Interview: 'Sonnets' - Writing for Two Pianos
Gramophone Magazine
17 September 2021
Gramophone Magazine spoke to Sally about her approach to writing for two pianos, and the ideas behind her new piece Sonnets ahead of the premiere at New Ross Piano Festival in Ireland.
Review: Birdsong (CD) - Roderick Williams (baritone) & Andrew West (piano)
MusicWeb International
September 2021
Featuring 'Four Songs from Hafez' by Sally Beamish
"This is a very fine set of songs and it’s hard to imagine that they could receive better advocacy than that which Roderick Williams and Andrew West provide." - John Quinn
Review: Quest (CD) - Elisabeth Remy Johnson (Harp)
Gramophone Magazine
September 2021
"an exquisite demonstration of the harpist’s art laid out in virtuoso swirls of colour, pearls of elegant nuance and audiophile sound." - Laurence Vittes
Review: The King's Alchemist (CD) - Eblana String Trio
Gramophone Magazine
September 2021
"a most nourishing and enterprising release" - Andrew Achenbach
Review: Quest (CD) - Elisabeth Remy Johnson (Harp)
WRTI
02 August 2021
Classical Album of the Week
Featuring 'Pavan' by Sally Beamish
"...much more suggestive of a dream-state, of floating untethered through the cosmos, than of earth-bound consciousness." - Matt Silver
Review: The King's Alchemist (CD) - Eblana String Strio
Quarterly Review
26 July 2021
"Beamish’s chamber work has a subtle, spine-tingling magic"
Review: Birdsong (CD) - Roserick Williams (baritone) & Andrew West (piano)
The Guardian
22 July 2021
★★★★
"meaningful moments worth savouring" - Erica Jeal
Review: The King's Alchemist (CD) - Eblana String Trio
Ludwig Van
25 June 2021
✭✭✭✭
"Her tribute is both apt in its bagpipe hints and attractive in its lyrical momentum." - Norman Lebrecht
Review: The King's Alchemist (CD) - Eblana String Trio
The Scotsman
08 June 2021
"Beamish captures [John Damian's] mystery and eccentricity in her kaleidoscopic writing, as does this sensitively astute performance." - Ken Walton
Interview: Distans
The Violin Channel
01 June 2021
"Both Janine and Martin have a powerful stage presence, and the idea of dance and drama is an important element, as well as the contrasts and similarities between the two solo instruments." - Sally Beamish
Sally spoke to The Violin Channel about her new double concerto Distans for violin and clarinet.
Interview: 'Distans' Double Concerto
Thea Derks / Preludium
11 May 2021
"Composing is my first language, which I use when words fail me." - Sally Beamish
Review: Under the Wing of the Rock - BBC Symphony Orchestra / Timothy Ridout, viola
The Guardian
01 May 2021
★★★★
"a rigorously honed creative voice. Her music is generous and evocative." - Fiona Maddocks
Review: Under the Wing of the Rock - BBC Symphony Orchestra / Timothy Ridout, viola - The Barbican, London (streamed)
The Guardian
26 April 2021
★★★★
"A work of austere beauty that traces an emotional arc from grief to tentative hope and acceptance" - Tim Ashley
Interview: The Cross-Eyed Pianist
Frances Wilson 'The Cross-Eyed Pianist'
09 November 2020
“the alchemy between composer and performer is very important to me”
Sally shares some insights into her influences and inspirations, the pleasure of working on commissioned pieces, and how talking to audiences can help explain the creative processes involved in making music.
News: Sally Beamish to Receive OBE
The Strad
12 October 2020
Sally is to receive an OBE in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours, for services to music.
Review: Wild Swans - Songs for Sir John CD
British Music Society
23 September 2020
"Sally Beamish contributes an extensive instrumental interlude based on ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’, incandescently cinematic in its descriptive power." - Alan Cooper
Review: Reed Stanzas - Elias String Quartet - Edinburgh International Festival 'Chamber Music Soundscapes'
The Scotsman
20 August 2020
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"...distant, ethereal atmospherics of Sally Beamish’s Reed Stanzas, its opening offstage incantation by Scots second violinist Donald Grant imbued with eerie folksiness, like a delicate touchpaper catalysing the airy, agile mysticism that ensued, illuminated by the crystalline lucidness of the full ensemble."
Ken Walton reviews the Elias String Quartet's Edinburgh International Festival 'Chamber Music Soundscapes' filmed concert, featuring 'Reed Stanzas', for The Scotsman
Review: Hover - Academy of St Martin in the Fields - Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
The Times
13 November 2019
"Harmonically bountiful, ever subtle"
Blog:'The Academy and I': composer and viola-player Sally Beamish on a special relationship
The Arts Desk
12 November 2019
"It’s inspiring for a composer to write for players she knows well" - Sally Beamish
Strong connections: Sally Beamish on her 60th anniversary piece for the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, & her personal links to the orchestra
Planet Hugill
12 November 2019
"She knew that the piece should really be a celebration, but when writing the music it came out as an elegy."
