Cecilia McDowall (born 1951 in London, England) is a British composer, particularly known for her choral compositions.^[1]

McDowall attended Grey Coat Hospital School and read music at the University of Edinburgh, continuing her studies at Trinity College of Music, London and later completing an MMus in composition. She studied with Joseph Horovitz, Robert Saxton and Adam Gorb. She has won many awards and has been short-listed seven times for the British Composer Awards.^[2] In 2014 she won the British Composer Award for her choral piece Night Flight.^[3]

In 2010, Oxford University Press signed McDowall as an 'Oxford' composer. Since 2015, she has been Visiting Composer in Dulwich College, London.^[4] In 2015, she served on the panel for a Women Composers Competition of The Arcadian Singers of Oxford.^[5]

McDowall's music has been commissioned and performed by both professional and amateur choirs. A commission from the Portsmouth Festival Choir,^[6] The Shipping Forecast, gained her national media attention in June 2011.^[7] The work reflects the mystery and force of the sea, drawing together the poetry of Seán Street, the psalm 'They that go down to the sea in ships', and the words of the Shipping Forecast itself.

Her choral works often take their inspiration from extra-musical influences.^[8] The large scale Da Vinci Requiem was written to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death. It was premiered by the Wimbledon Choral Society and the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall on 7 May 2019. The five-movement cantata Everyday Wonders: The Girl from Aleppo (2018), was based on Nujeen Mustafa's biography, retold by Kevin Crossley-Holland. Night Flight was composed in 2013 to commemorate the pioneering flight of American aviator Harriet Quimby across the English Channel. Its first performance was given by the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge at the Fringe in the Fen Festival on 6 July 2013. Another cantata, 70 Degrees Below Zero, was commissioned by the Scott Polar Research Institute and the City of London Sinfonia as part of the Scott 100 Festival of Events in 2012, and premiered at Symphony Hall, Birmingham on 3 February 2012.^[9]

Other choral pieces include When time is broke (Three Shakespeare Songs), written for the BBC Singers in 2016, Adoro te devote for the Westminster Cathedral Choir in 2015, and another large scale work, the Stabat Mater, for St Albans Choral Society in 2004.^[10] Also from that year, the Three Latin Motets were commissioned by the City of Canterbury Chamber Choir in 2004, and have since been recorded by the American choir Phoenix Chorale.

Although choral music dominates her output, McDowall has also composed four stage works (including the chamber opera Airbourne, 2014), orchestral music (such as Great Hills for solo violin, 2 flutes and strings, 2007, and Dance the Dark Streets, a concerto grosso with piano obbligato, 2005), and a considerable body of chamber and instrumental music (including Dream City for flute, clarinet, harp and string quartet, 2002^[11] and the String Quartet No 1, subtitled the case of the unanswered wire, from 2004.^[12] The impressionistic Y Deryn Pur ('The Gentle Dove') was written for the 2007 Presteigne Festival and scored for oboe, violin, viola and cello.^[13]

Notable recordings of McDowall's music include:

• Rise heart; thy Lord is risen, All shall be Amen (2023), Caritas Chamber Choir, Ulysses Arts UA230120
• Da Vinci Requiem, 70 Degrees Below Zero (2023), Wimbledon Choral Society, Signum SIGCD749
• Sacred Choral Music (2021), Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, Hyperion CDA68251
• Works for Organ (2021), William Fox (organ), Lucy Humphris (trumpet), Naxos 8.579077
• A Time for All Seasons (2019), Bristol Choral Society, Delphian DCD 34242
• Laudate (2009) CCCC, George Vass, Dutton Epoch CDLX 7230
• Spotless Rose (2008), Phoenix Chorale, Charles Bruffy, Chandos CHSA 5066
• Stabat Mater (2007), CCCC, Joyful Company of Singers, CDLX 7197
• Proclamation , International Celebrity Trumpet Ensemble, Brass Classics
• Seraphim (2005), Orchestra Nova, George Vass, Dutton Epoch CDLX 7159
• Ave maris stella (2004), CCCC, George Vass, Dutton Epoch CDLX 7146
• Piper's Dream (2002), Emma Williams, Richard Shaw, Ensemble Lumière, DXL 1033
• Cecilia McDowall: Sacred Choral Music (2021), Stephen Layton, Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, Hyperion CDA68251
• British Chamber Music, SOMM CD 0653 (2022) (includes Y Deryn Pur)