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Described as a ‘Classical Star of the Future’ in a BBC Introducing Article, Electra Perivolaris (b.1996) is a composer and pianist from Scotland of mixed British and Greek heritage. Electra has been commissioned by ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, BBC Singers, BBC Concert Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. She was selected for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Composers’ Hub, Scottish Chamber Orchestra ‘New Stories’ scheme and London Symphony Orchestra Soundhub scheme. Recent premieres include two performances in the Queen Elizabeth Hall of commissions Electra composed for the BBC Concert Orchestra, one of which was the culmination of Electra’s work with Streetwise Opera when she created an opera in collaboration with a homeless shelter for women and children in East London as part of Streetwise Opera’s Re:Sound project. Electra is a 2022-2023 Royal Philharmonic Society Composer and her new RPS Composers’ Programme commission was premiered at The Presteigne Festival in August 2023.
Following success in the BBC Young Composers Competition 2014, Electra is Ambassador for the BBC Young Composer Scheme. Electra was chosen to represent her generation of young female composers in a new commission for BBC Radio 3, as part of the ‘Seven Ages of Woman’ BBC Singers commission for International Women’s Day 2020. Last year she was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 to compose a piece for the BBC Concert Orchestra. She was profiled as ‘One to Watch in 2022’ by The Scotsman newspaper.
Electra was described by BBC Radio 3’s Verity Sharp as representing ‘a new generation of female trailblazers’, following a broadcast of Electra's music on ‘Late Junction’, and was selected by BBC Radio 3 as 'one of 11 inspiring female composers from past to present', alongside composers such as Meredith Monk. Electra's music is centred around the depiction of physical and emotional landscapes, reflecting on the natural world and our place within it and linking to her interest in folk music and the impact of music on communities. Electra’s music has been described by ‘The Scotsman’ as ‘striking and sure-handed..elusive and mercurial’. Sir James MacMillan CBE has described her as 'one of the most exciting young composers emerging in Scotland today’ and Electra’s recent commission from the Aurora Orchestra was described as ‘a beautiful musical image of Wordsworthian pantheism, created by a razor-sharp musical imagination’ by Ivan Hewett in ‘The Telegraph’.
In 2021 Electra graduated with Distinction from a Masters degree in Composition at London's Royal Academy of Music on the MMus Composition course, with further studies in piano, after being awarded an RAM Trust Scholarship, a grant from the Scottish International Education Trust and a Vaughan Williams Bursary Award from the RVW Trust. She was awarded the Diploma of the Royal Academy of Music Award in Composition for an Outstanding Final Portfolio, as well as the Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music Award. In July 2019, she graduated with Double First Class Honours from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, as a BMus Joint Honours student of Composition and Piano, winning the Patron's Fund Prize (Royal College of Music) for Composition, as well as receiving an Endorsement in Music Education with Distinction. Whilst at the RCS she won the Walter and Dinah Wolfe Composition Award and was awarded the ABRSM Macklin Bursary for Piano Performance. She was awarded both Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and Conservatoire Scholarships. Electra was awarded a 2021-2022 Royal Academy of Music Fellowship working as a composer with Open Academy, the Community and Participation department. Last year she began a Doctor of Philosophy in Composition at the University of Oxford, generously supported by Magdalen College’s Leon E and Iris L Beghian Graduate Scholarship. She won the University of Oxford Henfrey Prize for Composition earlier this year.
Electra was commissioned by BBC Radio 3, representing her generation of young female composers in the ‘Seven Ages of Woman’ project, and had her piece, ‘Eternal Waking’ performed by the BBC Singers in a Radio 3 lunchtime concert and broadcast as part of International Women’s Day on 8th March 2020. Electra was commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra to compose a piece for LSO Principal Flautist, Gareth Davies, which was premiered in the Summer 2021. Her music was performed by musicians of the London Symphony Orchestra in the LSO Soundhub Showcase concert in 2019 and was selected from an international call for scores and performed by the Hebrides Ensemble. She was also awarded the Kimie Composition Prize, resulting in a commission from Live Music Now Scotland supported by the Kimie Trust. Her music was featured in a BBC Radio 3 Live Lunchtime concert on 8th March 2018, following an open call for scores. Electra was awarded an ABRSM Macklin Bursary for her piano studies, and regularly performs her own music, both as a solo pianist and in ensembles with other musicians. In 2020 she composed a piece for sitar player, Jasdeep Singh Degun, after being selected for Psappha Ensemble’s ‘Composing for’ scheme for emerging composers. Recent commissions have included a new vocal work for The Marian Consort which will be released on their album ‘A Winged Woman’ in Autumn 2023, and a London Sinfonietta/Live Music Now/Theatre of Sound commission where Electra worked with families living with dementia to create a new opera which told their stories, exploring music and memory. It was performed in November 2022 at London’s Stone Nest Theatre and was featured on BBC Radio 3’s ‘Music Matters’. This year she was commissioned by The Glasgow Barons to compose a new concerto for soprano saxophone and orchestra which was premiered in August 2023.