Review: Partita - Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble - South Mountain Concerts, Pittsfield, MA
In the Spotlight
05 October 2019
"Incorporating subtle quotes from Bach, Handel, and Mendelssohn respectively, its three short movements sparkled with grace and stylistic variety in this nimble performance."
Review: A Myndin' - Endellion String Quartet - Wigmore Hall, London
The Strad
16 July 2019
"Sally Beamish’s A Myndin’ is a beautiful, light-textured, gentle work"
Tim Homfray reviews Endellion String Quartet's 40th Anniversary concert at London's Wigmore Hall, featuring specially commissioned piece A Myndin'.
Review: A Myndin' - Endellion String Quartet - Wigmore Hall, London
The Guardian
29 May 2019
"weaves echoes of Scottish folk music into a beautiful study of memory and nostalgia that aspires to timelessness"
★ ★ ★ ★
Tim Ashley reviews Endellion String Quartet's 40th Anniversary concert at London's Wigmore Hall, featuring specially commissioned piece A Myndin'.
Review: Under the Wing of the Rock - Branford Marsalis / Australian Chamber Orchestra - City Recital Hall, Sydney
The Sydney Morning Herald
26 May 2019
A fiery journey with Branford Marsalis through Europe and beyond
★ ★ ★ ★
Review: Under the Wing of the Rock - Branford Marsalis / Australian Chamber Orchestra - Perth Concert Hall
The West Australian
17 May 2019
"wistful and distant as if heard over water, strings enhancing the mystery" - David Cusworth
Interview: 'Inspiring a new generation of composers: Sally Beamish'
Bachtrack
25 January 2019
Laura Volpi talks to Sally about her composing and performing career.
Review: Seavaigers - New Century Chamber Orchestra / Marwood / Crabb - San Francisco Conservatory of Music
San Francisco Classical Voice
06 November 2018
"Crabb and Marwood were worthy collaborators indeed"
Jessica Balik reviews the New Century Chamber Orchestra with soloists Anthony Marwood (violin) and James Crabb (accordion) for SFCV, including a performance of Seavaigers.
Review: The Little Mermaid - Northern Ballet - Milton Keynes Theatre
Citiblog
19 April 2018
"a spellbinding, immersive ballet which creates an utterly convincing undersea world"
Chris Gregg reviews Northern Ballet's The Little Mermaid at Milton Keynes Theatre for Citiblog.
Review: The Little Mermaid - Northern Ballet - Milton Keynes Theatre
The Reviews Hub
19 April 2018
* * * *
"The 27 piece Northern Sinfonia orchestra truly does justice to Sally Beamish’s excellent score"
Maggie Constable reviews Northern Ballet's The Little Mermaid at Milton Keynes Theatre for The Reviews Hub.
Review: The Little Mermaid - Northern Ballet - Milton Keynes Theatre
Buckingham Today
17 April 2018
"The music, specially written for the show by Sally Beamish, was a delight"
Hannah Richardson reviews Northern Ballet's The Little Mermaid at Milton Keynes Theatre for Buckingham Today.
Review: The Little Mermaid - Northern Ballet - Edinburgh Festival Theatre
Bachtrack
24 March 2018
* * * * *
"A MASTERPIECE"
Kirsty Morgan gives a shining 5-star review of Northern Ballet's The Little Mermaid on Bachtrack.com
Review: The Little Mermaid - Northern Ballet - Edinburgh Festival Theatre
Edinburgh Guide
24 March 2018
* * * *
"The Little Mermaid is a production saturated with talent and grace, from conception to execution."
Katie Stephen gives a 4-star review of Northern Ballet's 'The Little Mermaid' on EdinburghGuide.com
Review: The Little Mermaid - Northern Ballet - Edinburgh Festival Theatre
Herald Scotland
23 March 2018
* * * *
"Nixon’s choreography – like Beamish’s specially commissioned score – shifts persuasively between the fluidity of the undersea realm and the more grounded energies on land."
Mary Brennan give's Northern Ballet's 'The Little Mermaid' four stars in The Herald.
'The Musical Voice' - Interview: hoctok.com
The Reviews Hub
12 December 2017
Sally talks to hocTok about her life, music, method and inspiration.
Review: The Little Mermaid - Northern Ballet - Leeds Grand Theatre
The Reviews Hub
07 December 2017
"Full bodied, cinematic and lush, the music moves along with the ebbs and flows of the sea."
