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

Recent highlights 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 an immersive operatic vignette about getting a haircut [Shadwell Opera commission].

Between 2015 and 2022, she studied at the Royal Academy of Music, with Edmund Finnis, Christopher Austin and Morgan Hayes, graduating with a Bicentenary Prize for all-round excellence and the Musicians’ Company Priaulx Rainier Prize. 

Outside of these particular realms, Isabella works as a project leader for Lights Camera Score, generating film scores with school children, and occasionally as an orchestrator/arranger.

She is currently working on a piano quintet for the Maconchy Quartet as part of RETAKE concert series, and a piece for the LSO as a participant of the 2023/2024 Panufnik scheme.