Scottish composer Ailie Robertson has been awarded 2nd Prize in the prestigious 17th International Edvard Grieg Competition for Composers, for her piece “Eternal Recurrence. Entries from 16 countries (Armenia, Belarus, Belgium, China, Finland, Great Britain, Greece, Iceland, Iran, Italy, Japan, Norway, Russia, South Korea, Ukraine, USA), were received, with the 1st prize given to Vladimir Agopov from Finland, and the 3rd prize to Uno Alexander Vesje from Norway.
Her piece will be performed by Birgitte Volan Håvik, solo harpist of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, at the closing concert of the Oslo Grieg Festival 2013, on Sunday 5th of May, in the National Gallery, Oslo.
See www.oslogriegfestival.com.
This month she was also announced as recipient of a BBC Performing Arts Fund grant to enable her to act as Composer-in-Residence for a year with the Haddington Pipe Band. The £10,000 award, made under the fund’s music fellowship scheme, is given to musical organisations to partner with up-and-coming musicians.
Alastair Bruce, chairman of Haddington Pipe Band, said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for the band to share a creative partnership with one of Scotland’s top young composers. We are thrilled to have been awarded this very prestigious grant, and working closely with Ailie Robertson over the coming months will be a real delight for us. We very much appreciate the privilege of being able to build this creative partnership with her, and as well as Ailie learning about the challenges of composing for pipes and drums, we are very much looking forward to being given a real insight into the composing ‘process’ by working with her over our year together.
Originally from Edinburgh, Ailie is a composer, arranger, improviser and multi-instrumentalist, and after seven years working as a professional touring musician, is currently studying for a postgraduate degree in composition at King’s College London.
www.ailierobertson.com