Electra first heard her music performed live at the age of 16 when her piece, ‘Obon Lantern Festival’, was selected by Judith Weir CBE to be performed and workshopped by the BBC Singers in the BBC Proms 2013. Electra then went on to have success in the BBC Young Composers’ Competition 2014 and her piece, ‘Furu Ike Ya?’, for timpani and electronics, was performed at the BBC Proms and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. She has performed original compositions twice on BBC Radio 3‘s In Tune, including in a live broadcast from the Royal Festival Hall in 2017.
Electra has worked as Ambassador for the BBC Young Composer scheme and enjoys working with children and young people to inspire them with the creative possibilities of music. She has worked on multiple education projects, helping to lead and motivate large groups of children to compose and perform music. She has twice worked alongside musicians from the BBC Symphony Orchestra at their ‘Total Immersion’ weekends, helping to deliver workshops for over 50 children from a diverse range of backgrounds to create pieces of music which were performed at the Barbican centre. She is committed to community music projects and to working with diverse groups of society to increase access to music for more people, not just as audience members but also as active participants in the creative process. She trained with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra as part of their Connect programme, developing skills as an animateur and delivering creative music workshops across primary and secondary schools in Glasgow and has been trained with the charity, musicALL, at Hazelwood school in Glasgow, delivering inclusive music classes for children with complex disabilities and sensory impairments. She holds an Endorsement in Music Education with Distinction from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, following a year of placements leading creative music workshops in primary schools. Electra has been involved as a composer in Wigmore Hall Learning projects centred around the links between music and wellbeing for those living with dementia, as well as with Glyndebourne Opera as part of their ‘Raise Your Voice’ project for people living with dementia. Last year she worked with the City of London Sinfonia on their ‘Sound Young Minds’ project, delivering creative music and composition based workshops for young people in psychiatric units at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospitals.
Following success in the BBC Young Composers Competition 2014, Electra is Ambassador for the BBC Young Composer Scheme. Electra was chosen to represent her generation of young female composers in a new commission for BBC Radio 3, as part of the ‘Seven Ages of Woman’ BBC Singers commission for International Women’s Day 2020. Last year she was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 to compose a piece for the BBC Concert Orchestra. She was profiled as ‘One to Watch in 2022’ by The Scotsman newspaper.
Electra was described by BBC Radio 3’s Verity Sharp as representing ‘a new generation of female trailblazers’, following a broadcast of Electra's music on ‘Late Junction’, and was selected by BBC Radio 3 as 'one of 11 inspiring female composers from past to present', alongside composers such as Meredith Monk. Electra's music is centred around the depiction of physical and emotional landscapes, reflecting on the natural world and our place within it and linking to her interest in folk music and the impact of music on communities. Electra’s music has been described by ‘The Scotsman’ as ‘striking and sure-handed..elusive and mercurial’. Sir James MacMillan CBE has described her as 'one of the most exciting young composers emerging in Scotland today’ and Electra’s recent commission from the Aurora Orchestra was described as ‘a beautiful musical image of Wordsworthian pantheism, created by a razor-sharp musical imagination’ by Ivan Hewett in ‘The Telegraph’.
