Amelia is a Northern Irish composer who creates folk-influenced work for dance, stage and concert hall, exploring potent contemporary issues through the lens of nature, mythology and literature to find nuanced perspectives.
Collaboration with choreographers, writers and artists is integral to many of her projects, enriching her work with diverse perspectives and influences.
“Dance and my relationship to movement has been a huge influence. I’ve reached a point now where I imagine a sense of movement in all of my work, even when composing music for conventional concert hall settings.”
What does being one of Amelia’s patrons look like?
Amelia is keen to bring her patrons into the heart of her compositional process from the chaos and vulnerable sketches of early ideas to the final performance. Along the way, patrons will get glimpses into her collaborative work with dancers, choreographers and musicians.
Supporting a composer on Music Patron gives you a first-hand perspective on the many elements within the creative process and an understanding of the authentic journey of a composer. You can learn more about what it’s like to be a patron here.
Biography
Hailing from County Down, Northern Ireland Amelia Clarkson’s (b.1995) music has been described as “inherent elusiveness.. .. beautifully captured” (Het Parool).
Much of her recent work is scored for dance, with notable projects including Ephemeral (2024) in for choreographer Wubkje Kuindersma, commissioned by the Dutch National Ballet for the Junior Company’s tenth anniversary national tour in 15 venues across the Netherlands, and 2-act work White Doves (2023), Belfast’s inaugural ballet, co-created with choreographer Ruaidhrí Maguire for Six Dance Collective at the MAC Belfast.
For concert hall, Amelia’s music has included pieces for Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble, Crash Ensemble, Central Band of the RAF and Opera Holland Park. She is currently writing a new piece for the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland as a 2024 Composer Lab composer with Contemporary Music Centre Ireland in association with RT Lyric FM, having previously been awarded the National Concert Hall and Sounding the Feminist’s Emerging Commissioning Award in 2021.
Amelia’s creative journey has been supported by the PRS Foundation Women Make Music, Vaughan Williams Foundation, Hinrichsen Foundation and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. She holds the 2022 Mendelssohn Scholarship, an honour awarded to composers since 1856, which supports her current PhD at the Royal Northern College of Music, having previously trained at Trinity Laban and Cardiff University. Amelia is represented by Contemporary Music Centre Ireland as an Associate Composer, and is a Yeoman Young Artist of the Musicians’ Company.
Listen White Doves pas de deux | Amelia Clarkson
