Lisa Robertson - Composer
Lisa Robertson is a composer from the West Highlands of Scotland, particularly interested in combining sounds from nature and traditional music; examining relationships between people and the land and highlighting environmental concerns.
She was featured in BBC Music Magazine's 'Rising Stars' column. Her music has been performed by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, The Sixteen, EXAUDI, Red Note Ensemble, defunensemble, Psappha Ensemble, Hebrides Ensemble, Lucy Schaufer, and Heather Roche, among others. Her piece, am fìor-eun, was performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Thomas Søndergård in their 22:23 season. Her music has appeared at festivals including Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, where she also performed her own solo violin piece in 2019, Cheltenham Music Festival, Musica Nova Helsinki, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Sound Festival and on BBC Radio 3, BBC World Service and BBC Radio Scotland.
She was four times shortlisted for the Scottish Awards for New Music (Dorico Award for Small / Medium Scale Work), was joint-winner of the West Cork Chamber Music Festival Composers’ Competition and runner-up in the Cappella Nova Composers’ Competition and the Walter and Dinah Wolfe Memorial Award.
She completed a PhD at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with Emily Doolittle and William Sweeney and has also gained influence from masterclasses with Brian Ferneyhough at the Ferienkurse Darmstadt, Sir Harrison Birtwistle at Dartington International Summer School, Sir James MacMillan and workshops with Royal Northern Sinfonia, Bozzini Quartet and Ligeti Quartet. She took part in the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain’s Young Composers Scheme 19/20 and the RSNO Composers' Hub 21/22.
Lisa is a Music Patron composer and her music is published by Composers Edition.
"Not since Anna Meredith’s Torque was played by the BBC Philharmonic under James MacMillan in Huddersfield two decades ago has the premiere of a work by a young Scottish composer made such an immediate impression...
An absolutely packed Usher Hall was held in rapt concentration by her eight minutes of superbly pictorial, mature writing, the swooping grace of the birds made as visible in the score as the landscape they inhabit" - Keith Bruce, The Herald
Interviews
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