About
Born in London, Helen Caddick is a unique composer with a distinctive compositional style. Described as 'powerful, evocative, modern and original’ her innovative output displays an acute ear for orchestral colour, rhythmic impetus and detailed texture. Stretching the possibilities of live performance, she takes a host of stimuli to spark ideas.
Caddick has spoken of her approach to composition on Resonance FM, SkyArts and the Swiss Female Future podcast, had her work performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Channel 4, BBC 3’s Late Junction, across the UK and abroad. Her works are published exclusively by Composers Edition. Recordings are available on bandcamp.
Shortlisted by the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2023, Caddick has been supported by Arts Council England, PRS Foundations Women Make Music and the PRSF Open Fund, the Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation and Vaughan Williams Foundation.
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Works include Traces – tales from the Anechoic Chamber for Orchestra, Soprano and pre-recorded sound; premiered in December 2024, conducted by Chris Hopkins, with sounds gathered direct from London’s streets, Traces is inspired by the true story of an influencer who spent time in an anechoic chamber and the happenings he witnessed there. Her work moon landing, for strings, premiered in February 2024; inspired by the Navajo and Raytheon women who wove the integrated circuits and memory cores on the Apollo 11 space mission which enabled the success of the 1969 moon landing, an intergenerational female sextet premiered the work, seated in the Stamp Stairwell at London’s Somerset House beneath a 16 metre textile piece woven, by Margo Selby, in response to Helen’s score. Her piece We Are Here, commissioned by the Belgian Lilith ensemble, inspired by the brave women of Afghanistan, protesting their right to work and education, was presented at the Teatro Nacional Guatemala in July 2024 reimagined with dance choreography by Ana Sofia Villar, Director of the Ballet Moderno y Folklórico National de Guatemala. Her work Amphora for Soprano, Dancer and ensemble, performed by CantiaQuorum, was selected as a top pick favourite in The Musician; inspired by the poetry, sculptures and drawings of Dadaist Jean Arp, Amphora premiered at the Arp: Poetry of Form exhibition at Turner Contemporary, Margate in 2017 receiving a London premiere at the 2018 Tête à Tête Opera Festival. Her Opera, Sophie, for 2 singers, 2 dancers and small ensemble, is inspired by the Swiss Artist/Dancer Sophie Taeuber.