Josephine Stephenson

Josephine’s music has been commissioned by institutions such as the BBC, Radio France, Wigmore Hall, Britten Sinfonia, Spitalfields Music, Nonclassical and Arcal, and broadcast on France Musique, BBC Radio 3 and Resonance FM. She has written for acclaimed ensembles and soloists including Aurora Orchestra, The London Sinfonietta, The Hermes Experiment, the Ensemble Miroirs Étendus, the Van Kuijk Quartet, Explore Ensemble, the Maîtrise de Radio France, tenor Allan Clayton, gambist Liam Byrne, violist Stephen Upshaw, and violinists Fiona Monbet and Eloisa-Fleur Thom among others.

Collaboration is at the centre of her practice and she has worked with theatre companies L’Éventuel Hérisson Bleu (for the 2016 devised opera Les Constellations – une théorie, produced by Miroirs Étendus and Lille Opera) and FellSwoop Theatre (Ghost Opera in 2015, supported by the Festival d’Art Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence, Aldeburgh Festival and LOD festival). She also makes music for films (including Julia Hart’s short Emma, Change the Locks, winner of ‘Best Composer’ at Underwire Festival 2015) and has worked as assistant to film composers Dario Marianelli and Benjamin Wallfisch.

She often arranges for songwriters and bands (Daughter, Night Works, Evergreen, NZCA LINES) and for projects from the Berlin-based ensemble Stargaze (David Bowie Prom 2016, concerts with Lisa Hannigan 2018-19).

Josephine studied composition with Giles Swayne while an undergraduate at Clare College, Cambridge, before completing a Masters in Composition at the Royal College of Music under Kenneth Hesketh, graduating with Distinction in 2014. She was a Britten-Pears Young Artist in 2015-16 and a London Sinfonietta ‘Writing the Future’ composer for 2017-19.

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