Laura Stevens is a South African and British composer^[1] of music for concert hall, film and media, stage and dance.^[2]

Stevens composed the original score for the documentary Elephant Refugees^[3] (2022, dir. Louise Hogarth) , narrated by Jerome Flynn ; and various ballet music works for the English National Ballet.^[4][5]

She is also known for collaborating with living poets on musical settings of their work, among them Katharine Towers^[6] and Hollie McNish^[7]

Music

Stevens created the original score for documentary Elephant Refugees^[8][9][10] in 2022, directed by Louise Hogarth, an account of elephants fleeing drought in Botswana

In 2016 the English National Ballet commissioned Stevens to compose the music for Unsilenced , the youth ballet accompaniment to their She Said triple bill project.^[11][12] The work was danced at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London and the Britten Theatre.

Previously, she had worked with the company on their Choreographics showcase at Sadler’s Wells , collaborating with choreographer Morgann Runacre-Temple on her work Give my Love to the Sunrise^[13][14]

Stevens has written in cross-disciplinary genres, having also collaborated with poets Katharine Towers on a musical setting of her poem “the way we go”,^[15] for Soprano and Piano, with a subsequent choral arrangement for Swedish choir Linköping Studentssangerer ;^[16][17] and Hollie McNish on her debut music and poetry album album Versus^[18] recorded at Abbey Road.

In 2015, her orchestral work Long Walk^[19] an homage to late president Nelson Mandela was performed in South Africa by the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra^[20][21] under Tokyo Philharmonic conductor and LA philharmonic assistant-conductor Yasuo Shinozaki.

In 2012 Stevens created music for animations produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company , and Central St Martins. These were broadcast on BBC Arts Channel and at the Edinburgh Festival.^[22]

Stevens worked with Swiss director Christina Ruloff and artist Beat Toniolo, creating the original music for their TV film Z Kiev redt mer Mundaart,^[23][24] about the life and exploits of Swiss dialect poet Albert Baechtold. It was distributed and broadcast on Swiss Channel SRF1 and featured Swiss actor Andrea Zogg.^[25]

A frequent musical partner is Turkish composer Nazım Çınar . In 2023 she played and arranged cello on his score for theatre work Imparator^[26][27] by Turkish thespian and activist Genco Erkal.^[28]

Early life

Stevens was born in Cape Town, South Africa , lives London , United Kingdom .^[29]

She attended the Royal College of Music and the South African College of Music , at the University of Cape Town.^[30]

References