Eloise Gynn is a composer whose contemplative and atmospheric pieces are characterised by a masterful use of colour and texture, underpinned by a strong melodic drive. Her music has been performed by ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers and London Sinfonietta throughout the UK and beyond and next month her ballet Little Red Riding Hood will be toured by Northern Ballet at venues across England including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

▶ Childhood in Cornwall

▶ University years

▶ Composer residencies

▶ Key Works

▶ LSO commissions

▶ Composing style

▶ Future projects
▶ Upcoming performances

▶ Eloise Gynn: The music that made me

Childhood in Cornwall

Eloise grew up in the Cornish village of Zennor where she was a member of an artistic household — her mother came from a family of artists and her father, who is a guitarist, was the son of a Launceston organist. From the very beginning Eloise was exposed to an unusually rich variety of music. “My Dad reviewed CDs for a world music column in a magazine,” she recalls. “We listened constantly to the albums he was sent — anything from modern jazz to traditional music from everywhere in the world, like the Middle East or Africa — and all of this was filtering into my psyche.”

Eloise danced long before she started learning an instrument. She started ballet classes as a young child, and her love of dance has continued throughout her life. She then began recorder lessons in primary school and took up the cello, aged 11. “I progressed quite quickly on the cello and joined the youth orchestra a couple of years later,” she says. “It was just so much fun to play music with my orchestra friends, and I loved the feeling of being totally inside the music.”

A two-year old Eloise plays along with her father

University years

Eloise attended Cardiff University where she studied for a B Mus with the focus on playing the cello, but an injury in her second year forced Eloise to change her direction. “When this happened, I was getting high marks for composition and it was one of my favourite elements of the course,” she says.

As an undergraduate Eloise was taught composition by Anthony Powers and Arlene Sierra and chose to stay on for a masters degree partly because Judith Weir was due to be the visiting composer. During her university years, Eloise wrote constantly, enjoying the artistic freedom she was permitted. “I was quite experimental with unconventional ways of creating sound in uni.” Among the many works she produced was Dark River for mixed ensemble, which included Eloise playing on the shakuhachi (Japanese traditional flute), which she had recently started learning.

University years

composer residencies

At Cardiff University

Composer Residencies

Following university Eloise responded to a number of composer calls and was selected for a Britten Pears course for which she wrote her chamber piece Shadow of the Wind. She has fond memories of her time in Aldeburgh: “This was the best experience a young composer could get, and I loved every minute of it. The guidance from Olly [lead composer Oliver Knussen] was amazing — he was an absolute genius, and we were so lucky to work with

him.”

The Britten Pears course was an important stepping stone in Eloise’s development, helping her transition from the life of full-time student into that of a working composer and prompting

her to apply for several similar opportunities. “I did a whole succession of these, most memorably on Orkney where I studied with Peter Maxwell Davis and Sally Beamish,” she says. “During my twenties, apart from a few commissions, nearly every piece I wrote was for one of these schemes.”

The guidance Eloise received during these residencies made a deep impression upon her. Oliver Knussen was particularly influential, and Eloise has his motivational advice: ‘Just get on with it! Don't listen to other people! You will be played by orchestras!’ posted on the wall of her study.

For the 2011 London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) Panufnik Composer’s Scheme, Eloise wrote Sakura which was later released on CD by the LSO under François-Xavier Roth. This received a warm review from BBC Music Magazine: ‘A highlight for me was Eloise Nancie Gynn’s Sakura (cherry blossom) in which darker forces emerge and subside against a backdrop of atmospheric shimmers.’

Eloise took part in a collaborative residency in Armenia and was touched by the peacefulness of Lake Sevan and the many ancient Christian monasteries there.

