Multitude of Voyces

Anna Semple (b. 1997)

Anna Semple is a freelance composer and singer based in London, having finished her Masters in Composition at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2021. Recent commissions include works for Roderick Williams, Helen Charlston, St Paul’s Cathedral, The Sixteen, the Royal Opera House, Waterperry Opera Festival, and The Marian Consort. She has worked with a wide variety of artists including vocal consort EXAUDI, clarinettist Vicky Wright of PlusMinus Ensemble, members of the London Symphony Orchestra and solo accordionist Miloš Milivojević via Psappha’s ‘Composing for’ scheme. As a singer Anna works with a variety of concert groups including Tenebrae, Alamire, SANSARA, and HEXAD Collective.

Anna's work is primarily engaged with her interests in embodied processes of working (both in performance and writing) as a way of subverting the classic mind vs body/masculine vs feminine dichotomy, and she enjoys experimenting with the ways in which the things we see and feel can be communicated with sonic immediacy.

Anna comments on her composition

'Written in 2018, my setting of 'Drop down ye heavens' draws inspiration from Byrd's setting of the Latin text ('rorate coeli'), with its imitative entries and inverting its opening fourth. I wanted to write a piece that was accessible to amateur choirs but a satisfying  and challenging sing. The idea of fade is central to the piece, and the falling second encapsulates this from the beginning, while the main melody acts as a thread throughout the piece. The final canonic section creates a blur of the colours encountered at the opening - fading away like meeting snow.'

©A.Semple 2025