Deborah Mollison
Deborah Mollison (born 29 May 1958) is a British composer and songwriter, who works in both the United Kingdom and the United States. She is best known for her score for the 1999 independent British film East is East.
Life
[edit]Mollison began composing at the age of seven, having received free music lessons at school.[1] From the age of thirteen, she studied composition, piano and flute at the Royal Academy of Music where she won the Else Cross Prize for pianoforte.[2] She then moved to UCLA and to Middlesex University where she received her PhD in music.[2] Mollison subsequently taught composing at Middlesex for eight years.[1]
Mollison is best known for her scores for films and television programmes, but she has a greater diversity of style: songs, jazz, rock and orchestral works. She has composed for commissions from the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Britten Sinfonia.[3][4] She is best known for her score for the 1999 independent British film East is East.[4] Mollison regularly conducts her own work and has conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Irish Film Orchestra.[5][2] ref name=":1" />
Mollison's "Global Nation" celebrates a multi-cultural world set into England's "green and pleasant land"; "Ocean Witness" highlights the suffering of whales and dolphins at the hands of people.[2] Her 2020 orchestral work Secret Garden was inspired by reading the Pope's book Laudate Si' while recovering from Covid.[1] It became an eduational project funded by the Jesuit Fund for Social Justice and supported by the Dicastery for Culture and Education.
Works
[edit]Her works include:[6]
- Earth Story (1998) TV documentary mini-series
- Simon Magus (1999)
- Secrets of the Ancients (1999) TV documentary mini-series
- East Is East (1999)
- The Thing About Vince (2000) TV mini-series
- What the Romans Did for Us (2000) TV documentary series
- The Boys of Sunset Ridge (2001)
- Landscape Mysteries (2003)
- Souli (2004)
- Too Much Too Young (2005)
- Violin concerto: "Ocean Witness"
- Horn concerto: "Global Nation"
- May's Words (tone poem inspired by Maya Angelou)
- For Real (2009)
- Uncle Max (2011)
- Tied to a Chair (2011)
- Horace K48 0.5 (2013)
- Echo Road (2014)
- Luna Park (2015)
- Sipped (2016)
- Heather's Painting (2017)
- The Secret Garden (2020)
Awards
[edit]She has won the following awards:[6]
- UK Song '92,
- Gold Medal – Best Short Film at the New York Film Festival "Stand Up the Real Glynn Vernon"
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Deborah Mollison: 'Perseverance is my strongest asset'". Classical Music. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
- ^ a b c d "British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors". Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
- ^ "imdb". IMDb. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
- ^ a b "Air Edel". Retrieved 17 March 2017.
- ^ "Symphony of Films: Music from Britain and Qatar". britishcouncil.qa.
- ^ a b "Deborah Mollinson" (PDF). Chandos.
External links
[edit]
- 1958 births
- 20th-century British classical composers
- 21st-century British classical composers
- Alumni of Middlesex University
- Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music
- English classical composers
- English television composers
- Living people
- British women classical composers
- British women film score composers
- 20th-century English composers
- 20th-century English women musicians
- 21st-century English women musicians
- 20th-century British women composers
- 21st-century British women composers