Anna Clyne is a composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music, combining resonant soundscapes with propelling textures that weave, morph and collide in dramatic explosions. Born in London and raised in the UK, Anna Clyne’s first instrument was a piano with randomly missing keys. As she began to find her way across the keyboard, she simultaneously began to compose. At the age of eleven she wrote and performed her first fully notated piece for flute and piano. She continued to compose on and off, but it was when she moved to Edinburgh in 1998, then to Ontario in 2000 and finally to New York in 2002 that these three richly artistic environments brought her music to life. Her principal teachers include Julia Wolfe, Marina Adamia and Marjan Mozetich.

Clyne’s awards include five consecutive ASCAP Plus, awards from Meet the Composer, The American Music Center, The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and a 2006 Commission Prize from ASCAP and SEAMUS. Her work has been performed by orchestras that include the American Composers Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Manhattan School of Music’s Composers Orchestra. Her chamber works have been performed by ETHEL, Opus 21, Seattle Chamber Players, Electric Kompany, janus trio, Tactus and members of the Bang on a Can All-Stars.

The composer has provided the following:

Within Her Arms is music for my mother, with all my love.

Earth will keep you tight within her arms dear one –
So that tomorrow you will be transformed into flowers –
This flower smiling quietly in this morning field –

This morning you will weep no more dear one –
For we have gone through too deep a night.
This morning, yes, this morning, I kneel down on the green grass –
And I notice your presence.
Flowers, that speak to me in silence.

The message of love and understanding has indeed come.
— Thich Nhat Hanh