Violin and Piano

Sadie Harrison’s music has been performed and broadcast internationally, with works released to critical acclaim on Naxos, NMC, Cadenza, Sargasso, Toccata Classics, BML, Divine Art/Metier, and Clarinet Classics. For several years, she also pursued a secondary career as an archaeologist; reflecting this interest in the past, many of her compositions have been inspired by the traditional musics of old and extant cultures with cycles of pieces based on the folk music of Afghanistan, Lithuania, the Isle of Skye, the Northern Caucasus and the UK.

Her focus during 2015/16 was on a substantial collaborative project, Gulistan-e Nur: The Rosegarden of Light, working with American Ensemble Cuatro Puntos, with whom she is currently Composer-in-Residence, and students from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, where she is currently Composer-in-Association. The project resulted in tours in Europe and the USA and a CD with Toccata Classics released in June 2016. The 25 minute title work was broadcast complete on BBC Radio 3 in March 2017 as part of the PRSF Women Make Music 2016 celebrations.

2015 saw the release of a portrait CD by Toccata Classics and a Guest Directorship of the Irish Composition Summer School. She was also appointed as Visiting Fellow to Goldsmiths in recognition of her research work on Afghanistan. Her symphonic work Sapida-Dam-Nau, commissioned with funds from a Finzi Trust Scholarship, was premiered by the Afghanistan Women’s Orchestra at the Closing Concert of the World Economic Forum, Davos in January 2017 with subsequent performances in Geneva, Weimar and Berlin. 2016/17 saw new works for violinist Peter Sheppard Skaerved (..an amaranth from the shade..), and double bassists Frano Kakarigi (A Book of Poems) and Dan Styffe (Hällristningsområdet), the latter released on Prima Facie Records in Summer 2017. SQUISH! King Kong’s Love Song (a celebration of the deaf community in Hartford, Connecticut) was premiered by Cuatro Puntos and The Murder was commissioned by New Music South West/Royal West of England Academy. Aurea Luce (Madeleine Mitchell/Nigel Clayton) was released on Divine Art in August 2017.

Harrison was appointed as the first Composer-in-Residence at the Bei Wu Sculpture Park, Berlin in 2017 supported by an Arts Council England/British Council International Development Grant and a PRSF Composer’s Fund Grant, with works for Concerto Brandenburg premiered at the inauguration of the Park’s Indigenous Australian Sculpture Gallery in June (as part of the Australia Now! Festival 2017). A new disc of piano music performed by Ian Pace, Philippa Harrison, Renée Reznek and Duncan Honeybourne was released in November 2017 (Prima Facie).

Harrison's music is published by UYMP, ABRSM and Recital Music with works on examination board repertoire lists. She is a member of the British Music Collection’s Steering Group, the UK’s primary body for the curation and publicising of contemporary British composers and repertoire. She is also a composition mentor with the South West Music School and tutor with New Music South West.