Thea Musgrave | Featured Composer

We’re incredibly excited that this year’s featured composer is Scottish-American 97-year-old icon of British music, Thea Musgrave, whose music abounds in colour, emotion, drama and impact. Her rich and powerful musical language and a strong sense of drama have led her to become one of the most respected and exciting contemporary composers in the Western world. Her works are performed in major concert halls, festivals, and on radio stations on both sides of the Atlantic.

With grateful thanks for the support of the RPS Thea Musgrave Fund, we have 4 of her works programmed for 2026:

On Tues 26 May, Anna Crookes (former Young Musician of the Year, pianist Anna Markland) will perform Snapshots in Pershore Abbey as part of the I Fagiolini concert

On Thurs 28 May, world renowned oboist and great friend of Thea’s, Nicholas Daniel, joins ESO Strings at Great Malvern Priory for a performance of Night Windows. Nick will also be giving a pre-concert talk about Thea’s work.  

Nick is joined by award winning composer and pianists Huw Watkins on Fri 29 May for a very special lunchtime recital at Henry Sandon Hall in Worcester including Thea’s oboe work Dawn 

Finally, the English Symphony Orchestra perform Thea’s rich and evocative orchestral work The Seasons at the Gala concert on Sat 30 May – a work offering a profound yet joyful  commentary on the cycles of life through the lens of the changing seasons. 

Two major retrospectives in recent years have shown the immense diversity of her music: the BBC’s Total Immersion weekend in 2014 and the Stockholm International Composer Festival 2018, in which fifteen of her orchestral and chamber works in four concerts — the largest profile of her music to date. Musgrave has been featured at many other major festivals including as Edinburgh, Warsaw Autumn, Florence Maggio Musicale, Venice Biennale, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham and Zagreb. 

Musgrave has been the recipient of many notable awards including two Guggenheim Fellowships, the Ivors Classical Music Award 2018, and The Queen’s Medal for Music. She was awarded a CBE on the Queen’s New Year’s Honour List in 2002. 

More information at wisemusicclassical.com