24/25 commissions include new works for CBSO, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Manchester Collective, BBC Radio 3, St Paul’s & Westminster Abbey + Cathedral Choirs, violinist Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux, and more.
ORCHESTRAL
siren suite (2024)
soprano & orchestra – commissioned by the CBSO – duration: c.15′
premiere: Héloïse & the CBSO, conducted by Ilan Volkov at Birmingham Symphony Hall, 11 January 2025
REJOICE! (2023)
choir & orchestra – commissioned by the London Handel Festival – duration: c.5′
premiere: the National Youth Choir of Great Britain & the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by Sofi Jeannin at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, 6 April 2024
for mira (2022)
orchestra – commissioned by the Aurora Orchestra – duration: c.8′
premiere: Aurora Orchestra, conducted by Nicholas Collon at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, 25 March 2023
crossings (2022)
soprano & orchestra – commissioned by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra – duration: c.5′
premiere: CBSO & Héloïse, conducted by Clark Rundell at Birmingham Symphony Hall, 29 January 2023 + out now on NMC Recordings
Unspecified Intentions (2022)
voice & string orchestra, arranged by Héloïse and Colin Alexander (the piece also exists in a solo voice version) – duration: 3′
premiere: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra & Héloïse in May 2022 for BBC Radio 3’s ‘This Classical Life Live’ – broadcast on BBC Radio 5 July 2022
SOLO & CHAMBER – VOCAL
The Cuckoo’s Hour (2024)
soprano & ensemble (flutes, clarinets, bassoons, trumpets, violins, celli) – commissioned by Royal Northern Sinfonia – duration 11′
premiere: Héloïse & Royal Northern Sinfonia at Glasshouse International Centre for Music, 31 May 2025
Mélancolie (2024)
soprano & guitar – commissioned by Xuefei Yang – words by Cécile Sauvage – duration c.3′
premiere: 2025 (recording – more tba)
Thunder clears (2024)
solo voice – co-commissioned by Wigmore Hall – words by Ali Lewis – duration c.4’30
premiere: Héloïse at Wigmore Hall, 2 March 2024
wander (2024)
voice & ensemble (tenor recorder, robo-recorder, clarinet, harp, piano, headspace, string quintet) – commissioned by Royal Northern Sinfonia – duration: c.12′
premiere: Héloïse & RNS Moves – The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, 17 March 2024
Knight’s Dream (2023)
mezzo-soprano & piano – commissioned by the BBC – words by Heinrich Heine – duration: c.12′
premiere: mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston & pianist Sholto Kynoch – Oxford International Song Festival, 16 October 2023
Exodus (2023)
mezzo-soprano & cello – commissioned by Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI e.V. – words by Ali Lewis – duration: c.8’30”
premiere: mezzo-soprano Lila Chrisp and cellist Colin Alexander – Ludwigshafen, 13 October 2023
Lullaby for a sister (2023)
voice & cello – supported by PRSF Women Make Music – words by Emma Werner – duration c.3′
premiere: Héloïse & Colin Alexander – End of the Road Festival, 3 September 2023 + out on Héloïse’s second album Close-Ups in May 2024
4 Handel interludes for ‘In the Realms of Sorrows’ (2023)
counter-tenor, oboes, strings & harpsichord – commissioned by the London Handel Festival – duration: c.8′
premiere: London Handel Festival – cond. Laurence Cummings – dir. Adele Thomas – Stone Nest, London, 28 February 2023
Les Leçons du Mardi (2022)
soprano & string quartet – co-commissioned by Wigmore Hall, with support from Marchus Trust, Hinrichsen Foundation and Vaughan Williams Foundation – libretto by Emma Werner – duration: c.10′
premiere: Tippett Quartet & Héloïse at Wigmore Hall on 8 March 2023
close-ups (2022)
soprano & violin – commissioned by Radio France – words by Emma Werner – duration: 12′
premiere: Hae-Sun Kang & Héloïse at Maison de la Radio et de la Musique, Auditorium, Paris, Festival Présences, 11 February 2023
The Erl-King (2021)
soprano & viola – commissioned by Shiry Rashkovsky – words by Angela Carter – duration: 5′
premiere: Shiry Rashkovsky & Héloïse at Close and Musical Festival, Fidelio Cafe, August 2021 + released in January 2022 on October House Records
mixed phrases (2021)
soprano & viola/violin – commissioned by The Viola Commissioning Circle, written for Lawrence Power / lockdown commission 8 – words by Arthur Rimbaud – duration: 10′
premiere: Lawrence Power & Héloïse at Wigmore Hall, June 2021 + filmed at the Asylum, Peckham (video here) + features on Heloise’s debut album Phrases (Delphian Records, June 2022)
Like Words (2021)
soprano & bassoon – written for Amy Harman (supported by PRS Foundation) – words by Ali Lewis – duration: 4′
premiere: Emily Hultmark & Héloïse at Wigmore Hall, June 2022 + features on Heloise’s debut album Phrases (Delphian Records, June 2022)
Unspecified Intentions (2021)
solo voice – duration: c.3′
premiere: St John’s Smith Square, July 2021 + features on Heloise’s debut album Phrases (Delphian Records, June 2022)
The Orange Vendor (2020)
mezzo-soprano & baritone – commissioned by Helen Charlston & Michael Craddock – words by Ali Lewis – duration: 5’
premiere: 29 July 2020 – Helen Charlston & Michael Craddock – City Music Foundation broadcast series + features on Isolation Songbook (Delphian Records, March 2021)
Inside Shifts (2020)
soprano & cello – duration: 6’
premiere: 4 July 2020 – New Music Show, BBC Radio 3 – performed by Héloïse
Inside Shifts (ii) (2020)
