/prod01/prodbucket01/media/durham-university/departments-/music/45088-2-2100X942.jpg)
‘Lost’ Durham piece featured on new recording of music by alumna composer
-and-contemporaries-at-Durham-in-the-early-1950s.jpg)
A recording of the chamber music of Durham alumna Ailsa Dixon (1932–2017) is to be released on 22 August 2025 on the Resonus Classics label, coinciding with the publication of her scores by Composers Edition.
Among the works featured is one Dixon wrote in Durham in 1955, at age 22, while studying in the Department of Music as a member of St Mary’s College. This piece has become known as the ‘lost’ Scherzo, since it was assumed to have disappeared until a manuscript in faded blue ink was recently rediscovered.
The recording of the piece was released in advance of the collection, on 8 August, the eighth anniversary of the composer’s death. The ‘lost’ Scherzo epitomises the story of Dixon’s rediscovery; the premiere of her anthem These Things Shall Be took place 30 years after it was written and just five weeks before she died. This has been followed numerous performances and further premieres bringing fresh attention and significant recognition.
Among recent events was a 2024 concert in Durham in which members of Durham’s Student Music performed several of Ailsa Dixon’s works at St Mary’s College, in celebration of International Women’s Day.
Read a feature in the North East Post and learn more about the new recording here.