Imogen Holst

about

Imogen Clare Holst, CBE (1907–1984) was a British composer and conductor, and sole child of composer Gustav Holst. Imogen Holst was born on 12th April 1907, brought up in west London, and educated at St Paul's Girls' School, where her father was director of music. She worked with Herbert Howells before entering the Royal College of Music in 1926 to study composition with George Dyson and Gordon Jacob, harmony and counterpoint with Ralph Vaughan Williams, and conducting with William H. Reed. She won several prizes for composition, including the Cobbett Prize for a string quartet (1928). In 1931 Holst began earning her living as a freelance musician, though her hopes of being a concert pianist were dashed by incipient phlebitis in her left arm. In April 1939 Holst went to Switzerland to study, and she returned just before the outbreak of war. She served on the Bloomsbury House Refugee Committee, working with musicians from Austria and Germany. In January 1940 she was appointed by Sir Walford Davies to be one of six musicians charged with inspiring and organising musical activities among civilians in rural areas. The scheme, originally funded by the Pilgrim Trust, was taken over by the newly formed Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, forerunner of the Arts Council of Great Britain. In July 1951 she resumed her freelance career, and in the autumn of 1952 the composer Benjamin Britten asked her to go to Aldeburgh, Suffolk, to help with his opera Gloriana. She

top songs

albums

Imogen Holst: String chamber music

Imogen Holst: Discovering Imogen

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Imogen Holst: Choral Works

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Imogen Holst: Suite for String Orchestra: IV. Jig

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harmonia mundi - autumn winter 2012

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4 Songs: No. 3, Shall I thus ever long?

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Themes & Variations

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Holst: The Collector's Edition

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Carols From King's

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The Essential Holst

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Phantasy Quartet

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All Things Are Quite Silent

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