Florence Anna Maunders

Biography
Florence Anna Maunders started to compose music when she was a teenager, and her early tape-based pieces from this time
reveal an early fascination with the unusual juxtapositions of sounds and collisions of styles which have been a hallmark of
her music-making ever since. This is perhaps a reflection of the music which interested and excited her from a very young age
– medieval dance music, prog-rock, electronic minimalism, bebop jazz, Eastern folk music, the music of Stravinsky &
Messiaen, and the grand orchestral tradition of the European concert hall. Florence started out as a chorister, clarinettist and
saxophone player, but following an undergraduate degree at the Royal Northern College of Music, where she studied with
Anthony Gilbert, Adam Gorb, Simon Holt & Clark Rundell, she enjoyed a mixed and international career as a jazz pianist,
orchestral percussionist, electronic music producer, conductor and teacher. After a long break of many years during which she
didn’t compose at all due to her poor mental health, she returned to composition, transformed her life, changed her gender,
and began to get enormously busy. Composition is now taking up more and more of her time. Over the last couple of years she
has met with tremendous success despite her disabilities & had her music extensively performed across the UK, Europe and
the USA, and received a significant number of awards, prizes and commissions. A full list of recent prizes and awards is
available on her website.

Stylistic Fingerprints
One of her main aims as a composer has always been to write music which excites and moves an audience – not to say that
she has embraced populism, but that her music often pulsates and dances, or allows the luxury of melody to dominate. Her
music often draws together a number of different stylistic currents to make something totally new and original, for instance
her recent (and extensive) cantata Yaldo draws upon Syrian folk music, the music of the Byzantine Church in the middle ages,
free jazz, Hebrew cantillation & complex Stravinskian rhythms to create a compulsive and explosive sound world. With a
background in electronic music production, it’s not surprising to hear the influence of dance culture in her compositions often
to the fore – as an example take the piece Badder Gyrations, an “urban orchestral riot” which grows into a growling dubstebflavoured
groove, before fragmenting into a kaleidoscopic melee of broken and recycled funk and soul fragments, coming
together into a pulsating trance beat. Much of her music reflects her identity as a transgender woman, particularly the twin
themes of transformation and otherness which underlie her daily experiences.

Recent & Upcoming Events
Flori has been recently working on a number of exciting projects, although many of her performances and premières were put
on hold by the current global pandemic, things are starting to get back on track. She’s just finished working on a major
commission with Strange Trace Opera – a new opera called Goliath, which was recorded and filmed as part of the Stencils
Festival in 2021. March 2022 saw the premiere of her new commissions Uprising from Skipton Camerata, Shared Spaces with
Orchestra of Opera North & Winds for Rarescale. She’s also collaborating with Fulham Brass Band as part of Sound and
Music’s very exciting “Adopt A Music Creator” program, and is composing in an ongoing participation with the NYC-based The
Brass Project, in addition to new commissions from ORA Singers (a new piece called Vessel in collaboration with Tate
Modern), the Villiers Quartet and the Hypotenuse Trio. She’s also been working on a new piece for ‘cello and piano as part of
the Psappha “Composing for…” program, and newly commissioned solo works for Lynn Henderson, Stephanie Frye-Clarke,
Cort Reynolds, the International Guitar Federation and others. In addition she’s recently finished composing the score to an
upcoming short film – Dialectic – the second film directed by Robert Timestra for which she’s written the soundtrack, and is
shortly to be engaged on the third. She’s also currently preparing to start a PhD in composition. There’s lots more information
& links to recordings on her website.

Prizes & Awards
A selection of recent prizes and awards include:
LCO New (2022) Selected to compose a new work for London Chamber Orchestra
ARC Project (2022) Selected composer from open call
Flourish! commission winner (2022) Commissioned to compose a new work for BGSO through BCMG’s
project for the Commonwealth Games
Drake Music Ascendant Commission (2022) Commissioned to write a new work in 2022
Black Pencil Prize (2021) Finalist – Honourable Mention
Drake Music Ascendant Commission (2022) Commissioned to write a new work in 2022
International Guitar Federation (2021) Commissioned to write a new piece for solo guitar
LGBTViola Competition (2021) First Prize Winner
Villiers Quartet “From Home” Commissions (2021) Commissioned to write for the quartet
Hypotenuse Trio Call For Scores (2020) Selected to be commissioned to write a new piece
ORA Singers Emergency Composers’ Fund (2020) Selected and commissioned to write a new piece in collaboration with
Tate Modern
Adopt A Music Creator (2020-21) Selected to work with Fulham Brass Band and commissioned to create a
new piece for them
Psappha “Composing for…” Scheme (2020) Selected on the ‘cello & piano scheme
Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize (2020) Shortlisted Finalist
Diversity Initiative Call for Scores (2020) 1st Prize (Quartet) 1st Prize (Septet) Honorable Mention (Duet) Overall
Grand Prize Winner
A4 Brass Quartet Composition Competition (2020) Shortlisted Finalist
Brixworth International Comp. Competition (2020) 1st Place Winner
Women’s Orchestra of Arizona Comp. Prize (2020) 1st Place Winner
London Consorts of Winds Competition (2020) Shortlisted Finalist & Runner-up
Prix Annelie de Man (2020) Finalist
Black Pencil Prize (2020) Honorable Mention
Musica Prospettiva 2019-2020 – Call for Scores Finalist
International Isolda Composition Foundation (2019) Shortlisted & Finalist
Filipino American SO Comp. Competition (2019) 2nd Prize
Piano Teachers Congress of New York (PTCNY) Commissioning Award (2018) Commissioning award for a new piece to
be performed in Carnegie Hall (NYC) in Fall 2020
Royal Northern Symphonia Young Composers’ (2018) Finalist & 2nd prizewinner
ARmusic Publishing House Award (2018) “Khosk Im Vordum” (Words From My Mother) – a piece for solo (spoken)
soprano & double-reed quartet to be published by ARMusic
2018 AGBU Sayat Nova Comp. Competition (2018) 3rd prize
Bromley Symphony Orchestra Centenary Prize (2018) Orchestra’s choice prizewinner
Vienna “Sounds of Matter” (2018) 2nd prizewinner