Antoinette Kirkwood


Antoinette Kirkwood was an English composer born in London. She studied piano and composition with Dorothy Howell at the Royal Academy in London and often accompanied her mother, who was a lieder singer. For four years beginning in 1969, she was a member of the Executive Committee of the Composers’ Guild of Great Britain, now the British Association of Composers and Songwriters. Radio Éireann broadcast her Symphony, op 8, composed in 1953. This “very notable achievement” established that Kirkwood “can write a memorable tune in a definite key” that will captivate the listener
Kirkwood married writer Richard Phibbs in 1961. Caring for her mother and husband through their terminal illnesses led to a complete cessation in her composition activity between 1961 and 1979. She died on 28 January 2014, aged 84.

Works

Kirkwood composed for ballet, symphony, ensembles and for solo instruments. She composed two ballets, symphonic and orchestral works, chamber music
and instrumental works. Selected works include:
Her works have been recorded and issued on media, including: