Rhian Samuel was born in Aberdare, Wales, in 1944. After graduate study at Washington University, St Louis, USA, she taught for a number of years at the the St Louis Conservatory of Music, returning to the UK in 1984 and teaching composition first at Reading University, then at City University, London, where she is now Professor Emeritus. She also taught at Magdalen College, Oxford.
Her orchestral music includes Elegy-Symphony (St Louis SO, Leonard Slatkin, 1981); La belle dame sans merci for chorus and orchestra (co-winner, ASCAP/Rudolph Nissim Award, USA, 1983) and Tirluniau/Landscapes, commissioned by the BBC for the Millennium Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. Before Dawn (Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano, National Orchestral Association, Jorge Mester, New York, 1989) became part of the orchestral song cycle The White Amaryllis (Jane Manning, BBC National Orchestra [BBCNOW] of Wales, Andrew Mogrelia, 1991). This was followed by another, Clytemnestra (1994), which features on a BIS CD (Ruby Hughes, soprano, BBCNOW, Jac van Steen) and was shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in 2020. Samuel’s vocal music also includes seven song cycles for voice and piano, premiered at venues including the Oxford Lieder Festival, Three Choirs Festival, Fishguard Festival and Ludlow English Song Weekend.