An early Sondheim obsession shaped Lucy’s approach to composition and storytelling. Her work is eclectic and theatrical and juxtaposes contrasting musical ideas and grooves to create visceral, gestural sound worlds. Lucy enjoys working closely with individual artists and often finds inspiration for her music in the unique characteristics of an ensemble, or a performer’s musical voice.
Lucy is most drawn to telling stories through song. This love of opera, choral music, and musical theatre has led to a wide range of commissions of music for stage and a residency at Glyndebourne for the next three years. In 2022, Lucy was one of five composers who collaboratively scored Gods of the Game, an opera about football and corruption commissioned by Sky Arts. Gods of the Game was produced by Grange Park Opera and Factory Films, and broadcast live on Sky Arts. In 2017-2018, Lucy wrote a chamber opera, A Risk of Lobsters, in association with the Royal Opera House. Lucy wrote a chamber opera for Bergen National Opera and this work was subsequently performed at the Tête à Tête Opera Festival (London) and at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Colombia) in 2015
Lucy enjoys working collaboratively with librettists, and has developed ongoing working relationships with writers such as Rebecca Hurst and Klara Kofen. In 2021-2022, Lucy and Rebecca were commissioned by Salford Choral society to write a 25 minute work for choir and orchestra for Salford Choral Society and Piccadilly Symphony Orchestra. Following the success of the premiere in 2022, the pair were then commissioned by Cambridge Philharmonic to write another large scale work for orchestra and choir, which will be premiered in March 2023.
Alongside her large scale operatic and choral music, Lucy has also received recognition for instrumental compositions. In 2021-22 she won a place on the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) Composers’ Scheme where she was the Rosie Johnson RPS Wigmore Hall Apprentice Composer. She wrote ‘The Whale’s Cabaret’ for French horn and piano, which was premiered in the Wigmore Hall. After working closely with Psappha ensemble on their ‘composing for’ scheme, Lucy was awarded their inaugural Peter Maxwell Davies commission in 2018, to write a 15-minute chamber work which she titled The Executioner’s Pond. This led to a 2022 commission by FontanaMix, one of Italy’s leading contemporary music ensembles, which was premiered in Centro di Ricerca Musicale, Bologna, in 2018.
After writing a piece for Erin Royer’s performance at the World Saxophone Congress in 2014, Lucy was commissioned by the Borealis Saxophone Quartet and the Blair/ Mertens Duo. Gillian Blair then commissioned a piece for alto saxophone and piano which was premiered at EurSax (Portugal) 2018 and released on her debut album, Infinite Stories. Lucy is currently writing a saxophone concerto for Gillian which will be premiered with The Arch Sinfonia, under internationally renowned conductor Chloé van Soeterstède.
Using composition as a creative tool for outreach and education is an important part of Lucy’s practice. She has led participation and learning projects with the London Sinfonietta and songwriting projects with the Piccadilly Symphony Orchestra and RNCM Engage. Lucy’s collaborative project with Kate Pearson and RNCM Engage was nominated for a Times Higher Education Award in 2018.
Lucy studied at the RNCM with Gary Carpenter and Adam Gorb and then with Julian Philips at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she went on to be a Fellow in Composition (2018-19).