera , including in 1990 a famous 18-player two-evening adaptation of Wagner's Der Ring des...

. In 2006, she was awarded a fellowship from the Arts and Humanities Research Council

Arts and Humanities Research Council

Established in April 2005 as successor to the Arts and Humanities Research Board, the Arts and Humanities Research Council is a British Research Council and non-departmental public body that provides approximately £102 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the...

 at the Royal Academy of Music

Royal Academy of Music

The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...

, to compose a major series of ensemble organ works over five years. She lives in East London.

Orchestra

• Concerto
• Gate (string orchestra)
• Landscape (1988)
• Das Meer so gross und weit ist da wimmelts ohne Zahlgrosse kleine Tiere
• Symphonies of Flocks, Herds, and Shoals

Concertante

• Clarinet Concerto (1996)
• Flute Concerto (1997)
• Viola Concerto “...calling, leaping, crying, dancing...” (1994)

Choir

• Alleluia (SATB choir)
• Ave Verum Corpus (SATB choir)
• Benedicam Dominum (SSATB and organ)
• Come and See/Christ Child (piano and unison voice)
• Creator/Stars of Night (SATB choir, English Horn, Organ Pedals)
• Hymn to Wisdom (SATB choir)
• Magnificat/Nunc (for treble voices and piano)
• Michael's Mass (for unison voice and piano)
• Missa Sancte Endeliente (1980)

Other

• Arched Forms with Bells (for organ)
• Aria (for violin)
• Barrow
• Festival (for organ)
• Gold (for piano and brass, also for piano solo)
• Gulls and Angels (1983, string quartet)
• Heron (for cello and piano)
• King Shall Bright (for soprano, oboe, French horn, violin, and harp)
• North Star (for trumpet and organ)
• Songs for Harvey (for violin solo or viola solo) (1988)