Errollyn Wallen

Composer Errollyn Wallen works in an eclectic idiom grounded in popular song yet resistant to any crossover label. Although vocal music forms a central focus, she has also produced pieces across a wide array of established classical forms.

Born in Belize City on April 10, 1958, at the time still part of the British Honduras colony, she is the sister of jazz trumpeter Byron Wallen. At the age of two she moved with her family to London; her parents later settled in New York, where she trained at the Dance Theater of Harlem, while she herself grew up chiefly in England under the care of an aunt and uncle. She pursued composition studies at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and at King’s College, London, before completing an MPhil at King’s College, Cambridge. While still a student she established the ensemble Ensemble X, whose members shared the conviction that they saw no musical barriers in need of dismantling.

Early recognition arrived through chamber music, among the first examples being her 1982 Trio for two flutes and vibraphone. Percussionist Colin Currie commissioned her Concerto for percussion and orchestra in 1994 and performed it in the finals of the BBC Young Musician Competition; the score later appeared at the 1998 BBC Proms—marking Wallen as the first Black woman to receive a performance there—and was heard again at the 2006 Cervantino Festival in Mexico. Her song output includes the cycle Are You Worried About the Rising Cost of Funerals, scored for soprano and string quartet, and many of these vocal works reflect the influence of popular idioms. She has also completed several operas, among them The Silent Twins (2007) and the multi-part project Another America, as well as the choral symphony Carbon 12 and the 40-voice piece When the Wet Wind Sings. On the orchestral front, Mighty River (2017) marks the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery in Britain and received its premiere from the Philharmonia Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins.

More than twenty of her compositions have been recorded. She has released two discs under her own name—The Girl in My Alphabet (2002) and Errollyn (2004)—both issued by the Avie label. In 2007 she was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire, advancing to Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2020.