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
2025 marks the release of the In The Mirror album for cello and piano - 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 so far this year include Our City in partnership with the Three Choirs Festival Streetwise Opera and Hereford Veteran’s Choir, and Theatre In The Making with Strange Futures Theatre Company. Liz also leads the Creative Waves MLWC group and directs 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 being premiered at Malvern Theatre on July 4th, 2025 by soprano Philippa Wright and harpist Madeline Kirby.
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 Borderlands by the Fitzwilliam String Quartet (commissioned with support from the Vaughan Williams Foundation). Commissions included On Malvern Hill for Camerata Tchaikovsky, London Viol Consort’s The Blue of Distance, and Nimrod Reimagined commemorating Elgar’s birthday for voices and harp, premiered in June 2024. Liz was composer for the Strange Futures’ ‘mesmerising’ production On The Bare Hill in 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
The album Luminos with Ronald Woodley (clarinets) and Andrew West (piano) has been met with critical acclaim
2023 saw commissions including Before the Ending of the Day for chamber orchestra, Rain for choir and piano, and The 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.