soprano & cello – duration: 4′
Kingdom Animalia (2020)
mezzo-soprano & piano – commissioned by mezzo-soprano Grace Durham – words by Aracelis Girmay – – duration: 10’
premiere: date tbc
… a lockdown tune…(2020)
solo soprano – commissioned by Stephanie Lamprea – duration: 1’
premiere: May 2020 – Stephanie Lamprea – Tiny works for Quarantine Vol 2
coronasolfege (March 2020 – May 2021)
solo voice, performed by Héloïse – more here
Phrases (2019)
soprano & piano – funded by Hinrichsen Foundation & written during a Made at the Red House residency organised by Wild Plum Arts in partnership with Britten-Pears Foundation – words by Arthur Rimbaud – duration: 10’
premiere: Héloïse Werner & Natalie Burch at The Red House, Aldeburgh, November 2019
Confessional (2019)
solo soprano – duration: 4’ (reworking of sections from The Other Side of the Sea)
Le Coeur Crucifié (2019)
mezzo-soprano & piano – commissioned by Marielou Jacquard – words by Philothée Gaymard – duration 4’
premiere: Marilou Jacquard & Kunal Lahiry at Concert Jeunes Talents, Petit Palais, Paris, May 2029
The Other Side of the Sea (2018)
solo opera (soprano & cello) – libretto by Octavia Bright – funded by the Michael Cuddigan Trust & developed in partnership with Snape Maltings – duration: 45’
premiere: July 2018 – London & Aldeburgh – performed by Héloïse (3rd performance at Kings Place in April 2019 as part of Venus Unwrapped)
SOLO & CHAMBER – INSTRUMENTAL
New cadences for Mozart Violin Concerto n.4 (2024)
solo violin – commissioned by Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux – duration c.5′
premiere: Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux in Paris, March 2025
Hidden Mechanisms (2024)
piano quintet – commissioned by Manchester Collective – duration: c.10′
premiere: Manchester Collective at Howard Assembly Room, Leeds, 6 February 2025
Incantation in 4 parts (2023)
string quartet – commissioned by Quatuor Elmire – duration: c.8′
premiere: Quatuor Elmire at La Scala, Paris, 13 October 2023
Double Incantation (2022)
oboe & cello – commissioned by Anna Durance with support from Arts Council England – duration: 3’30”
premiere: recording out now
an inviting object (2022)
piano – commissioned by I & I Foundation, in partnership with Lucerne Festival for Mishka Rushdie Momen – duration: 8′
premiere: Mishka Rushdie Momen at Lucerne Summer Festival, 25 August 2022
a many-layered object (2021)
two clavichords – commissioned by Terence Charlston and Julian Perkins – duration: 8′
premiere: Terence Charlston and Julian Perkins in London, 4 June 2022 and out on Prima Facie
a beautiful object (2021)
harpsichord & ensemble (flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, cello) – commissioned by Pawel Siwczak on behalf of Bach Club – duration: 8′
premiere: Thomas Hancox, Flute; Peter Facer, Oboe; Benjamin Mitchell, Clarinet; Jackie Shave, Violin; Caroline Dearnley, Cello; Pawel Siwczak, Harpsichord; at Barnes Music Festival, 17 March 2023
Presto Pasta (2020)
violin & viola – commissioned by Spitalfields Music Festival – duration: 5’
premiere: Miller-Porfiris Duo at Spitalfields Festival: At Home, 5 December 2020
For Fenella (2020)
solo violin – commissioned by Fenella Humphreys – duration: 1’
premiere: Fenella Humphreys at Fidelio Café, London, March 2020 + features on Caprices (Rubicon, March 2022)
CHORAL
Joys in love (2024)
SATB Choir – commissioned by Help Musicians UK – duration: c.3′
premiere: The Choirs of St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral, directed by Andrew Carwood, St Paul’s Cathedral, 20 November 2024
O Sapientia (2023)
SATB Choir – commissioned by The Choir of St Paul’s Cathedral – duration: c.4′
premiere: The Choir of The Choir of St Paul’s Cathedral, directed by Andrew Carwood, St Paul’s Cathedral, 2 December 2023
REJOICE! (2023)
SATB choir & orchestra – commissioned by the London Handel Festival – duration: c.5′
premiere: the National Youth Choir of Great Britain & the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by Sofi Jeannin at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, 6 April 2024
Magnificat (2022)
SATB Choir – commissioned by Clare College, Cambridge – duration: c.5′
premiere: The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge & Graham Ross at Clare College Chapel, Cambridge, 26 February 2023
Sable & Snow (2022)
soprano soloist & children’s choir – commissioned by Radio France for Maîtrise de Radio France – words by Emma Werner & Ali Lewis – duration: 10′
premiere: Maîtrise de Radio France & Héloïse – video here
Inner Phrases (2020)
SATB choir, percussion, piano and cello – commissioned by The Bach Choir – words by Arthur Rimbaud – duration: 3’30
premiere: Bach Inspired (Stone Records, March 2022)
Coronasolfege for 6 (2020)
AATTBB – commissioned by The Gesualdo 6 – duration: 5′
premiere: Autumn 2020 + out now on nonclassical
The French Hens (2020)
SATB choir – commissioned by The Corvus Consort – duration: 30”
premiere: December 2020
O Clavis David (2011)
SATB choir – duration: 3’30 – winner of the Clare College Carol Competition
premiere: December 2011 – Clare College Choir, Cambridge
OPEN SCORING
SPEAK-PLAY (2022)
open score – commissioned by the Callias Foundation (Berlin) – duration: variable
premiere: The Silk Road Symphony Orchestra in Vienna, June 2023
Outside Phrases (2021)
open score – commissioned by CoMA – duration: 5′
premiere: CoMA London + members of London Sinfonietta at CoMA Festival, Queen Mary University, March 2022 – video here