Welsh-born composer Hilary Tann lives near the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York. She is the John Howard Payne Professor of Music Emerita at Union College in Schenectady.
Her compositions have been widely performed and recorded by ensembles such as the European Women’s Orchestra, Tenebrae, Lontano, Marsyas Trio, Thai Philharmonic, Liverpool Philharmonic, and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Composer-residencies include the Eastman School of Music Women in Music Festival, Women Composers Festival of Hartford, and Welsh Music Centre. A deep interest in the traditional music of Japan has led to guest visits to Japan, Korea, China, and Thailand. She is also a published haiku poet.
Hilary's music is influenced by a strong identification with the natural world. A recent review of her string quartet, And The Snow Did Lie, describes her music as 'shimmering and weightless, effective and moving … it reinforces the grounded spiritual ecstasy that is Tann’s distinctive musical outlook'.