Playing the shakuhachi in the mountains of Nepal

Key Works

KEY WORKS chosen by the composer

Sakura
Once upon a time I was daydreaming in the Garden Japonais on L’Isle de Nantes, when a sudden breeze sent a flurry of pink white cherry blossom cascading everywhere. I watched as it eventually settled on the calm surface of a pond. In this piece the ancient sounds of Honkyoku (traditional solo shakuhachi music) are evoked by the alto flute, and by air blowing through wind instruments, later mimicked by the percussion and strings. Sakura was written through the LSO Panufnik scheme in 2010, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican and conducted by Francois Xavier Roth. It was later released on LSO Live ‘The Panufnik Legacies’.

Song of the Awakening Dawn was written for and performed by the London Sinfonietta in the Orkney Islands during the 2011 St. Magnus International Festival. The piece was inspired by the ever-changing colours reflecting off the sea at the Ring of Brodgar, whilst the calls of oystercatchers and lapwings echoed over the sparkling water.

Kingfisher is the first of three choral pieces about the River Wye written originally for Côr Meibion Mynwy as part of the ‘Adopt a Music Creator’ project in association with Tŷ Cerdd. The piece weaves textures inspired by natural sounds like wind in the reeds or rustling leaves and has a section where each part has a repeated motif in a different time signature to the other parts and they interlock in a fun way. The bilingual text was taken from a poem by one of the singers in the choir. Kingfisher was performed by the BBC Singers and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as part of ‘Composer of the Week: a Welsh Quintet’.

Light Dancing is a piece for mixed ability symphony orchestra. It was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and young musicians as part of BMW Classics, Trafalgar Square in 2023, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. I was invited to create a part for myself to play on the shakuhachi (Japanese flute) and the piece became a bit of journey or memoir from various recent musical adventures. The shakuhachi melody (later taken by oboes) has echoes from Armenia, and the extensive use of the temple block in the piece is inspired by the way the Korean monks accompany themselves in their daily chants.

Song for an Ancient Tree for flute viola and harp was commissioned and recorded absolutely beautifully by Trio Anima. In lockdown, like many people, I found solace walking in the woods, acutely aware of the constant metamorphosis of nature. I particularly feel a sense of awe around big old trees, home to so much life and biodiversity. I like to imagine they have many stories to tell, and wonder what can they teach us? It makes me feel sad that I so often see news of woodlands being destroyed in the name of ‘progress’. This piece is a song for these ancient trees.

Quietening was written for Sandy Bartai during lockdown, as a reflection of the quietening of the human world. It’s inspired by our daily walks along a woodland path, seeing the bluebells and oak leaves unfurling day by day, butterflies dancing, and our baby daughter pointing to everything in sight. It’s also inspired by the arrival of migrant birds like the willow warbler and chiffchaffs whose songs make an appearance in the piece. Quietening was also performed by Zoë Martlew at the 2024 ISCM World New Music Days in the Faroe Islands.

LSO commissions

The success of Sakura led to the commissioning of Anahata which the LSO performed at the Barbican in 2013. More recently, Eloise wrote Light Dancing for an LSO concert in Trafalgar Square which was conducted by Sir Simon Rattle and later performed at the Barbican. “It was an amazing experience but I found writing a piece for Rattle to conduct very scary! To make things even harder, I was asked to score for, and play, the shakuhachi in the piece.”

Light Dancing was inspired by the image of sparkles of light reflecting off ripples in the water and was heavily influenced by Eloise’s experiences of Hwaeom Buddhist Temple in South Korea where she had attended a two-week international residency in 2017. “That was magical!” she enthuses. “In the midst of a whispering mountain bamboo forest, I collaborated with Ajaeng player Yoona Kim and dancer Yanghee Lee for a performance at the temple’s ‘Spiritual Music Ritual’ festival, a big gala concert including Buddhist chanting and Korean traditional music,” she says. “I loved watching the big pouring rain from the temple veranda, and the musical rituals the monks performed daily, ringing the enormous bell, playing gigantic drums, and chanting their prayers whilst accompanying themselves on a carved temple block.”

