Hilary Tann

Welsh composer and teacher Hilary Tann was born in Llwynypia, Glamorgan on 2 November 1947. She studied at the University of Wales, Cardiff with Alun Hoddinott and at Princeton University with J K Randall and Milton Babbitt.

Her music is published by Oxford University Press and has been recorded on various labels, including Navona Records and Lorelt.  She held a series of composer residencies, and wrote concertos for violin, alto saxophone and her own instrument, the cello.  The popular Shakkei, a dyptich for solo oboe and chamber orchestra, commissioned by the Presteigne Festival of Music and the Arts on the Welsh borders, was first performed by Virginia Shaw at the 2007 Presteigne Festival.

Hilary Tann (1947-2023)
Hilary Tann (1947-2023)

 

Hilary Tann, also a published haiku poet, was taught to play the shakuhachi and Japanese music influenced her own output, as did the natural world and Wales in particular.

She lived in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, NY, USA. From 1980 until 2019 she was the John Howard Payne Professor of Music at Union College, Schenectady, New York, USA.

Hilary Tann, speaking as part of Classical Music Daily's online forum on women composers at the end of May 2022, where her contribution was particularly valuable and fascinating. Hilary was also interviewed in Classical Music Daily by Ona Jarmalavičiūtė in 2020.
Hilary Tann, speaking as part of Classical Music Daily's online forum on women composers at the end of May 2022, where her contribution was particularly valuable and fascinating. Hilary was also interviewed in Classical Music Daily by Ona Jarmalavičiūtė in 2020.

 

Hilary Tann died suddenly on 8 February 2023, aged seventy-five.

Further information: hilarytann.com

 

A selection of articles about Hilary Tann

Classical music news. March 2023 Newsletter - Our March 2023 PDF newsletter has just been published, along with some extra classical music news and our February 2023 classical music obituaries

Classical music news. June 2022 Newsletter - Watch and listen to our June 2022 newsletter - a special feature on women composers

CD Spotlight. Six Composers, Piano, Strings and Voice - Ona Jarmalavičiūtė listens to works by six female composers. '... performed profoundly ...'

Profile. Connecting the Natural and Human Worlds - Ona Jarmalavičiūtė talks to the Welsh composer Hilary Tann

Profile. Universality of Emotion - Ona Jarmalavičiūtė talks to American composer Rain Worthington

Ensemble. Coming of age - Keith Bramich at the twenty-first Presteigne Festival of Music and the Arts