Errollyn Wallen CBE

Her prolific output includes over twenty operas and a large catalogue of orchestral, chamber and vocal works, which are performed and broadcast throughout the world. She has composed for the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games 2012, for the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilees, a specially commissioned song for COP 26, a re-imagining of Jerusalem for the Last Night of the Proms 2020. BBC Radio 3 featured her music for Composer of the Week, and she has made several radio documentaries. Errollyn collaborated with artist Sonia Boyce on her installation, Feeling Her Way, for the British Pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale, which won the Golden Lion prize. Her acclaimed opera, Dido’s Ghost was premiered at the Barbican in 2021 and received its US première in San Francisco in November 2023.  Recent premieres include  a Wigmore Hall debut performance of songs from The Errollyn Wallen Songbook, a violin concerto for Philippe Quint, Dances for Orchestra for Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Irish Chamber Orchestra, Night Thoughts, a song cycle for Dame Sarah Connolly and pianist Joseph Middleton and PARADE commissioned by Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

With Myleene Klass, Errollyn recently co-presented a three-part series, Musical Masterpieces, for SkyArts television.

Errollyn Wallen’s book, Becoming a Composer was published by Faber in November and will be translated into Spanish.

Errollyn Wallen’s recordings have travelled 7.84 million kilometers in space, completing 186 orbits around the Earth on NASA’s STS-115 mission.

Qualifications/ Educational Background

Born in Belize, Errollyn gave up her training at the Dance Theater of Harlem, New York to study composition at the universities of London and Cambridge.

Creative Outputs

Errollyn’s song Daedalus appears alongside songs by Björk, Sting, Elvis Costello and Meredith Monk on the Brodsky Quartet’s recent CD, Moodswings. Her solo albums Meet Me at Harold Moores and more recently, Errollyn, feature her songs in her own voice/piano performance and in collaboration with outstanding jazz artists.

The Errollyn Wallen Songbook published by Peters Edition comprises twelve of her celebrated songs for voice with piano accompaniment.

External Appointments

Errollyn has composed numerous works for The Orchestra of the Swan, and in 2006 she was appointed Composer in Association.