About Rosalie 

Through her compositional career she worked in various media including concert, film and documentary such as Maids and Madams (1985) which won Channel Four its first Prix Italia, while experimenting with musical form including electronic music. A substantial part of her concert work was focused on the piano, duets and trios, often revealing a dance - like quality. Though there was a brief return to her early vocabulary in the piano work ‘C’Tout’ (2007) and the trio ‘If you should see him’ (2009), she moved into a world where tonality is blurred via a sparse, concise vocabulary and imagery although a lyrical element always continued to permeate the work. Regrettably for us, she ruthlessly deleted most of her early work, including her films, music for dance and concert compositions though a number of her settings to poetry have survived. Over her last decade she concentrated on small chamber sets where she started to develop a more succinct style characterised by a clear, no-frills sound creating aural landscapes, often interjected by playful rhythm and colour.

Rosalie’s modesty inhibited her from seeking acknowledgement or praise, being more interested in completing one composition and moving on to the next. It was only at the insistence of a colleague that she finally agreed to send out a few works which immediately resulted in her composition ‘Winter Collage’ for Piano and String Quartet being awarded the 1st Prize in the International Competition for Women Composers 2019 and in the same year her ensemble composition ‘Resound’ was awarded the Special Mention at the 1st Composition Competition of Ensemble Impronta (Germany). In 2020, a few days before her death, she was awarded the 1st prize in the NMF Composition Competition for her ‘Five Miniature Pieces’ inspired by a collection of poems by Rachel Spence.

 Towards the end of her life, she wished to carry on helping other composers in their endeavours, something she had done for composer friends over the years albeit always discreetly. To that end, she left a bequest for a foundation, which in the same modest and self-effacing manner would encourage others, in particular younger and older composers. In partnership with Trinity Laban, it has now established a 40 plus Composition Competition and Award alongside seed funding for the Rosalie Ensemble, based at Trinity Laban, which will provide further learning opportunities for young students.