ISABELLA GELLIS

Isabella Gellis is a British-Canadian composer of acoustic music. Her work often focuses on imagined and disguised sounds, steeped in the silly, absurd, and surreal.

Recent highlights include two works commissioned by Shadwell Opera: an immersive operatic vignette about getting a haircut (for digital release only) and The Devil’s Den’, an opera in one act with libretto also by the composer, premiered at Nevill Holt Festival in June 2024.

This year will also see first performances of two orchestral works; Four Morris Interludes (AMFS commission) played by the Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra, and Valedictions, played by the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento, conducted by Finnegan Downie Dear.

Other fun past things include a suite for pianist Joseph Havlat based on Biber’s Battalia à 10 premiered at Dartington, a trio about bowing and blowing for members of Explore Ensemble [Listenpony commission], a string trio about moss premiered at Wigmore Hall [Nash Ensemble commission] and a small piece for the LSO (as a participant of the Panufnik scheme)


She studied at the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with a Bicentenary Prize for all-round excellence, the Postgraduate Composition Prize, and the Musicians’ Company Priaulx Rainier Prize. 

send me an email if you would like to see any scores [or hear any recordings that aren’t public online]


 🎹 

THE DISSOLUTE SOCIETY COMPRISED OF ALL SORTS / piano / 35’ / 2021 / ︎
^{a suite based on Biber’s Battalia, for Joseph Havlat, premiered at Dartington}

SLOW DAY NO. 5 / piano / 2’ / 2020 /︎/ ︎ / ︎/
^{a song without words, intentionally very playable}

SONATA / piano / 8’ / 2018 / ︎/ ︎
^{a sort of microsonata}


 🎤 

I WISH I COULD SPEAK TO YOU / medium-high voice, piano / 3’ / 2021 / ︎
^{sweet and sad, text by Dan Sociu}

DEAD HORSES / solo voice  / 12’ / 2021 / ︎/ ︎
^{lots of good words in this, text by me, RAM200 commission, for Lotte Betts-Dean}

MONTREAL SONGS /medium voice, piano / 14’ / 2021 / ︎
^{three folk song arrangements in French, English and Yiddish}

FALLING UP SONGS / soprano, vln, bcl, pft / 3’ / 2016 / ︎
^{these are good fun, secret text, send me a message if you want to find out}
 

 🎭️ 

THE DEVIL’S DEN / four singers, fifteen players, side of morris dancers /  70’ / 2024
^{folkloric tale of superstition featuring a Devil, Rabbit, Child and Druid, Shadwell commission}

WITH GLORY AND HIS SCISSORS GLINTING / countertenor, bcl, vcl, perc /  11’ / 2022 / ︎ / ︎
^{a “barbershopera”, text from clickhole.com, for Shadwell Opera, recorded in binaural audio}

FOR PEACE AND COUNTRY [CHAMBER OPERA] / mezzo-soprano + ebcl, cl, bcl, a-sax, bn, tr, tuba, vl, vlc, pft / 16’ / 2018 / ︎/ ︎
^{libretto from a video my sister made when she was 8, the singer [Lotte Betts-Dean] plays 11 different characters (all stuffed toys) - children’s opera? sort of}


 🎺️🎻🪕 

YOU’RE A PIANO QUINTET / piano quintet / 12’ / 2024
^{about listening}

WHAT SHALL WE DO / alto flute, clarinet [Bb+Bass], perc., piano, string quartet / 9’ / 2023 /︎
^{based on an improvisation session with two nine year olds - the shanty “Drunken Sailor” was a starting point, AMFS commission}

VALEDICTIONS / flute, clarinet, horn, cello / 4’30” /2022
^{a little farewell}

FRIENDS / kalimba, trumpet / 10-20’ / 2022
^{bathroom music for Van Gogh House in London}

STRANGE ISABELLA / wind quintet, piano / 2’ / 2022
^{peeling piano chords and important horn part, Stomping Ground commission, programmed alongside Isabella Leonarda}

LURID CUPOLA MOSS / violin, viola, cello / 10’ / 2022 / ︎
^{earthy and airy, all harmonics, Nash Ensemble commission, premiered at Wigmore Hall}