Holly Spanner reviews The Little Mermaid at Leeds Grand Theatre for The Reviews Hub.
Review: The Little Mermaid - Northern Ballet - Leeds Grand Theatre
The Gay UK
07 December 2017
* * * *
"The original score (...) flits between the primarily light and playful to the romantic and finally to the dramatic, feeling cinematic and engaging"
Paul Szabo reviews The Little Mermaid at Leeds Grand Theatre for The Gay UK.
Review: The Judas Passion - Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment - St John's Smith Square, London
The Spectator
06 October 2017
Painted more shades of grey than a Farrow & Ball catalogue: The Judas Passion reviewed
Alexandra Coghlan reviews The Judas Passion, performed by Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at St John's Smith Square.
Review: The Judas Passion - Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment - St John's Smith Square, London
Bachtrack
27 September 2017
To the field of blood: Sally Beamish's The Judas Passion
* * * *
"In the 21st century, the secular resonances of this piece can't help but compel."
Benjamin Poore awards four stars to The Judas Passion, performed by Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at St John's Smith Square.
Interview: Festival Musikdorf Ernen
Musikdorf Ernen
06 August 2017
Sally Beamish: Composer, Violist, and Mistress of Multitasking
Sarah Batschelet interviews Sally at Switzerland's Musikdorf Ernen Festival.
Review: The Tempest - Houston Ballet
Houston Chronicle
25 May 2017
Houston Ballet's 'Tempest' a sophisticated spectacle
"Bintley's choreography brings the complex elements of William Shakespeare's late-period romance evocatively into focus, without words, on the wings of Sally Beamish's atmospheric score and Rae Smith's riveting designs."
Molly Glentzer reviews Houston Ballet's US premiere of The Tempest.
Interview: The Tempest - Houston Ballet
Houston Chronicle
18 May 2017
Composer conjours aural magic for Houston Ballet's 'The Tempest'
"When Bintley discovered Beamish a few years ago, he knew he'd finally found a composer whose help could deliver all he imagined."
Molly Glentzer interviews Sally and director David Bintley ahead of the US premiere of The Tempest.
Review: Piano Concerto No. 3 City Stanzas - RSNO / Biss / Oundjian - Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Herald Scotland
08 April 2017
****
"City Stanzas reminds us, with a quiet confidence, of the excitement (and importance) of music as response to the human condition"
Rosie Davies reviews the RSNO's Glasgow performance of Sally's third piano concerto City Stanzas, with soloist Jonathan Biss and conductor Peter Oundjian.
Review: Piano Concerto No. 3: City Stanzas - St Paul Chamber Orchestra / Biss / Santora - Ordway Concert Hall, St Paul, Minnesota
Minneapolis Star Tribune
20 January 2017
Politics shades Beamish concerto premiered by SPCO
"a punchy, pugnacious addition to the concerto repertoire and should travel successfully well beyond the Twin Cities"
Terry Blain reviews the world premiere of Sally's Piano Concerto No. 3 City Stanzas, performed by Jonathan Biss and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra under conductor Mischa Santora at Ordway Concert Hall, St Paul, Minnesota.
Review: Piano Concerto No. 3: City Stanzas - St Paul Chamber Orchestra / Biss / Santora - Ordway Concert Hall, St Paul, Minnesota
Twin Cities
20 January 2017
SPCO finds bliss with Biss, Beamish and Beethoven
Rob Hubbard reviews the world premiere of Sally's Piano Concerto No. 3 City Stanzas, performed by Jonathan Biss and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra under conductor Mischa Santora at Ordway Concert Hall, St Paul, Minnesota.
Review: Piano Concerto no. 2: Cauldron of the Speckled Seas - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Dausgaard / Roscoe
Herald Scotland
10 December 2016
"one of the finest, and undiluted, celebrations of contemporary music it has been my delight to revel in over the last 30 years"
Michael Tumelty gives a glowing 5-star review to the BBC SSO's Scottish Inspirations concert at Glasgow City Halls with conductor Thomas Dausgaard, featuring Sally's Piano Concerto No 2: Cauldron of the Speckled Seas with pianist Martin Roscoe.
Interview: Birmingham Royal Ballet’s ‘The Tempest’: Some ‘Heavenly Music’, Brought to Life by Dance
Huffington Post
14 September 2016
Meghan Feeks interviews Birmingham Royal Bellet artistic director David Bintley for The Huffington Post.
Interview: Why The Tempest is set to cause a storm in Sunderland
Sunderland Echo
14 September 2016
“I rarely make a full-length ballet without a new score. Quite often I have an idea and it connects with a composer.”