As an improvising cellist and shakuhachi player, Eloise also participated in international collaborative residencies in Armenia and Lithuania. “The thing I love the most about these adventures is discovering the traditional music from those places, and learning to play it.” A few of her recent works, (including Light Dancing) have echoes of Armenian Duduk music in them.

Light Dancing was a departure from Eloise’s usual style: “I needed to break out of the slow moving, quiet music that I like to write. It was an open-air concert, with thousands of people and pigeons and police cars going by, so I had to push myself to make it a bit more dynamic and driven.”

Eloise with Sir Simon Rattle following the LSO's performance of Light Dancing in 2023.

Rehearsing with the LSO, Barbican 2023

composing style

Composing style

Eloise describes her music as ‘calm, quiet and atmospheric’ bearing the influences of the works of Dutilleux, Takemitsu and Debussy which she has always loved. She often takes inspiration from the natural world and remarks, “I love stopping to just listen. The awareness of sounds like birdsong, water rippling and the wind rustling in the trees slows me down and brings me into the present moment. I am also inspired by wild landscapes when I write music, and particularly love being windswept in the mountains of north Wales.” Her time on Orkney inspired Song of the Awakening Dawn and she also enjoyed the dramatic scenery of the Faroe Islands which she visited in 2024 as the Wales representative at the ISCM’s World New Music Days where Quietening, her work for solo cello was featured.

future projects

Future projects

“The piece for string orchestra I'm writing at the moment, is inspired by curlews calling across the wilderness like in the Faroes," says Eloise. "Curlews are an endangered species and I feel compelled to respond to the plight of the natural world through music, like in my Song for an Ancient Tree.”

Other current projects include a series of choral pieces which set the poems of an old friend Kiy Anjali and Eloise also has plans to collaborate with viola da gamba player and singer Ailsa Mair Hughes.

Eloise would also like to further develop The Mermaid of Zennor which she wrote for the CoDI Opera pathway in 2021. “Coming from Cornwall, this story is close to my heart, and I’d love to expand this into a more substantial work.”

Eloise’s music can next be heard when Little Red Riding Hood starts touring in October. Premiered by Northern Ballet in 2019 and later televised on BBC CBeebies, their production is being revived for a 10-venue tour that runs until May 2026. When she wrote the score Eloise was a new mother who was struggling to balance her domestic and professional lives. “My baby was just six weeks old when I started writing the ballet, luckily newborns sleep a

lot!”

Eloise now has two young children and says “I can often only start working at ten at night and by that time, I’m normally exhausted and have little creative energy! Sometimes it feels as if composition has taken a step into the background, but I’m still doing my best to write things.”

You can hear Eloise Gynn's music at a number of performances over the next few months (see details below).

In Leeds for a performance of Little Red Riding Hood in 2019.

Upcoming performances

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

Little Red Riding Hood

Northern Ballet
11.10.25 - 01.11.25 Leeds Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre
23-25.10.25 London Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House
07.02.26 Newcastle Northern Stage
16.02.26 Hull New Theatre
30.03.26 Bradford St George's Hall
07-08.04.26 Oxford Playhouse
10.04.26 Doncaster Cast
11.04.26 Durham Gala Theatre
06.05.26 Harrogate Theatre
26.05.26 Huddersfield Lawrence Batley Theatre

A little kindness goes a long way in this playful retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.

Little Red Riding Hood is a kind little girl who loves her family. On the way to visit her grandmother, she meets a very hungry wolf in the woods – but is he really as ‘big and bad’ as the stories say? Join Little Red on an enchanting adventure as she discovers the importance of kindness, makes some unexpected friends, and learns that things aren’t always as they seem.

A reimagining of the much-loved fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood is the perfect opportunity for your little ones to enjoy the magic of live ballet, music, and theatre.

With sell-out performances and a series of hugely successful CBeebies TV adaptations, Northern Ballet’s productions for children continue to delight audiences year after year.

northernballet.com/little-red-riding-hood