Dr Liz Johnson

Composition & Critical Studies Tutor

BA (Hons)
MA
PhD
PGCE

Liz Johnson
Tel: c/o 0121 331 5901

Prize-winning composer Liz Johnson writes a wide range of concert music, specialising in solo, chamber, vocal and choral music, occasionally incorporating electronics and elements of improvisation and also works with dance and theatre. She was recently awarded a PhD (Composition) from the Conservatoire with the main work Sky-burial for voice and string quartet.

Liz works extensively in the community delivering creative music projects with schools, hospitals, care homes and community groups. This includes the immensely popular BCMG Music Maze series which has been running since 2003. Other community work ranges from writing songs with nursery children to devising challenging composition and improvisation projects with talented and gifted young musicians all around the West Midlands.

Teaching Specialisms
  • Composition
  • Community Music and Education
  • Critical Studies
Awards & Prizes
  • Writing for Orchestra 2005 with BBC Symphony Orchestra conductor Zsolt Nagy: Wild Man Dances
  • spnm shortlist 2005-2008: Sky-burial for voice and string quartet
  • British Composer Awards 2003 Finalist: Moon Incantations for choir
  • Birmingham Chamber Music Society Composition Prize 2002: Images of Trees String Quartet No 1
  • Tate Liverpool/COMA call, 2001 Winner: The Mud Bath
Currently performing / working with
  • Fitzwilliam String Quartet
  • Ruth Wall (harp)
  • Sound Futures
  • BCMG Education
  • Heartlands Hospital
  • National Association of Gifted and Talented Youth
  • Birmingham Chamber Music Society
Current Projects
  • CovCoolKids: working with 700 Primary School children across Coventry for a spectacular performance of Alien Landscapes at Warwick Arts Centre in June 2007
  • Grzimek’s Fly: a collaboration with harpist Ruth Wall to create a new work for bray harp (a Renaissance diatonic harp)
Performances
  • Iridaceae for violin and live electronics: 20 Nov 2002, 25 June 2004, 14 Dec 2005 Birmingham Conservatoire Recital Hall, David Chadwick, violin / Liz Johnson, electronics
  • Intricate Web String Quartet No 3: 10 Dec 03 Bromsgrove, 6 Feb 04 Bucknell (USA), 29 Feb 04 Cambridge, 29 April 04 Bangor, 17 May 04 London, 25 May 04 St Petersburg (Russia). Fitzwilliam String Quartet. [Commissioned by Bromsgrove Concerts 2003 funded by West Midlands Arts under the terms of the Regional Arts Lottery Programme, on behalf of the Arts Council of England]
  • Sky-burial for voice and string quartet: 29 Nov 07 Birmingham Conservatoire Recital Hall, 31 Oct 07 The Warehouse (London), Fitzwilliam String Quartet / Suzanna Purkis, soprano
  • Pig – songs for baritone and piano: 25 June 03 Birmingham Conservatoire, James Jones, baritone / Michael Higgins, piano; 14 Oct 03 Stratford Town Hall, Roderick Williams / Simon Lepper; 31 July 05 English Song Festival, John Lofthouse / Caroline Dowdle; 22 Feb 06 The Courtyard Hereford, Roderick Williams / Susie Allen
  • Night-music for violin and piano duo: 16 Oct 05 Stratford Town Hall, Alexandra Wood, violin / Huw Watkins, piano; 13 June 04 Bromsgrove, Linda Hannah-Andersson / Patrick McBeth; 12.1.05 Bromsgrove, Alexandra Wood / Huw Watkins [commissioned by Stratford on Avon Music Festival with funds from Arts Council England]
  • Draco for solo percussion: 25 June 07 Birmingham Conservatoire, Alonso Mendoza; 19 Nov 03 Bromsgrove, Dave Price [Commissioned by Bromsgrove Concerts 2003 funded by West Midlands Arts under the terms of the Regional Arts Lottery Programme, on behalf of the Arts Council of England]
  • des branches du jardin for chamber orchestra: 27 Oct 01 Pebble Mill Studios, BCMG conducted by Pierre-Andrè Valade
Commissions
  • Urban Symphony (2007)
  • Grzimek’s Fly for bray harp (2006)
  • Two Celebratory Songs of Singing for SATB choir (2005)
  • Night-music for violin and piano duo (2003)
  • Draco for percussion solo (2003)
  • Intricate Web String Quartet No 3 (2003)
  • Moon Incantations for choir (2002)
Publications
  • 'Soundbeam At Birmingham Children's Hospital' Soundbeam News Issue 11.
Conference Papers
  • 'Soundbeam at Birmingham Children’s Hospital', Royal Society of Medicine, September 2005
  • 'Microstructure and Macrostructure in Sky-burial', Wolverhampton University, May 2005
  • 'Poetry Embellished: Setting Contemporary Texts', RSA Research Students Conference, London, December 2001
Recent Summer Courses & Masterclasses Given
  • La Caixa Community Music Conference, Barcelona, Spain, June 2006
  • NCN Clarendon College, Nottingham, November 2006
Recent Recordings & Broadcasts
  • BBC Radio 3 Morning Performance: Towards the Sea for clarinet, viola, cello
Professional Membership