Helem Grime
Personal Profile
The music of Helen Grime has been performed by leading orchestras around the world, among them the London Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductors who have championed her music include Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Mark Elder, Pierre Boulez, Kent Nagano, Oliver Knussen, George Benjamin, Daniel Harding, Marin Alsop and Thomas Dausgaard. Her music frequently draws inspiration from related artforms such as painting (Two Eardley Pictures, Three Whistler Miniatures), sculpture (Woven Space) and literature (A Cold Spring, Near Midnight, Limina) and has won praise in equal measure for the craftsmanship of its construction and the urgency of its telling.
Born in 1981, Grime attended St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh and, following studies at the Royal College of Music in London, was awarded a Leonard Bernstein Fellowship to attend Tanglewood Music Center in 2008. Between 2011 and 2015 she was Associate Composer to the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester and in 2016 was appointed Composer in Residence at Wigmore Hall in London. She was Lecturer in Composition at Royal Holloway, University of London, between 2010 and 2017 and is currently Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She was appointed MBE in the 2020 New Year Honours List for services to music.
Recent Works
Orchestra
Everyone Sang (2010) - 10 Minutes
Orchestration: 3(pic).2(ca).3(bcl).2+cbn/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.2perc/hp.cel/str(14.12.10.8.6)
Fanfares (2017) - 4 minutes
Orchestration: 4(2pic).2+ca.3(Ebcl:bcl).2+cbn/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.4perc/hp.cel/str
Limina (2019) - 12 minutes
Orchestration: 3.3(ca).3(Ebcl).2+cbn/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.3perc/hp.pf/str
Meditations on Joy (2019) - 15 minutes
Orchestration: 3(pic:afl).2+ca.3.2+cbn/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.4perc/cel.hp/str
Near Midnight (2012) - 12 Minutes
Orchestration: 3(pic).2+ca.3 cl in B flat (cl in E flat;bcl) +bcl.2+cbn/4.3.3+btbn.1/timp.3perc/hp.cel/str
Night Songs (2012) - 5 Minutes
Orchestration: 3(pic).2+ca.2+bcl.3(cbn)/4.3(pictpt). 2+btbn.btba/3perc/hp.cel/str
Two Eardley Pictures: I. Catterline in Winter (2016) - 8 minutes
Orchestration: 33(ca)3(Ebcl.bcl)2+cbn/4.3(Ebtpt).2+btbn.1/3perc/hp.cel/str
Two Eardley Pictures: II. Snow (2016) - 8 minutes
Orchestration: 3(pic)3(ca)3(Ebcl)2+cbn/4.3.2+btbn.1/3perc/hp.cel/str
Virga (2007) - 6 Minutes
Orchestration: 3(2pic).2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4.3.1 +btbn.1/timp.2 (3 op)perc/hp.cel/str
Woven Space (2017) - 22 minutes
Orchestration: 4(2pic,afl).2+ca.3(Ebcl,bcl).2+cbn/4.3(pictpt).2 +btbn.1/timp.4perc/hp.cel/str
Double Concerto (2015) - 20 Minutes
Soloist: Clarinet in B flat, Trumpet in C/Flugelhorn in B flat
Orchestration: 3(pic)2(ca)22(cbn)/422.btbn.1/timp.2perc/hp.pf(cel)/str
It will be spring soon (2021) - 15 minutes
Orchestration: soprano solo; violin solo; str(4.4.3.2.1)
