ELECTRA PERIVOLARIS
COMPOSER
Described as a 'Classical Star of the Future' by BBC Introducing, Electra Perivolaris is a composer and pianist, from Scotland. Her music has been performed across the UK and internationally by ensembles including the BBC Singers, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra.
Upcoming Concerts
The Telegraph
Review
Critic: Ivan Hewett
'Sandwiched between these two masterworks [Mozart's Piano Concerto No.25 and Schubert's Trout Quintet] was a new piece which certainly held its own in their august company, despite being only 10 minutes long. The piece itself, composed specially for the five principal string players of Aurora by young Scottish composer Electra Perivolaris was beautifully clear. It caught the complicated feelings of delight and fascination she felt on seeing two skylarks wheeling in the Scottish Highlands. The ecstatic cries of the two violins suggested the two birds were actually possessed by a single spirit, and the thrilling shudders and opalescent harmonies in the lower strings beautifully caught that same unseen spirit coursing through the mountains and streams and scudding clouds. It was a beautiful musical image of Wordsworthian pantheism, created by a razor-sharp musical imagination.'
The Scotsman
Review
Critic: David Kettle
'Most impressive were pairs of miniatures by Electra Perivolaris [...], both quiet and focused, deeply lyrical, emotionally resonant, and with exquisitely fresh perspectives on orchestral colour.'
Musical Opinion
Review
Critic: Paul Conway
'There followed the premiere of Mastiha, for string orchestra by Electra Perivolaris, a joint Royal Philharmonic Society and Presteigne Festival commission. Inspired by the various stages in the growth of the mastic tree, which yields a resin used in medicine, foodstuffs and pharmacy, the piece had a supple, organic quality. A liberal use of glissandos in each section created the stirring feeling of being in state of constant flux and evolution and the sharply-etched motif with which the work ended, given out by first violins and echoed by solo violin, seemed like the thematic goal toward which the rest of the score had been striving and evolving. Inventively written and intriguingly structured, Mastiha served notice of a fresh, original and questing musical voice.'
The Guardian
Review
Critic: Andrew Clements
'Electra Perivolaris’s Brushstrokes of Nightmares and Dreams [...], a sequence of instrumental movements and vocal interludes inspired by four of Matheson’s paintings [...], are fluently written and well stocked with telling musical imagery.'
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Photo by Indre Hilara Bylaite