Biography

Liz Dilnot Johnson is a British composer who lives on the beautiful Malvern Hills, Herefordshire. Her award-winning music encompasses a wide range from exquisite miniatures to expansive and multi-dimensional works. As composer-in-residence with Ex Cathedra and with regular commissions from the Fitzwilliam String Quartet, her music is featured on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM and performed all over the world. 

Liz’s career began in school-teaching and in her mid-30s she took a ‘year out’ to study composition for the first time gaining a Masters with distinction at Birmingham Conservatoire, and was encouraged by her tutor Philip Cashian to continue her studies. She completed her PhD in composition in 2005 focussing on the 28-minute single movement work for voice and string quartet Sky-burial.

Liz lectured at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire 1999 - 2019, teaching composition, designing and delivering modules on Music and Health, Community Engagement and, most recently, collaborative projects with Royal Birmingham Ballet. 

Having worked within education, lecturing and community work, she now composes full time. Her work often engages with difficult subjects, questioning and stimulating debate around wellbeing, and challenging boundaries between audience and performer. She is currently involved in various projects that explore our human connection with external landscapes and the natural world.

Liz’s mentors have included Judith Weir, Julian Phillips, Jonathan Harvey and Colin Riley. Liz is currently mentored by Tess Howell.

Major Works

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. (musicwebinternational)

When A Child Is A Witness – a requiem for refugees (2022) was awarded the @IvorsAcademy Ivor Novello Composers Award Community & Participation Category 2022 @abrsm #TheIvorsComposerAwards. The jury called the work “an artistically ambitious and emotionally compelling work that is firmly rooted in the contributions of the participants… evocative music with a purpose and meaningful sense of engagement”.

Reinventing the traditional Requiem Mass to raise awareness of the plight of refugees, the piece brings communities and art forms together in a celebration of those who seek and offer refuge. This ambitious and multifaceted work was featured as part of Coventry City of Culture 2022 performed by Ex Cathedra at Coventry Cathedral. Soloists include Lucy Russell (violin and Hardanger fiddle) Kadiale Kouyate (West African kora) and Gabriella Liandu (mezzo-soprano). Watch the Coventry performance here.

Colwall Requiem for Peace (2023) is a ‘village’ version of the same work for amateur choir, perfomed in the rural village community of Colwall, bringing people with lived experience of seeking refuge in the Worcestershire/ Herefordshire area together with local performers and school children. The performance in July 2023 included a group of young men in emergency accommodation, a choir of Ukrainian children, and Kurdish Syrian musicians, alongside choirs from St James the Great Church and Colwall Primary School leading to the publication of the book We Wait Together sharing stories and drawings of recently arrived asylum seekers and refugees from Sudan, South Sudan, Iran and Ukraine.

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.

Her collaborative dance project Scintilla (2019) explores interior and exterior worlds through poetry, music, live electronics, dance and film, working alongside choreographer Dane Hurst. Scintilla has been generously supported by Sound and Music’s New Voices scheme, Arts Council England DYCP, HMUK Fusion Fund, PRSF Composer Fund and WildPlumArts.

Other Key Works

String Quartet No.3 (2003) Intricate Web was selected by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies for the opening of Kings Place, London. Moon Incantations (2000) for children's choir reached the final of the British Composer Awards. Is This It? a mini opera was performed at Covent Garden by the Opera Group.

CD Releases

In June 2024 Johnson’s latest choral album Gentle Flame was released including The Windhover - Ex Cathedra’s Dawn Chorus Commission 2020 and Blake Re-imagined written for virtual choir during the first Lockdown in 2020 as well as all the choral movements from When A Child Is A Witness.

Other releases include In The Mirror for cello and piano - Heather Tuach and Yoko Misumi, The Space Between Heaven and Earth for basset horn and piano (on the Luminos album) commissioned by clarinettist Ronald Woodley, and Inflorescence for saxophone and piano commissioned by Kyle Horch on the disc of the same name.

Performers

Liz’s work has been performed by the Brodsky Quartet, Roderick Williams, Ex Cathedra, The Opera Group, Ixion, Noszferatu, Fitzwilliam String Quartet, Ensemble Bash, Goldberg Ensemble, Nonsuch Singers, Juice, Dr K Sextet, BCMG, Kyle Horch, Loré Lixenberg, Flotilla (sax quartet), Ruth Wall (harp) Lucy Russell (violin), Suzie Purkis (voice) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.