Liz Dilnot Johnson
composer, co-muser, collaborator, innovator
creating
music, sound, theatre, dance
‘stunning’
John France Musicwebinternational Intricate Web Review
‘she has an extraordinary intuition for what works’
Jeffrey Skidmore OBE
Liz Dilnot Johnson is a British composer who lives on the beautiful Malvern Hills, Herefordshire. Her music encompasses a wide range from exquisite miniatures to expansive multi-dimensional works. Liz is composer-in-residence with Ex Cathedra and at The Fold . She receives regular commissions from the Fitzwilliam String Quartet and her music is featured on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM and performed all over the world. Johnson’s music is published by Composers Edition
Portrait by Peter Searle
2026 has already been a busy year, starting with The Deeper Meaning of My Voice (funded by Severn Arts) a multi-generational community project in January 2026 incorporating live floor art, poetry, songs and music, with Taiko drumming and an improvised piece with words created by the audience.
Some of the participants of The Deeper Meaning of My Voice project with their floor art design ‘I Feel’
Passia (2026) was toured in March/April by female vocal quintet Papagena with performances at Great Malvern Priory, St Mary Magdalene Church, Oxford, and Christchurch Priory, Dorset. Passia examines the mystery, fear, love and deep emotions of the women at the foot of the cross with texts taken from five female writers across time from the 9th century to the present day.
“Such a well-crafted, tightly organised piece and performed so beautifully and passionately by the gorgeous voices of Papagena. Very moving.’ ”
Liz with the singers of Papagena
Liz’s latest project We Sing The River’s Voice for multiple choirs and performance poet
In 2025 In The Mirror album for cello and piano was released - featuring as the title work Liz’s set of four romantic pieces entitled In The Mirror:
‘This is simply first-rate music superbly performed. It would also be an excellent introduction for any listener who may be timorous about exploring contemporary music.’ —Martyn Strachan (British Music Society)
Community Projects included Our City in partnership with the Three Choirs Festival Streetwise Opera and Hereford Veteran’s Choir, and How Do You Get From There To Here? and Theatre In The Making with Strange Futures Theatre Company. Liz lead the Creative Waves MLWC group for young adults and directed Community Choir Malvern Cube Sings.
New commissions include Passia - a new cantata for Papagena for performance in Lent 2026 and a song-cycle celebrating Malvern Water for the Malvern Spa Association premiered at Malvern Theatre on July 4th, 2025 by soprano Philippa Wright with the Hills Singers.
2024, Liz’s 60th birthday year was celebrated by a range of live events, films and album releases. The UK tour of her String Quartet No. 5 Borderlandsby the Fitzwilliam String Quartet (commissioned with support from the Vaughan Williams Foundation). Commissions included On Malvern Hillfor Camerata Tchaikovsky, London Viol Consort’s The Blue of Distance, and Nimrod Reimaginedcommemorating Elgar’s birthday for voices and harp, premiered in June 2024. Liz was composer for the Strange Futures’ ‘mesmerising’ production On The Bare Hillin June 2024.
The Gentle Flame album celebrates Liz’s creative relationship with choir Ex Cathedra and includes the ‘monumental’ 10-part setting of Gerard Manley Hopkins’ extraordinary poem The Windhover, as well as Christmas carols including favourites A Wild Midwinter Carol and For This Babe and other music performed by Ex Cathedra at their magical candlelight concerts. Here’s a ‘behind-the-scenes’ video capturing music, interviews and fun moments during the recording. Gentle Flame includes the award-winning When A Child Is A Witness – a requiem for refugees (2022) that reinvents the traditional Requiem Mass to raise awareness of the plight of those seeking refuge, bringing communities and art forms together in a celebration of those who seek and offer sanctuary. Blurring the divide between performer and audience, this multifaceted work was premiered as part of Coventry City of Culture 2022 performed by Ex Cathedra at Coventry Cathedral. Soloists included Lucy Russell (violin and Hardanger fiddle) Kadiale Kouyate (West African kora) and Gabriella Liandu (mezzo-soprano).
Watch the performance here.
Winner of the @IvorsAcademy Ivor Novello Award in the Community & Participation 2022 @abrsm #TheIvorsComposerAwards
Portrait by Peter Searle
2023 saw commissions including Before the Ending of the Day for chamber orchestra, Rain for choir and piano, andThe Space Between Heaven and Earth for basset horn and piano was released on the Luminos album to critical acclaim:
‘…impressive. There are four movements: “Winter,” “Spring,” “Summer,” and “Autumn.” While most of the argument rests with “Winter,” it is the concluding “Autumn” that is the most overtly beautiful.’ (Fanfare)
Johnson’s large-scale works include I Stand At The Door - a cantata for our time (2021) for chorus and orchestra - ‘Johnson’s love-song to the planet’ (first released as Gentle Flame Cantata 2019), also featured in the award-winning music video Can You Hear Me? with texts by Greta Thunberg, Kurt Masur and David Hart.
Johnson’s debut double album Intricate Web (2017) features the ‘palpably exciting’ Clarinet Quintet Sea-change, six string quartets and the thirty-minute Cello Suite: ‘Johnson’s masterpiece so far’, along with songs setting words by Kathleen Jamie, Jo Shapcott and Gabriela Mistral.
Her collaborative project Scintilla explores interior and exterior worlds through poetry, music, live electronics, dance and film, working alongside choreographer Dane Hurst. Scintilla has been supported by Sound and Music’s New Voices scheme, Arts Council England, HMUK, PRSF and WildPlumArts.
Johnson’s mentors have included Judith Weir, Philip Cashian, Julian Phillips, Jonathan Harvey and Liz is currently mentored by Tess Howell.
Supported by:
Featured by:
