Helen Grime

Romance For Violin And Piano

Romance for violin and piano is a short, reflective piece that exploits the lyrical qualities inherent in the combination. Originally written for a very young but talented violinist, Romance travels through numerous moods and colours within a continuous musical development of the opening material. At first gentle and reflective with increasing dramatic outbursts outlined by the violin sforzandi and parallel sixths in the piano writing, numerous short solo passages in both instruments culminate in a fiery climax. Quickly subsiding into the calmer yet now more melancholy strains of the earlier stages of the piece, the ending is somewhat incomplete. This seems to suggest a continuous turn of events alluded to in the music. '
- Helen Grime

Born in 1981, Helen studied oboe with John Anderson and composition with Julian Anderson and Edwin Roxburgh at the Royal College of Music. She graduated from the BMus course with First Class Honours and completed her Masters with Distinction in 2004. From 2005-07, Helen was a Legal & General Junior Fellow at the Royal College of Music. In 2003 she won a British Composer Award for her Oboe Concerto, and was awarded the intercollegiate Theodore Holland Composition Prize in 2003 as well as all the major composition prizes in the RCM. In 2008 she was awarded a Leonard Bernstein Fellowship to study at the Tanglewood Music Center where she studied with John Harbison, Michael Gandolfi, Shulamit Ran and Augusta Read Thomas. Helen has had works commissioned by some of the most established performers and organisations including ENO, London Symphony Orchestra, BCMG, Britten Sinfonia, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center. Conductors who have performed her work include Daniel Harding, Oliver Knussen, Pierre Boulez and Yan Pascal Tortelier. Helen is the 2010 recipient of the Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund and Associate Composer of The Halle from the 2011/12 season.