Sally Beamish

Sally Beamish (born London, 26 August 1956) is an English composer. She has written music for orchestra, chamber music, vocal and choral music.

Sally studied the viola at the Royal Northern College of Music. Later she also studied in Germany and Italy.

Sally started her career playing the viola in a chamber group called the Raphael Ensemble. The experience of playing in small groups was important for her development as a composer. Her music often combines and contrasts solo instruments, exploring the sounds they can make.

She has written works for the Swedish and Scottish Chamber Orchestras and has had works performed at the BBC Proms. Her trumpet concerto, written for Håkan Hardenberger and the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland was performed at the Proms in 2003 with Martyn Brabbins conducting. She has also written concertos for the flute, viola, saxophone, percussion and accordion and is planning to write concertos for viola (her third), saxophone quartet and cello.

She has written a stage musical about the Scottish Highlands. She lives in Scotland with her husband and young daughter.

Other websites

• Sally Beamish Archived 2006-05-01 at the Wayback Machine – official website