Diana Burrell was born in Norwich and studied music at the University of Cambridge.
After several years working as a freelance viola player, composition took over. She has written over 100 pieces spanning various genres and is as happy writing a miniature such as Quest, composed for the Royal Academy of Music's 200 PIECES project and premiered by Guylaine Eckersley in 2020, as she is when using large-scale forces as in her Concerto for Brass and Orchestra (a BBCSO commission in 2016) - and everything in between!
Her links with the Royal Academy of Music go back to 2007, when she was awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council fellowship to compose a series of pieces for organ with a variety of small ensembles. This became The Hours - eight pieces based on the Church's ancient monastic office which received its premiere by Academy students on October 2011 at St Marylebone Parish Church. Despite her background as a string player, Diana has a special love of woodwind instruments - in particular, perhaps, the bassoon.