AND OTHER THINGS [version 3?] / clarinet [or violin], cello, piano /  10’ / 2022 / ︎
^{thinking about Charles Ives - the middle was written at Dartington in 2018, the movements either side materialised in June 2022}

BOWED AND BLOWED / clarinet, violin, cello / 6’ / 2022 / ︎
^{quite jaunty, lullaby in the middle, Listenpony commission, written for a trio from Explore Ensemble}

AYBROOK STREET / six sight-reading violinists of any ability / 12’ / 2017 / ︎
^{a made-to-order piece, premiered at The Ditch, Shoreditch Town Hall}

 🎺️🎺️🎺️🎻🎻🎻🎻🪕🪕🪕🪕🥁🥁🥁🥁🪈🪈 

FOUR MORRIS INTERLUDES / orchestra / 2024
^{morris dance interludes from ‘The Devil’s Den’, AMFS commission}

LADY SKIMMINGTON / orchestra / 3’30” / 2024
^{gentle rough music, written through the Panufnik scheme for the London Symphony Orchestra}

VALEDICTIONS / orchestra / 9’ / 2023 / ︎
^{phantom ventifact, impluvious psithurisms, written in Aspen}


 🛠️ 

something for orchestra

a cadenza for a mozart violin concerto

a solo cello piece

maybe some other things

upcoming:
 
03/11/24 - MONTREAL SONGS @ RUBIN MUSEUM OF ART [NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG] W/ NATHANIEL LANASA AND THEO HAYES

07/11/24 - AND OTHER THINGS (VERSION FOR PIANO TRIO) @ ST JUDES, BALHAM W/ JOSEPH HAVLAT, ALESSANDRO RUISI, PETERIS SOKOLOVSKIS

16/03/25 - NEW WORK FOR SOLO CELLO @ WIGMORE HALL W/ ADRIAN BRENDEL

︎

recent:
29/10/24 - MARS and ARIA from THE DISSOLUTE SOCIETY COMPRISED OF ALL SORTS @ UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA, MALAYSIA W/ JOSEPH HAVLAT

17/09/24 - VALEDICTIONS @ GUSTAV MAHLER HALL [TOBLACH/DOBBIACO] W/ HAYDN ORCHESTRA OF BOLZANO AND TRENTO AND FINNEGAN DOWNIE DEAR

19/07/24 - WHAT SHALL WE DO @ UDK [BERLIN]

10/07/24 - FOUR MORRIS INTERLUDES FROM ‘THE DEVIL’S DEN’ @ KLEIN MUSIC TENT [ASPEN, CO] W/ ACA AND JOHANNES BERANEK

20/06/24 - YOU’RE A PIANO QUINTET @ TRINITY W/ LILY HOPE + FRIENDS

19/06/24 - MONTREAL SONGS @ ST MARY AND ST EANSWYTHE [FOLKESTONE] W/ LOTTE BETTS-DEAN AND JOSEPH HAVLAT

15/06/24 - THE DEVIL’S DEN @ NEVILL HOLT FESTIVAL W/ SHADWELL OPERA

17/05/24 - WITH GLORY AND HIS SCISSORS GLINTING @ YOUTUBE W/ SHADWELL OPERA

04/04/24 - LADY SKIMMINGTON @ LSO ST LUKE’S W/ LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND FRANÇOIS-XAVIER ROTH

04/12/23 - WHAT SHALL WE DO @ ZIPPER HALL [LOS ANGELES, CA] W/ ELIAS PETER BROWN AND COLBURN CHAMBER PLAYERS

13/09/23 - FRIENDS @ VAN GOGH HOUSE LONDON

12/08/23 - VALEDICTIONS (FOR ORCHESTRA) [READING 2] @ BENEDICT MUSIC TENT [ASPEN, CO] W/ ACA

17/08/23 - WHAT SHALL WE DO @ HARRIS CONCERT HALL [ASPEN, CO] W/ ASPEN CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE AND TIM WEISS

