Professor Shirley Thompson OBE, Head of Music Research at the University of Westminster, is one of 12 composers who have been personally commissioned by His Majesty, The King to produce new classical music for the Coronation Service to be held at Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6 May 2023.
Further to the announcement from Buckingham Palace on 18 February, the newly commissioned works will showcase “musical talent from across the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth”, blending “tradition, heritage and ceremony with new musical voices… reflecting The King’s life-long love and support of music and the arts.”
Professor Thompson is among the 12 world-renowned musicians who have composed pieces especially for the ceremony, along with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Patrick Doyle, Nigel Hess and Judith Weir, Master of the King’s Music.
Thompson is a prominent composer and artistic director who has massively influenced and contributed to several spheres of music and the arts. She was named as “one of the most inspirational women of colour” by the Metro newspaper and one of her most recent achievements is that she composed and conducted the Tournament Anthem entitled Beautiful Game for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022.
In 2018, she was awarded an OBE for her services to music at Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II’s New Year Honours Awards and in 2019, Thompson was awarded a Professorship of Music at Westminster, becoming the first person of African heritage to be made a University Professor of Music in Europe.
Speaking about how it feels to have been personally commissioned by His Majesty, The King to compose a piece for the event, Professor Thompson said: “It is with the greatest honour and privilege that I am contributing to the glorious Coronation of His Majesty, King Charles III. Framed by the traditional with the modern, this divine ceremony will represent inclusivity and diversity in their varied manifestations. This auspicious event will also signify the promotion of peace, unity and understanding through the power of music and the arts from cultures across the globe, fully reflecting the vision of our prescient monarch.”
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