In 2021 Electra graduated with Distinction from a Masters degree in Composition at London's Royal Academy of Music on the MMus Composition course, with further studies in piano, after being awarded an RAM Trust Scholarship, a grant from the Scottish International Education Trust and a Vaughan Williams Bursary Award from the RVW Trust. She was awarded the Diploma of the Royal Academy of Music Award in Composition for an Outstanding Final Portfolio, as well as the Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music Award. In July 2019, she graduated with Double First Class Honours from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, as a BMus Joint Honours student of Composition and Piano, winning the Patron's Fund Prize (Royal College of Music) for Composition, as well as receiving an Endorsement in Music Education with Distinction. Whilst at the RCS she won the Walter and Dinah Wolfe Composition Award and was awarded the ABRSM Macklin Bursary for Piano Performance. She was awarded both Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and Conservatoire Scholarships. Electra was awarded a 2021-2022 Royal Academy of Music Fellowship working as a composer with Open Academy, the Community and Participation department. Last year she began a Doctor of Philosophy in Composition at the University of Oxford, generously supported by Magdalen College’s Leon E and Iris L Beghian Graduate Scholarship. She won the University of Oxford Henfrey Prize for Composition earlier this year.
Electra was commissioned by BBC Radio 3, representing her generation of young female composers in the ‘Seven Ages of Woman’ project, and had her piece, ‘Eternal Waking’ performed by the BBC Singers in a Radio 3 lunchtime concert and broadcast as part of International Women’s Day on 8th March 2020. Electra was commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra to compose a piece for LSO Principal Flautist, Gareth Davies, which was premiered in the Summer 2021. Her music was performed by musicians of the London Symphony Orchestra in the LSO Soundhub Showcase concert in 2019 and was selected from an international call for scores and performed by the Hebrides Ensemble. She was also awarded the Kimie Composition Prize, resulting in a commission from Live Music Now Scotland supported by the Kimie Trust. Her music was featured in a BBC Radio 3 Live Lunchtime concert on 8th March 2018, following an open call for scores. Electra was awarded an ABRSM Macklin Bursary for her piano studies, and regularly performs her own music, both as a solo pianist and in ensembles with other musicians. In 2020 she composed a piece for sitar player, Jasdeep Singh Degun, after being selected for Psappha Ensemble’s ‘Composing for’ scheme for emerging composers. Recent commissions have included a new vocal work for The Marian Consort which will be released on their album ‘A Winged Woman’ in Autumn 2023, and a London Sinfonietta/Live Music Now/Theatre of Sound commission where Electra worked with families living with dementia to create a new opera which told their stories, exploring music and memory. It was performed in November 2022 at London’s Stone Nest Theatre and was featured on BBC Radio 3’s ‘Music Matters’. This year she was commissioned by The Glasgow Barons to compose a new concerto for soprano saxophone and orchestra which was premiered in August 2023.
Electra first heard her music performed live at the age of 16 when her piece, ‘Obon Lantern Festival’, was selected by Judith Weir CBE to be performed and workshopped by the BBC Singers in the BBC Proms 2013. Electra then went on to have success in the BBC Young Composers’ Competition 2014 and her piece, ‘Furu Ike Ya?’, for timpani and electronics, was performed at the BBC Proms and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. She has performed original compositions twice on BBC Radio 3‘s In Tune, including in a live broadcast from the Royal Festival Hall in 2017.
Electra has worked as Ambassador for the BBC Young Composer scheme and enjoys working with children and young people to inspire them with the creative possibilities of music. She has worked on multiple education projects, helping to lead and motivate large groups of children to compose and perform music. She has twice worked alongside musicians from the BBC Symphony Orchestra at their ‘Total Immersion’ weekends, helping to deliver workshops for over 50 children from a diverse range of backgrounds to create pieces of music which were performed at the Barbican centre. She is committed to community music projects and to working with diverse groups of society to increase access to music for more people, not just as audience members but also as active participants in the creative process. She trained with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra as part of their Connect programme, developing skills as an animateur and delivering creative music workshops across primary and secondary schools in Glasgow and has been trained with the charity, musicALL, at Hazelwood school in Glasgow, delivering inclusive music classes for children with complex disabilities and sensory impairments. She holds an Endorsement in Music Education with Distinction from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, following a year of placements leading creative music workshops in primary schools. Electra has been involved as a composer in Wigmore Hall Learning projects centred around the links between music and wellbeing for those living with dementia, as well as with Glyndebourne Opera as part of their ‘Raise Your Voice’ project for people living with dementia. Last year she worked with the City of London Sinfonia on their ‘Sound Young Minds’ project, delivering creative music and composition based workshops for young people in psychiatric units at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospitals.
