The Belize-born British composer, who was awarded a CBE in the 2020 New Year’s Honours list, studied at the University of London, then took a Master’s in composition at King’s College, Cambridge. Her works include commissions for the 2012 Paralympic Games, the BBC Proms, and the golden and diamond jubilees of the late Queen Elizabeth II; her work for string orchestra, Photography (2007), was performed at the Service of Thanksgiving for King Charles III and Queen Camilla at St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh, in July 2023. Last year she became the first woman to receive an Ivor Novello Award for classical music.
Wallen has a firm commitment to breaking down barriers that can surround classical music, telling Choir & Organ magazine in 2021: ‘We seem to see contemporary classical music as a very specialist subject and it doesn’t feel open to everyone. Time to open up!’ She has composed two community operas and MAP – Songs for Children Everywhere (2018); her orchestral canon includes a violin concerto and a cello concerto.
Professing herself ‘thrilled’ by the appointment, she said: ‘It will be a privilege and a great honour to serve His Majesty The King, the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. I look forward to championing music and music-making for all.’
The office of Master of the King’s Music dates back to the reign of Charles I. It is an honorary appointment conferred on a musician of distinction who has contributed to the musical life of the UK and the Commonwealth.