15/07/23 - VALEDICTIONS (FOR ORCHESTRA) [READING 1] @ BENEDICT MUSIC TENT [ASPEN, CO] W/ ACA

02/04/23 - BOWED AND BLOWED @ BERKHAMSTED OLD TOWN HALL W/ STUART KING, CAROLINE BALDING, CLARE O’CONNELL

past:

19/12/22 - DEAD HORSES; RELEASE (200 PIECES LAUNCH) @ RAM [online]

04/12/22 - DUMFRIES AND THE EEL @ ROYAL OPERA HOUSE FOYER W/ DAN NEWELL + BILLY’S BAND [FAMILY SUNDAY EVENT]

13/11/22 -[POSTPONED] BOWED AND BLOWED @ BERKHAMSTED OLD TOWN HALL W/ STUART KING, CAROLINE BALDING, CLARE O’CONNELL

26/06/22  - FRIENDS @ VAN GOGH HOUSE LONDON

24/06/22  - STRANGE ISABELLA @ ROBINSON COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE W/ ENSEMBLE RENARD + JULIAN CHAN

21/06/22 - STRANGE ISABELLA @ RAM W/ ENSEMBLE RENARD + JULIAN CHAN  

12/06/22  - AND OTHER THINGS @ ST. STEPHEN’S DULWICH W/ TRITIUM TRIO

10/06/22  - STRING ARRANGEMENTS FOR MELTDOWN FESTIVAL @ ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL W/ CHINEKE! + GRACE JONES

18/05/22 - STRANGE ISABELLA @ PUSHKIN HOUSE W/ ENSEMBLE RENARD + JULIAN CHAN

05/05/22 - HOW TO SING AND PLAY THE HARP @ RAM W/ HÉLOÏSE WERNER + ESTHER BEYER

27/04/22 - BOWED BLOWED AND HIT @ RAM W/ TABEA DEBUS

22/03/22  - LURID CUPOLA MOSS @ WIGMORE HALL W/ NASH ENSEMBLE + RAM

03/03/22 - BOWED AND BLOWED @ LISTENPONY W/ EXPLORE ENSEMBLE

05/12/21 - ORCHESTRATIONS FOR BRIGHTON PHIL @ BRIGHTON DOME W/ JOANNA MACGREGOR, KATHRYN TICKELL AND AMY THATCHER [also this was my professional harmonium debut, in Grainger’s Green Bushes]

08/11/21 - DEAD HORSES @ RAM W/ LOTTE BETTS-DEAN

08/08/21 - THE DISSOLUTE SOCIETY COMPRISED OF ALL SORTS @ DARTINGTON FESTIVAL W/ JOSEPH HAVLAT

25/05/21 - MONTREAL SONGS @ NORFOLK & NORWICH FESTIVAL W/ JOSEPH HAVLAT AND LOTTE BETTS-DEAN

21/05/21 - SONATA @ BISHOPSGATE INSTITUTE W/ JOSEPH HAVLAT

12/09/20 - SOMETHING PRETTY @ FIDELIO CAFE W/ OLIVIA JAGEURS AND THOMAS ANG

08/08/19 - FOR PEACE AND COUNTRY [STAGED] @ TÊTE À TÊTE FESTIVAL W/ LOTTE BETTS-DEAN, ELIAS BROWN review here

02/11/18 - SONATA @ RAM W/ JOSEPH HAVLAT

02/10/18 - FOR PEACE AND COUNTRY [UNSTAGED] @ RAM W/ LOTTE BETTS-DEAN + ME CONDUCTING

24/08/18 - HOW TO DRAW @ DARTINGTON W/ HEATH QUARTET

24/08/18 - AND OTHER THINGS @DARTINGTON W/ TRITIUM TRIO

16/11/17 - FALLING UP SONGS @ RAM W/ CHRISTINE BURAS, DAVID SHAW, JAMES GILBERT, THOMAS ANG

16/06/17 - AYBROOK STREET @ THE DITCH W/ THOMAS ANG, JACK GREED, JOSEPH HAVLAT, SHIR LEVY, ROMAN LYTWYNIW, DAVID SHAW