Born in Nottingham, and raised in Mansfield and Sheffield, Judith Bingham began composing as a small child, and then studied composing and singing at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Her composition studies there with Alan Bush and Eric Fenby were later supplemented by lessons from Hans Keller. She was awarded the Principal’s prize in 1971, and 6 years later the BBC Young Composer award. Recent composition prizes include: the Barlow Prize for a cappella music in 2004, two British Composer Awards in 2004 (choral and liturgical) and one in 2006 (choral).

Her first commissions, in the 1970’s, were from the Finchley Children’s Music Group, the King’s Singers, and Peter Pears, but she also wrote 4 pieces for the newly formed Songmaker’s Almanac, and a string of chamber works for, amongst others, David Roblou, David Mason, Anton Weinberg, and the New London Consort, one of the first composers to write new music for medieval instruments.

In 1983, she joined the BBC Singers as a full time member of the alto section and toured extensively with them singing many solo parts. She left the Singers at the end of 1995 to concentrate on her activities as a composer, though she continued to sing professionally for some years. Since 2004 she has been Composer in Association with the BBC Singers, a highly successful collaboration which has recently been extended to 2009.

On joining the BBC Singers, she wrote a series of choral works, many of them based on texts compiled from disparate sources as an integral part of the compositional process. Several of these were for the BBC Singers, but there were also pieces for other professional, amateur and collegiate choirs, including Salt in the Blood, written for the BBC Symphony Chorus to perform at the 1995 Proms, a Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis for King’s College Cambridge, and diverse anthems and church works for the cathedrals of Winchester, Lichfield, Westminster Abbey, St John’s Cambridge, and more recently, Westminster Cathedral, Wells Cathedral and the Edington Festival.

Although Bingham’s output is marked by the number and variety of its choral works, she has always been seen as an all-rounder, and the scope of her activities has included pieces for brass band, symphonic wind ensemble and various chamber groups and solo instruments, concertos for trumpet and bassoon, and several impressive works for large orchestra including Beyond Redemption (1995) a BBC commission for the BBC Philharmonic, and The Temple at Karnak (1996). Chartres, a significant work for large symphony orchestra, was performed to great acclaim by the BBC Philharmonic under Jane Glover in 1994, and was recently conducted by James MacMillan in Liverpool Cathedral as part of the BBC/Royal Philharmonic Society’s ‘Encore’ project. Recently she has written a series of works for solo organ, including Ancient Sunlight for Thomas Trotter’s 500th lunchtime recital in Birmingham, a short ballet for the Royal Ballet, and Down and Out for the Goldberg Ensemble and the tuba player James Gourlay.

She has been involved in many education projects: The Red Hot Nail, written for the LSO, has been performed more than 100 times, including performances in Louisiana, and the LSO also commissioned The Mysteries of Adad for a project at the British Museum. Inside the Mandala was a dance project commissioned by the BBC Philharmonic, and several of Bingham’s works have been used as the basis for work in schools. She has regularly acted as a judge in many high profile events like the BBC Young Composer of the Year, and has lectured in many of the British music colleges and in several American universities.

Recent major works include The Christmas Truce, inspired by a celebrated incident in the First World War, and was first performed by the BBC Singers and the Britten Sinfonia in Norwich in December 2003. The Ivory Tree, a music-drama for soloists, chorus and ensemble, had its first complete performances in Bury St. Edmunds Cathedral in May 2005. A carol God would be born in thee was performed at the King’s College Cambridge Nine Lessons and Carols at Christmas 2004 and was released by EMI on the CD ‘On Christmas Day’. Naxos recently issued a portrait CD of her choral works including Salt in the Blood and The Secret Garden which received rave reviews. Future projects include further collaborations with the BBC Singers, an Organ Concerto for Philip Brunelle and a Requiem for the BBC Philharmonic and Leeds Festival Chorus.

Judith Bingham has a well-established international profile, and in the past year alone her works were performed in France, Norway, Mexico, Spain, Estonia, Latvia, Denmark, Finland, Minneapolis and St Louis.

Read an interview with Judith Bingham