Clyne, Anna
Biography
Born: 1980
Country: London, England
Studies: The University of Edinburgh, Manhattan School of Music
Teachers: Marina Adamia, Marjan Mozetich and Julia Wolfe
Website: https://www.annaclyne.com/
Anna Clyne is a GRAMMY-nominated and Ivor Novello Award-winning composer, described by The New York Times as a “composer of uncommon gifts and unusual methods,” by NPR as “fearless,” and by The Wall Street Journal as possessing a “rare gift.” She is one of today’s most in-demand and widely performed composers, working internationally with leading orchestras, choreographers, filmmakers, and visual artists.
Clyne has been commissioned and presented by the world’s most dynamic and revered arts institutions, including the Barbican, Carnegie Hall, Los Angeles Philharmonic, MoMA, Philharmonie de Paris, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, San Francisco Ballet, and the Sydney Opera House; and her music has opened such events as the Edinburgh International Festival, The Last Night of the Proms, and the New York Philharmonic’s season. The World Economic Forum commissioned Clyne’s Restless Oceans, which was premiered by an all-women orchestra, led by Marin Alsop, at the opening ceremony in Davos. The same work was also performed at the Nobel Prize awards ceremony in 2025.
Clyne often collaborates on creative projects across the music industry, including Between the Rooms, a film with choreographer Kim Brandstrup and LA Opera, as well as the Nico Project at the Manchester International Festival, a stage work about pop icon Nico’s life that featured Clyne’s reimagining of The Marble Index for orchestra and voices. Clyne has also reimagined tracks from Thievery Corporation’s The Cosmic Game for the electronica duo with orchestra, and her music has been programmed by such artists as Björk. Other recent collaborators include such notable musicians as Jess Gillam, Jeremy Denk, Martin Fröst, Pekka Kuusisto, and Yo-Yo Ma.
Clyne’s works are frequently choreographed for dance, with recent projects including the world premiere of choreographer Pam Tanowitz’s dance set to Breathing Statues for the Royal Ballet in London and performances of DANCE by the San Francisco Ballet with choreography by Nicolas Blanc.
Clyne’s work in the visual arts has informed several musical projects, including ATLAS and Color Field, inspired by paintings by Gerhard Richter and Mark Rothko, respectively, and Abstractions, sparked by five contemporary artworks.For PALETTE, Clyne created a series of abstract paintings, each correlating to a movement of the work, which were exhibited as part of the JuilliART program at The Juilliard School from August–October 2025.
In addition, Clyne embraces innovation through new technology, developing the Augmented Orchestra (AO) with sound designer Jody Elff. This technology expands the sound-world of the orchestra through computer-controlled processes and has featured in three of her works: Wild Geese (Cabrillo Festival, 2023); The Gorgeous Nothings (BBC Proms, 2024); and PALETTE, the first Concerto for Augmented Orchestra, premiered in February 2025 with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
Clyne has worked as Composer in Residence with orchestras across the world. These have included the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, L’Orchestre national d’Île-de-France, Philharmonia Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Castilla y León, and the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. She is Trinity Laban’s Visiting Fellow in Composition, and a Cultural Fellow at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre, a new world-class centre for the Arts and Humanities at the University of Oxford for the 2025-26 season.
Clyne’s music is represented on several labels, including the critically acclaimed 2025 album, Abstractions, on Naxos featuring the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop. Previous portrait albums include SHORTHAND (2024, Sony Classical) with performances by The Knights, Avi Avital, Pekka Kuusisto, Colin Jacobsen, and Yo-Yo Ma; and Mythologies (2020, Avie) with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and four internationally acclaimed conductors—Marin Alsop, Sakari Oramo, Andrew Litton, and André de Ridder. Her cello concerto, DANCE, which was recorded by soloist Inbal Segev, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Marin Alsop, has garnered over 12 million plays on Spotify.
Clyne is deeply committed to music education and to supporting and mentoring the next generation of composers. She has taught master classes and workshops throughout the US and internationally and was the founding mentor for the Orchestra of St Luke’s DeGaetano Composition Institute, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s New Stories program, and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra's Emerging Composers Program. [1]
Works for Percussion
Secret Garden - Drumset; with Tape
References