Welcome
This site is a place where you can learn more about me and hear examples of my music. The menu options above will lead you to recordings, scores, news and other items of interest. I love other musicians and singers performing my music and can re-arrange many of my pieces for different combinations of instruments. If you would like to perform any of my music please contact me.
I hope you enjoy the site and my music.
Biography
Anne Gregson is an English composer born in 1953. She has lived in Bradford on Avon since 1989. She studied music as a mature student at Bath Spa University gaining a first class honours. Subsequently she took a Masters degree in composition there, graduating early 2017. She has studied under James Saunders, Joe Duddell and Nick Atkinson.
During her time at the university she has composed some fairly major pieces including an opera, ‘Make Room for Mummers’ which she also directed. It has been performed at the Bath Fringe Festival, Chippenham Folk Festival and Bradford Roots Festival. ‘The Rise and Fall of King Bladud’, a song cycle for soprano, tenor and string quartet written in collaboration with poet Keri Hendy, was premièred the following year at the Bath Fringe Festival. Other works have been performed by the violinist Darragh Morgan, Plus Minus Ensemble, Kathryn Bennetts and the Kreutzer String Quartet. She also worked on a composition as part of a small group of musicians including the composer Judith Weir which they premièred at Bath International Music Festival in 2010.
In 2018 she formed the group the Fiery Dragon Company to perform her compositions (including some that incorporate church bells into the ensemble). In January 2024 she formed a small chamber choir called Fiery Dragon Singers specialising in acapella harmony as well as songs accompanied by Fiery Dragon Company.
She has always been fascinated by traditional folk music and song and this has been a major influence on much of her music which tends in the main to be very melodic. However her university studies have led her to explore other musical horizons and compositional techniques enabling her to expand her style. She has been writing songs and tunes since childhood and finds that melodies frequently come to her quite naturally. Her main instrument is her voice although she also plays English concertina and violin.
She is an active performer in folk clubs and festivals where she sings a mixture of her own songs and traditional folk songs. She won the 1991 Sidmouth Singer competition for performance of an unaccompanied folk song. As well as solo performances she also performs as part of a duo with her husband Chris Timson with whom she has toured in the USA several times singing in unaccompanied harmony and with concertinas. She also performs with the a capella trio Eagle Alley.
Anne has researched and written a published thesis on English Christmas carols. Together with a few friends, including local choir leaders, she founded the Bradford on Avon Carollers who sing unusual carols in the pubs of Bradford on Avon. She introduced the singers to many carols from the West Country which she discovered as part of her research, latterly via the choir she formed to learn these carols as the core of the pub singing. She also leads the band of musicians who accompany them. Anne has given illustrated talks on the history of the English Christmas carol to organisations such as the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution.
A Brief Summary
Anne Gregson is an English composer born in 1953. She gained a 1st class degree in music from Bath Spa University and subsequently she obtained a Masters in composition, studying with James Saunders, Joe Duddell and Nick Atkinson. She graduated in early 2017.
Major works include an opera, ‘Make Room for Mummers’ , which has been performed at three festivals to date, and a song cycle called ‘The Rise and Fall of King Bladud’ which was premièred the following year at the Bath Fringe Festival. Other works have been performed by the violinist Darragh Morgan, Plus Minus Ensemble, Kathryn Bennetts and the Kreutzer String Quartet. She has worked with Judith Weir on a piece premiered at Bath International Music Festival. In 2018 she formed the group the Fiery Dragon Company to perform her compositions.
A major influence is traditional music and song though her university studies have led her to explore other musical horizons and compositional techniques.