Katy Wheeler speaks to Birmingham Royal Ballet director David Bintley about new ballet The Tempest, with score by Sally Beamish.
Review: Merula Perpetua - BBC Proms
Classical Source
28 August 2016
Proms Chamber Music 7: Armida Quartett, Lise Berthaud, David Saudubray
It is strongly programmatic music with a personal connection to the late Peter Maxwell Davies"
Antony Hodgson reviews the final Proms Chamber Music concert of 2016, including the world premiere of Sally's Merula Perpetua.
Review: A Cage of Doves - BBC SO / Vedernikov - St Magnus Festival 2016
The Scotsman
26 June 2016
Pickacoy Centre, Kirkwall - St Magnus International Festival 2016
* * * *
Carol Main gives 4 stars to the BBC SO's performance at St Magnus International Festival under conductor Alexander Vedernikov - including Sally Beamish's 'A Cage of Doves'.
When Shelley Met Sally
BBC Music Magazine
02 June 2016
Tenor James Gilchrist talks bringing English Romantic poets to Wigmore Hall
Gilchrist discusses his collaboration with Sally on new work West Wind - premiering at London's Wigmore Hall on 23rd June 2016.
Review: A Shakespeare Masque - Ex Cathedra & The City Musick
The Shakespeare Blog
22 April 2016
Holy Trinity Church, Stratford Upon Avon
"A fabulous evening, well deserving of the standing ovation given it by the audience of the packed Holy Trinity Church" - Sylvia Morris
Q&A with Sally Beamish
Shakespeare Lives
31 March 2016
A Q&A with Sally Beamish ahead of the premiere of A Shakepeare Masque as part of the #Shakepeare400 celebrations.
Review: 'La Mer' - Hebrides Ensemble
Herald Scotland
07 March 2016
Perth Concert Hall 07/03/16
* * * * *
"Sally Beamish has produced a colossal, creative masterpiece"
Michael Tumelty gives the Hebrides Ensemble's live-streamed performance at Perth Concert Hall 5 stars!
Feature: 'La Mer' - Hebrides Ensemble
The Scotsman
27 February 2016
"a magical rethink that unashamedly shrinks Debussy’s grand evocations down to a more intimate scale, but loses nothing of La Mer’s power and detail"
David Kettle gives a preview into the upcoming Hebrides Ensemble 'Impressions of th Sea' tour, and looks at Sally's piano trio arrangement of Debussy's La Mer
Review: 'Chaconne' - David Titterington
Classical Source
09 February 2016
Royal Festival Hall, London
"Atmospheric and scored with great originality, Chaconne and Titterington’s playing of it were hugely impressive"
Peter Reed reviews organist David Titterington's concert at the Royal Festival Hall, featuring the world premiere of Chaconne by Sally Beamish
Monthly Choice: 'The Singing' (CD)
BBC Music Magazine
01 December 2015
*****
"Sally Beamish has the Gaelic art of keening down to a fine art"
Paul Riley gives the new CD, featuring RSNO, NYOS and soloists Branford Marsalis, Håkan Hardenberger and James Crabb under conductor Martyn Brabbins, five stars in the December issue of BBC Music Magazine.
Review: 'The Singing' (CD)
The Classical Reviewer
31 October 2015
RSNO/NYOS/Brabbins
BIS Records
"The works on this new disc are outstanding as are the performances"
Bruce Reader reviews the new CD of orchestral works, featuring RSNO, NYOS and soloists Branford Marsalis, James Crabb and Håkan Hardenberger under conductor Martyn Brabbins.
Feature: 'The Singing' (CD)
The Herald
31 October 2015
"she is a figurehead in the nation’s cultural life"
Michael Tumelty discusses Sally's career and new CD 'The Singing', which celebrates her work, in The Herald.
Review: 'The Singing' (CD)
Financial Times
15 October 2015
"Each, potently conducted by Martyn Brabbins, lingers in the air after it is heard"
Richard Fairman reviews the new CD of orchestral works, featuring RSNO, NYOS and soloists Branford Marsalis, James Crabb and Håkan Hardenberger under conductor Martyn Brabbins.
Review: 'The Singing' (CD)
The Guardian
26 September 2015
****
"Atmospheric, keenly felt and expertly played by all"
Fiona Maddocks reviews the new orchestral CD, featuring RSNO and NYOS, with soloists Branford Marsalis, James Crabb and Håkan Hardenberger under conductor Martyn Brabbins.
Feature: 'The Slave's Lament'
Classical Music Magazine
30 April 2015
Classical Music Magazine's Katy Wright looks at Sally's collaboration with artist Graham Fagen for this year's Venice Biennale.
