Errollyn Wallen at RCS
With a residence in a lighthouse on the North Coast of Scotland and a view to the Orkneys, Belize-born, London-raised Errollyn Wallen has been appointed Visiting Professor of Composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Wallen, who was appointed a CBE in the New Year Honours at the start of this year, found herself at the centre of some controversy with her instrumental arrangement of Parry’s Jerusalem for this year’s Last Night of the Proms, which she dedicated to the Windrush generation.
She has been working in Glasgow with the RCS String Orchestra and Teresa Riveiro Böhm, RCS Leverhulme Conducting Fellow, on her cello concerto, and will mentor students writing work for Plug, the Conservatoire’s annual festival of new music.
Wallen’s orchestral work The Frame is Part of the Painting was played at the 2019 BBC Proms by the BBC NOW under the baton of Elim Chan, with Scottish mezzo and RCS alumnus Catriona Morison as soloist.The current Principal Conductor of the Welsh orchestra, Ryan Bancroft, is also an RCS graduate and he will conduct her earlier work Mighty River in the RSNO’s current digital season, on January 15.
Image: Errollyn Wallen CBE ©Robert McFadzean