English composer Sally Beamish (born 1956).
Her orchestral output is considerable and includes two symphonies and a large number of concertos: besides three viola concertos she has written works for violin, cello, oboe, saxophone, trumpet, percussion, flute and accordion. Two discs of orchestral music have already been released on the BIS label. A third disc, of cello music, ‘Bridging the Day’ was released in 2001, with Robert Irvine, followed by the string quartets in 2005, with the Emperor Quartet. Beamish was one of the first artists to win a ‘Creative Scotland’ Award from the Scottish Arts Council, which enabled her to develop her oratorio for the 2001 BBC Proms (Knotgrass Elegy: librettist Donald Goodbrand Saunders).