Recommended by Coldplay and the Archbishop of Canterbury, and described by Classic FM as “one of today’s most exciting young composers - a household name in years to come”, British composer Rebecca Dale made history in 2018 when she became the first female composer to sign to Universal Music’s Decca Classics label.
This was after her self-release for choir and orchestra, “I’ll Sing” reached No.1 in the iTunes Classical Singles charts; her debut album, featuring her requiem and choral symphony, then went to No.1 in the UK’s specialist Classical charts.
Rebecca’s music is broadcast regularly on classical radio and has been performed and commissioned by many ensembles, including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the London Mozart Players, the Scottish Festival Orchestra, Voces8, Sonoro, Sansara, Musica Intima, and soloists Nicola Benedetti, Mari & Hakon Samuelson, Angele Dubeau, Joby Burgess and Louise Alder. Her requiem was premiered by the Welsh National Opera’s community chorus and is performed widely around the world; she writes regularly for choirs and was 2023 composer in residence for the Opus Foundation, with a series of dedicated concerts of her work for choir and orchestra across the Netherlands culminating at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 2021 she was commissioned to write the Church of England and Classic FM’s first Christmas single, and in 2023 HRH King Charles selected her orchestral reimagining of a Scottish folk melody for the Scottish service for his coronation.
Upcoming commissions include recording with cellist Raphaela Gromez and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, and for percussionist Alexej Gerassimez at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf.
In addition to her concert work Rebecca composes and orchestrates for screen, working on projects for HBO, 20th Century Fox, Disney, Working Title, Sky and the BBC. She contributed music for BBC One’s adaption of Little Women, and has been nominated for best original music in feature film at the international Music & Sound Awards. She is a fellow of the MacDowell Colony, the Sundance Composers Lab and the ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop, and has judged for the Royal Television Society Awards and the Ivor Novellos. Her orchestral work has been recorded and conducted by her at Abbey Road, Air Studios, George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch and Fox Studios, Hollywood.
Born in London, Rebecca was composing from very young, completing her first musical aged 10 and piano concerto at 15, before studying at Oxford University (New College) and the National Film & Television School. Her writing is imbued with a love for both choral and film music.

The Philharmonia was founded in 1945 by EMI producer Walter Legge, originally as a recording orchestra for the growing home audio market. We have worked with a who’s who of 20th- and 21st-century music. Herbert von Karajan, Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Arturo Toscanini and Riccardo Muti are just a few of the great artists to be associated with the Orchestra, and we have premiered works by Richard Strauss, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Errollyn Wallen, Kaija Saariaho and many others. We have always pioneered the use of technology to reach broader audiences for orchestral music. During the Coronavirus pandemic, we continued to create outstanding performances designed to experience online. We played for lifelong fans and first-time listeners in Brazil, Sudan, Indonesia, India, and high above the Arctic Circle in Norway.

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, in the heart of London, has been our home since 1995. We also have residencies at venues and festivals across England: Bedford Corn Exchange, De Montfort Hall in Leicester, The Marlowe in Canterbury, Anvil Arts in Basingstoke, the Three Choirs Festival in the West of England, and Garsington Opera. Central to all our residencies is a Learning & Engagement programme that empowers people to engage with, and participate in, orchestral music.

The Philharmonia is a registered charity. We rely on income from a wide range of sources to deliver our programme. We are proud to be supported by Arts Council England, and grateful for the generosity of the many individuals who make up our supporter family, as well as the Trusts and Foundations who underpin our work. In the US, the Orchestra’s American Patrons generously support the Philharmonia Foundation, a US-registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation.

Described as “phenomenal” (The Times) and “devastatingly beautiful” (Gramophone Magazine), award-winning choir Tenebrae is one of the world’s leading vocal ensembles, renowned for its passion and precision. Under the direction of Nigel Short, Tenebrae performs at major festivals and venues across the globe, including the BBC Proms, Wigmore Hall, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Rheingau Musik Festival and Sydney Festival. The choir has earned international acclaim for its interpretations of choral works from the Renaissance through to contemporary masterpieces, and it regularly commissions new music. It has enjoyed collaborations with some of the UK’s leading orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra, the Academy of Ancient Music and Britten Sinfonia. Tenebrae has won two BBC Music Magazine Awards and an Edison Classical Music Award, an Opus Klassik Award, and earned a Grammy nomination for its album ‘Music of the Spheres’. The ensemble also undertakes regular session work, most recently contributing the vocals for the soundtrack to blockbuster sci-fi movie Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). Alongside its performance and recording schedule, Tenebrae runs a thriving Learning & Connection programme, through which it works with hundreds of children, young people and amateur singers each year.