Percussion Concerto (2018) - 23 minutes
Orchestration: percussion solo; 2(pic)2(ca)2(Ebcl)2(cbn)/2200/timp/hp.cel/str
Trumpet Concerto (night-sky-blue) (2022) - 20 minutes
Orchestration: trumpet solo; 3(II:afl.III:pic).2+ca.3(II:a-cl.III:Ebcl).2 +cbn/4.2.2+btbn.1/timp.4perc/pf(cel).hp/str
Violin Concerto (2016) - 22 minutes
Orchestration: violin solo; 2(pic).2.2(ebcl).2(cbn)/2.2.2+btbn.1/2perc/hp.cel/str
A Cold Spring (2009) - 10 Minutes
Orchestration: 0.0+ca.2.1/1000/hp/str(1.0.1.1.1)
Elegiac Inflections (2005) - 10 Minutes
Orchestration: 2fl(2pic)2ob(ca)2cl(bcl)2bn(cbn)/2hn
Piano Concerto (2017) - 12 minutes
Orchestration: piano solo; fl[afl].cl[bcl]/perc/hp/vn.vc
Clarinet Concerto (2009) - 16 Minutes
Soloist: Clarinet
Orchestration: 1(pic)001(cbn)/1110/hp/str(1.1.1.1.1)
Aviary Sketches (after Joseph Cornell) (2014) - 13 Minutes
Orchestration: vn.va.vc
Braid Hills (2022) - 5 minutes
Orchestration: 2hn
The Brook Sings Loud (2008) - 16 Minutes
Orchestration: pf/vn.vc
Embrace (2015) - 5 Minutes
Orchestration: Clarinet in Bb and Trumpet in C
Fantasie, Danse, Cérémonie (2010) - 12 Minutes
Soloist: Flute, Harp
Five North-Eastern Scenes (2016) - 10 minutes
Orchestration: ob/pf
Into the faded air (2007) - 10 Minutes
Orchestration: 2vn.2va.2vc
Luna (2011) - 11 Minutes
Orchestration: fl(pic).ob(ca).cl(Clarinet in E-flat)/hn/perc/pf
Oboe Quartet (2011) - 12 Minutes
Orchestration: ob/vn.va.vc
Romance (2003) - 3 Minutes 45 Seconds
Orchestration: vn;pf
Seven Pierrot Miniatures (2010) - 12 Minutes
Orchestration: fl(pic).cl(bcl)/pf/vn(va).vc
Shadowplay (2011) - 6 Minutes
Orchestration: ssx/pf
Snow and Snow (2012) - 9 Minutes
Orchestration: cl/pf/va
String Quartet (2014) - 15 Minutes
Orchestration: 2vn.va.vc
String Quartet No. 2 (2021) - 19 minutes
Orchestration: 2vn.va.vc
Three Miniatures (2013) - 5 Minutes
Orchestration: ob/pf
Three Whistler Miniatures (2011) - 12 Minutes
Orchestration: pf/vn.vc
To see the summer sky (2009) - 12 Minutes
Orchestration: vn.va
Arachne (2013) - 2 Minutes 30 Seconds
Orchestration: ob
Remnant (2022) - 2 minutes
Orchestration: tpt
Two Birthday Fragments (2022) - 2 minutes
Orchestration: ob
10 Miniatures (2009) - 5 Minutes
Orchestration: pf
Entwined Channels (2006) - 11 Minutes
Orchestration: 2pf
Harp of the North (2004) - 5 Minutes
Orchestration: pf
Lullay, lullow: I saw a sweete seemly sight (2013) - 5 Minutes 30 Seconds
Chorus: SATB chor
Orchestration: hp,str
Telling (2021) - 3 minutes
Orchestration: SATB
Bright Travellers (2017) - 16 minutes
Orchestration: soprano; piano
In the mist (2008) - 5 Minutes
Soloist: Tenor
Orchestration: pf
Nobody Comes (2008) - 3 Minutes 30 Seconds
Chorus: Low Voice
Orchestration: pf
Prayer (2020) - 7 minutes
Orchestration: mezzo soprano; afl.cl/pf/vn.vc
Sie liebten sich beide (2019) - 3 minutes
Orchestration: soprano; piano
Soloist(s) & Orchestra
Large Ensemble (7 or more players)
Works for 2-6 Players
Soloist(s) and Large Ensemble (7 or more players)
Solo Works (excluding keyboard)
Solo Keyboard(s)
Chorus and Orchestra/Ensemble
Chorus a cappella / + 1 instrument
Solo Voice(s) and up to 6 players