

ABOUT
AMELIA CLARKSON
From County Down in Northern Ireland, Amelia (b. 1995) currently works between Belfast, Manchester and Gdansk, Poland on politically-motivated music, juxtaposing folk and classical influences in her approach. Amelia is a current PRS Foundation Women Make Music grantee and her creative practice is supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. In January 2023, it was announced that she will hold the Mendelssohn Scholarship. Awarded to a composer for for advanced study since 1856, this scholarship will support her current PhD at the RNCM. In March 2023, the Contemporary Music Centre of Ireland announced Amelia's representation as an Associate Composer.
Amelia's music has been performed across the UK and Ireland including at Opera Holland Park, South Bank Centre, the Elgar Concert Hall, King's Place and Wigmore Hall. Recent work includes I AM LEDA (2021), commissioned by the National Concert Hall and Sounding the Feminists as the recipient of their Mid-career/Emerging Commissioning Award; Blowing Through (2021), commissioned by the Crash Ensemble. Performances in 2022 included the premieres of Sisterhive (2021) by Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble at QUB, Belfast in January; Central Band of the Royal Air Force commission A Picture on the Wall (2020) at Regent Hall in March and a premiere at Opera Holland Park of song-set 'Run With Me' with soprano Alison Langer and pianist Lana Bode.
Amelia is dedicated collaborator with musicians, theatre artists, writers and classical and contemporary dance artists. Her lengthy collaboration with choreographer and classical soloist Ruaidhrí Maguire has been described as 'astounding'. Their collaborations include one-act ballet Dear Frances (2019), film for mobile application Corners (2023), and most recently, two act ballet White Doves (2023) which received a successful run at the MAC Belfast. The abstract-narrative work explored ideas of peace and identity in Northern Ireland from the viewpoint of the post-Troubles generation, depicting the forming of Peace People movement in 1970's Belfast, with research and development supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and music creation funded by PRS Foundation's Women Make Music, the Vaughan Williams Foundation and the Hinrichsen Foundation.
Amelia is a current PhD candidate at the Royal Northern College of Music. Supervised by Laura Bowler and Gary Carpenter. Amelia's research is centered on creating new music for dance and stage which aims to challenge attitudes to sexual consent through cross-collaborative practice. Amelia gratefully acknowledges support from the RNCM and the Mendelssohn Scholarship Foundation which makes her doctoral research possible.
Prior, Amelia took Music at Cardiff University, graduating in 2017 with first class honours. From 2017-19 she completed her Masters of Music in Composition at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, receiving a distinction. As a Trinity College London Scholar and with the support of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust, she studied under Deirdre Gribbin, Errollyn Wallen CBE, Edward Jessen and John Ashton Thomas. In November 2018, Amelia received the Worshipful Company of Musicians' 2018 Medal for Trinity Laban, joinng the prestigious Yeomen Young Artist Programme as the first composer to receive the medal for the college.
Amelia's music carries influences from her traditional Irish folk background and classical training as a soprano and flautist.