Cecilia McDowall

With a newly written text by Angier Brock, this compelling anthem by Cecilia McDowall is a welcome addition to the traditional Easter repertoire. Easter Light explores a variety of styles and colours,...

Inspired by A. E. Borthwick's painting of the same title, The Presence sets lines from Psalms 18, 27, 36, 112, and 119 mainly concerned with light. While suitable for services and concerts throughout...

This Advent carol is based on words from John Donne's Holy Sonnets. McDowall creates a captivating atmosphere as the voices explore a mystical soundworld. The sensitive part-writing and accessible voc...

This anthem sets biblical words that explore love and kindness. The opening section creates a mood of hopefulness, and the central section is built around the words 'Be kind, tender-hearted, one to an...

An atmospheric setting of Caliban's dream from The Tempest, this piece transports the listener to a dream-like place. McDowall's immersive harmonies and ornamentation perfectly characterise the reveri...

This is an evocative setting of a powerful text by Seán Street describing the call for assistance made by the occupied Channel Islands in 1944 and the response of the Red Cross ship, the Vega, which c...

Composed for International Women's Day, this mesmerising piece celebrates the centennary of Rosalind Franklin and sets her own words with additional text by the poet Seán Street. McDowall's tribute to...

This uplifting anthem sets the Invocation text from Carmina Gadelica. McDowall's beautiful melodies flow and intertwine, decorated by scotch snaps that reflect the text's origin. Suitable for services...

This uplifting anthem sets the Invocation text from Carmina Gadelica. McDowall's beautiful melodies flow and intertwine, decorated by scotch snaps that reflect the text's origin. Suitable for services...

Composed for International Women's Day, this mesmerizing piece celebrates the centennary of Rosalind Franklin and sets her own words with additional text by the poet Seán Street. . . .

Commissioned by Sonoro for the second instalment of their Choral Inspirations project, McDowall has composed Crucifixus Reimagined as a response to Lotti's Crucifixus from Credo in F. Use of suspensio...

Commissioned by King's College, Cambridge, for the 2021 Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, Cecilia McDowall's setting of this well-known fifteenth-century macaronic text is expressive and ethereal....

Characteristically sung on Christmas Day, this Catholic chant depicts mystery and wonder at the birth of Jesus, as witnessed by the animals. The second half of the text relates to words spoken by Eliz...

The O nata lux text is taken from a 10th-century anonymous hymn that uses the concept of light to symbolise hope, a particularly pertinent theme for Advent. Throughout this setting the sopranos intert...

On the Air (Dear Vaccine) discusses the optimism for a post-COVID world and, particularly, the desire to sing together again. For the text, poet Seán Street drew inspiration from 'Dear Vaccine', which...

A Gaelic Blessing was commissioned by the University of Edinburgh, McDowall's alma mater, for performance by the Edinburgh University Singers conducted by Calum Robertson. This meditative, folk-style...

McDowall brings to life a mystical, brooding nativity text by Nicholas Dakin with dramatic octatonic melodies and parallel movement in fourths and fifths. The propulsive 6/8 metre is decorated with du...

McDowall brings to life a mystical, brooding nativity text by Nicholas Dakin with dramatic octatonic melodies and parallel movement in fourths and fifths. The propulsive 6/8 metre is decorated with du...

Written in an a cappella style with scat accompaniment, "A Tree is a Song" is a joyful celebration of the connections and affinity found in nature and how wisdom and knowledge can be passed on 'as a m...

This glorious, heartfelt, and at times agonizing work sets a prescient text by Nicholas Andreas Vrenios, a victim of the Lockerbie bombing in 1988. McDowall employs vocal embellishments, harmonic diss...

This glorious, heartfelt, and at times agonizing work sets a prescient text by Nicholas Andreas Vrenios, a victim of the Lockerbie bombing in 1988. McDowall creates a haunting sound-world through voca...

Setting a collect from the Book of Common Prayer, this introit plays on McDowall's characteristic use of dissonance and modal inflections to create a hypnotic and slightly unsettled soundworld that re...

Setting a collect from the Book of Common Prayer, this introit plays on McDowall's characteristic use of dissonance and modal inflections to create a hypnotic and slightly unsettled soundworld that re...

McDowall's poignant Angel of the Battlefield, originally commissioned by the Glasgow School of Art Choir as part of the Composeher project, is both an exposition on the horrors of war and a celebratio...

McDowall's moving and poignant setting of this three-movement work is both an exposition on the horrors of war and a celebration of healers. Inspired by renowned nurse Clara Barton, the text is drawn...