Dani Howard is a British composer and orchestrator who is quickly gaining international recognition with regular performances across Europe, the US and Asia. Described as having a “luminous and effervescent sound world” (Gramophone), Howard’s work has been commissioned and performed by orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Gävle Symphony Orchestra, and Kuopio Symphony. Conductors have included Vasily Petrenko, Dalia Stasevska, Kazuki Yamada, Martyn Brabbins, Elim Chan, and Chloé Van Soeterstède. In 2022, she won a Royal Philharmonic Society Award for her Trombone Concerto which was dubbed “an instant classic" (The Times). The piece was further nominated for a 2022 South Bank Sky Arts Awards.
The 2024/25 season brings commissions including a Saxophone Concerto for Jess Gillam commissioned by Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; a solo percussion work for Colin Currie at Wigmore Hall; a Clarinet Quartet Concerto for the German Clarinets and Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz; and a new work for trumpeter Matilda Lloyd, forming part of her ECHO Rising Star tour. A new work for the Leonore Trio will also feature at Presteigne Festival and Music in the Round.
In 2024, Howard was appointed Resident Artist with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain; through the residency she was commissioned to write two new works for NYO, including a large-scale orchestral work at the BBC Proms for over 260 musicians, which was broadcast on BBC Four. 2024 also saw the release of Howard’s debut album of orchestral works on Rubicon Classics, featuring Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and trombonist Peter Moore, conducted by Pablo Urbina and Michael Seal. Financial Times commented that “a brilliant command of the orchestra […] shows why Howard has become one of the most sought-after British composers of the younger generation.” Other 2023/24 highlights include a Percussion Concerto for Dame Evelyn Glennie and BBC National Orchestra of Wales, alongside commissions from Grimethorpe Colliery Band, saxophonist Jonathan Radford and guitarist Jack Hancher.
August 2023 saw the premiere of Howard’s chamber opera The Yellow Wallpaper at Copenhagen Opera Festival, with the UK premiere taking place the following month at Sadler’s Wells. The production was Howard’s second collaboration with commissioners The Opera Story; her debut opera ROBIN HOOD (2019) premiered to critical acclaim, described as “a sophisticated and incredibly beautiful piece that surely places Howard amongst the best of contemporary British opera composers” (Bachtrack).
An early success for Howard came with Argentum (2017), commissioned by Classic FM to celebrate their 25th anniversary, and co-commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society. Argentum has since received over thirty performances worldwide, including with BBC Symphony, Philharmonic, and Concert orchestras, and at the BBC Proms with Southbank Sinfonia. Following the premiere of Howard’s Trombone Concerto (2021) with Peter Moore and RLPO conducted by Domingo Hindoyan, the work has since received performances from London Symphony Orchestra, Gävle Symfoniorkester and The Orchestra NOW among others. Other orchestral works have included The Butterfly Effect (2023), commissioned for City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s centenary celebrations; Ellipsis (2022), commissioned by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in celebration of its 75th anniversary; Coalescence (2019) for RLPO; and Gates of Spring (2019) with London Symphony Orchestra and Elim Chan. In the 2022/23 season, Howard took up the post of Composer-in-Residence with London Chamber Orchestra.
In 2020, Howard was commissioned by the Antoni Gaudí building Casa Batlló in Barcelona to write music inspired by the building, which saw her record with members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony and Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Howard was born and raised in Hong Kong. She graduated with first class honours from the Royal College of Music as a Rose Williams Scholar, studying under Jonathan Cole.