Guirne Creith

I must confess that until I got the notice about the performance of her violin concerto on July 4th, I'd never heard of Guirne Creith. She was a composer born in 1907, the same year as Elizabeth Maconchy and Imogen Holst. Talented and moderately prolific between the wars, her career as a pianist stopped in 1952 with a bad accident to her hand. She seems to have become indifferent to the fate of her works and did not keep scores. The manuscript of the violin concerto only came to light after her death in 1996. It has been recorded on the Dutton Label and is being performed on July 4th at St. James's Church, Wilton Place, London SW1X 8SH by violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen with the West London Sinfonia conducted by Philip Hesketh. The concert also includes music by Berlioz and Vaughan Williams.