Instrumental, solo voice and other non-choral compositions by
Sheena Phillips
NEW or FEATURED
Christmas Morning
Two sopranos (or soprano solo) and theorbo
A setting of words by John Milton (1608 - 1674) from his ode On The Morning of Christ’s Nativity
Premiered in Richmond on 17 October 2021, by Janet Oates and Felicity Hayward sopranos, Sergio Bucheli theorbo
Composed as part of the Theorbo Today initiative to create and perform more theorbo repertoire
Recording of the premiere
Forms of Motion
String orchestra
Three movements evoking the motion of Birds, Bees and Fish respectively
Workshopped in Leeds in October 2017 by Yorkshire Late Starter Strings with Judith Weir
Perusal score
Night Airs
String orchestra, flute and oboe obbligato
Based on the Hungarian song Esti Dal (Evening Song) and the Orkney song The Great Selkie of Sule Skerry
Commissioned by the St Magnus International Festival, 2016
Perusal score
Performed by Orkney Camerata, St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, 19 June 2016
Painting Sounds
Graphic scores for silent interpretation
Commissioned by Janet Oates as part of Closet Music, an ongoing project to produce scores intended not for public, 'out loud' performance but to be imagined privately.
Painting Sounds is an invitation for children to interpret painted marks as sounds, and vice versa. It was funded through Sound and Music and Janet's commissioning project was one of several selected under the heading of Interpreting Isolation.
Score
Referendum
Orchestral piece depicting the events of the British referendum in 2016 on membership of the European Community
Scored in four parts (High, High, Medium, Low) and percussion (open score / flexible intrumentation format)
Written for the 2016 CoMA Summer School
Published by CoMA
Performance by CoMA Bristol, 2017
Performance by CoMA Sussex, dir. Adam Swayne, 2017
Sad-Sweet
Short Songs for Soprano
Un Petit Psaultier (A Little Psalter)
Variation (Lament) NEW
OTHER TITLES
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Cloth of Dreams
Deep River
Double Centenary Doubles
Four Climate Change Songs
Little Elegy
Murmuration
Online Advent Calendar
Sketches for the End of Winter
Sweet Wandering Soul
The Riverman
Why Dorothy Wordsworth Is Not As Famous As Her Brother
Zahlenklang (The Sound of Numbers)
1. O Lilie Fair (soprano solo, theorbo)
2. In Sweet Dream (four sopranos, soprano recorder)
Lyrics by Elizabeth Melville (c. 1578 - 1640) and Mary Sidney Herbert (1561 - 1621) respectively
Commissioned by the London ensemble Philomel, dir. Janet Oates
Perusal score (In Sweet Dream starts on p.13)
Recording of In Sweet Dream by Philomel, London, 2019
Three short (roughly 2 minute) songs for soprano and piano
1. Frog
2. Leaves on the Line
3. Please Hold
Performance of Leaves on the Line by Felicity Hayward and Michael Keen
Performance of Please Hold by Janet Oates and Michael Keen
Soprano, clarinet doubling as bass clarinet
1. Au Lecteur (To the Reader)
2. Parmi les Psaumes (Amidst the Psalms)
3. Prière à Dieu (Prayer to God)
Lyrics by Esther Inglis (1571 - 1624), Clément Marot (1496 - 1544) and Pierre Olivétan (c. 1506 - 1538)
Commissioned by Jamie Reid Baxter for Sally Carr (soprano) and Calum Robertson (clarinet), 2019
Perusal score
Recording of In Sweet Dream by Philomel, London, 2019
Piano
Composed for the project Diabelli Recomposed: 50 Variations by Women Composers Worldwide, conceived and managed by Claudia Bigos
Published by Furore Verlag
Video of the premiere by pianist Lal Karaalioglu at the Brunswick State Theatre, Germany, November 2023
String quartet, trombone, guitar, percussion
Incidental music for the Shakespeare play
Created for and performed by Columbus Alternative High School, Ohio, 2007
Soprano and alto duet
Nine songs recorded by the vocal duo Simmerdim (Frances Cockburn and Sheena Phillips) including settings of William Blake, Robert Burns and Geoffrey Chaucer, and arrangements of Scottish folk songs and early music
Flute, harp, trombone, violoncello
Perusal score
Performance by members of the Paragon Ensemble, Glasgow, 2002
Composed for the bells of Trinity Episcopal Church, Columbus, Ohio
Commissioned by Columbus Public Art to celebrate the bicentenary of the city, 2012
New lyrics for old tunes - written for the 2015 Climate Change March in London
Full texts and downloadable PDF files
The Place Called Planet Earth has been published in the Justice Choir Songbook
Tenor solo, piano
Text by Elinor Wylie
String orchestra
Workshopped at the 2016 CoMA Midwinter Composer Course, Oxford
Electronic music
24 tracks created in GarageBand for an online Advent calendar in collaboration with photographer Edwina Towson, 2010
String trio (violin, viola, violoncello)
Based on the Piae Cantiones tune Cedit Hiems Eminus (Winter recedes)
Workshopped at the 2016 CoMA Midwinter Composer Course, Oxford
Mezzo-soprano, flute, horn, violoncello, piano
Setting (composed 2015) of a translation by my father Nigel Phillips of a poem written by the Roman Emperor Hadrian when he was close to death
Flute, narrator
Text by Elizabeth Bishop
Performed by Connie Foster (narrator) and Sarah Lange (flute), 2002
Soprano solo, piano
Text by Lyn Peters
Perusal score
Performance by Canadian soprano Joan Fearnley, accompanied by Frédéric Lacroix
Electronic music
Composed 2015 in response to a call for scores accessible to children, issued by Urban Arts Berlin
Listen on soundcloud
Notes on the piece