Dominique Le Gendre - Composer
Dominique Le Gendre Showreel
BBC Proms 2022
CBeebies Prom "Ocean Adventure"
“There was a luminous charm in
Le Gendre’s glittering scoring and musical language. ”
See details of the Theatre Production:
’Playboy of the West Indies’
Listen to some of Dominique’s works:
Songs and Dances of the Islands Suite No. 2: Biguine
Songs and Dances of the Islands Suite No. 2: You Know One Joseph Keeba
Songs and Dances of the Islands Suite No. 2: Time for Man Go Home
Composer, curator and music producer, Dominique has written music across a wide range of media: radio drama to art installations, via theatre, opera, music-theatre, chamber music, dance, film, television and sound poems.
In addition, Dominique recently made her Proms debut with the world première of ‘Dolphin Dance,’ a piece performed by The Southbank Sinfonia and Kwamé Ryan for 2022 CBeebies Prom, entitled ‘Ocean Adventure,’ which can be found here.
In July 2023, in acknowledgement of her contribution to William Shakespeare’s ongoing cultural importance, Dominique was invited along with members of acting royalty from across the land, to the celebrations hosted at Windsor Castle by King Charles II and Queen Camilla of the 400th anniversary of the publication of the first and second folios of works by William Shakespeare. The breadth and range of Dominique’s musical language can be heard in the music that she composed and produced for all 38 plays in the audio collection, The Complete Arkangel Shakespeare.
Read more in The Independent article here
Another result of this phenomenal achievement from Dominique was a commission from The Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra to re-orchestrated and extend her previous work and create a new "Suite from Richard III." This was performed at St.Martin's in the Fields and The Oxford Sheldonian.
Trained as a classical guitarist in Paris, France with Ramon de Herrera, Dominique has been actively involved in music since she was ten, accompanying choirs and composing in Trinidad where she was born. Brought up in the rich Caribbean cultural delta that moves seamlessly between the languages and musical genres of the Americas, Africa, Europe, India, and Asia, Dominique’s music integrates folk and traditional elements with classical forms infusing both with her own unique language and inventive orchestration.
She is a former Associate Artist of the Royal Opera House and Manning Camerata which commissioned her operas Bird of Night and The Burial at Thebes. Her chamber works, operas and music-theatre works have been commissioned and performed by The Royal Opera House Chamber Soloists, Philharmonia Orchestra, Tête-à-tête, Ibis Ensemble, Metamorphosis Dance, Marlon Daniel’s Ensemble Du Monde, Calabash Foundation for the Arts, Picoplat Music Development Foundation, Jože Kotar and Luca Ferrini among many others.
Dominique curated and produced concerts for Melanie Abrahams’ London Is The Place for Me festival at the Tricycle Theatre in celebration of Trinidad and Tobago’s 50th Anniversary of Independence. As Artistic Director of the charity that she co-founded, StrongBack Productions, she produced a year-long exploration of the music of Berwick-upon-Tweed encompassing music archives, traditional music and new commissions with over 200 Northumbrian musicians aged 8 to 80.
Her musical adaptation of Mustapha Matura's Playboy of the West Indies co-composed with Clement Ishmael and directed by Nick Kent, played to four star reviews as part of the Birmingham 2022 festival. Dominique is currently composing a concerto for orchestra, commissioned by the BBC Concert orchestra for performances in 2024.
Dominique’s songs, choral works and guitar duet, Tongoy Triptych will be performed in Mexico City’s Colegio Nacional in October in a concert titled Tres Compositoras: Trinidad y Tobago, Mexico y Cuba. Over two days of concerts and talks, the music of three women composers, Ana Lara-Mexico, Barbara LLanes- Cuba and Dominique Le Gendre-Trinidad and Tobago, will be performed by soloists, chamber ensembles and the Coro de Madrigalistas conducted by Music Director and curator of the programme, Carlos Aransay.
Upcoming Concerts and Recordings:
December 16th will see the world première of Dominique’s Christmas carol, Winter Song, commissioned by Vasari Singers for their winter season of performances.
Dominique is currently composing a new work for Australian piano and saxophone duo HDDUO, due to be recorded in 2024.
Her choral song for SATB choir and cuatro, Tukusi Hummingbird, commissioned by ORA Singers will be recorded in June 2024.