Dr. Cassandra Miller is a Canadian-British composer based in London whose works are published by Faber Music. Her compositional practice is rooted in meditation-based, uncontrolled singing as a means of exploring melody and repetition, combined with transcription techniques that transform existing musical materials to reveal their expressive and fragile qualities.
Her music has received widespread critical acclaim. Writing in The New Yorker, Alex Ross described her work as “uncalculatedly beautiful.” Her Duet for Cello and Orchestra, premiered at the Tectonics Festival in 2015 by Charles Curtis and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Ilan Volkov, was later named by The Guardian as one of the finest classical works of the twenty-first century. Her orchestral work Round was premiered in 2016 by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra conducted by André de Ridder, while other large-scale compositions include A Large House, which has been performed internationally since its premiere at Ostrava Days.
Miller has maintained a particularly close artistic relationship with Quatuor Bozzini, for whom she composed Warbleworkand About Bach. The latter received the prestigious Jules-Léger Prize for New Chamber Music. She has also been awarded a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists and a second Jules-Léger Prize for her work Bel Canto. Among her regular collaborators are violinist Mira Benjamin, pianist Philip Thomas, and soprano Juliet Fraser, with whom she developed the Tracery project. Recordings of her music, including portrait albums released by Another Timbre, have received international recognition.
Recent compositions include Thanksong (2020), Perfect Offering (2020), La Donna (2021), and the viola concerto I Cannot Love Without Trembling (2023), written for Lawrence Power and subsequently performed internationally, including at the BBC Proms.
Miller studied at the University of Victoria, the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and the University of Huddersfield, and also worked privately with composer Michael Finnissy. From 2018 to 2020, she served as Associate Head of Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has been a visiting teacher at numerous leading institutions, including Stanford University, Columbia University, CalArts, and the Royal Academy of Music. Between 2010 and 2013, she was Artistic and General Director of Innovations en concert, a Montreal-based organization dedicated to contemporary music.
Today, Miller is widely regarded as one of the most distinctive and influential voices in contemporary composition, celebrated for music that combines intimacy, originality, and profound emotional depth.
Recordings
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