Roxanna's publishers say: "Edition Peters composer Roxanna Panufnik has been awarded an OBE in The King’s Birthday Honours List in recognition of her outstanding services to music and charity. Widely celebrated for her distinctive body of work spanning orchestral, choral and operatic compositions, she has built an international reputation for creating music that brings together cultures, faiths and communities.
Panufnik was commissioned by The King to compose a Sanctus for choir and organ for the Coronation in 2023, later orchestrated and performed at the BBC Proms. Alongside her artistic achievements, she has shown a longstanding commitment to charitable causes and outreach initiatives. The honour recognises both her contribution to contemporary music and public service."
June will see the world premieres of two new concertos. Lunar Solar, a double concerto for oboe and cor anglais with harp, percussion and strings will be premiered in Liverpool and Warsaw by co-commissioners the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Sinfonia Varsovia. Orfeus: to Hell and Back for 'cello and orchestra will be premiered in London by the Orpheus Sinfonia. See Performances page for our amazing soloists and conductors and dates and venues! Roxanna is currently composing a Concerto for Orchestra for Marin Alsop and three international co-commissioners - more soon...
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra have announced the world premiere of Roxanna Panufnik and Jessica Duchen's Aurora, a multi-faith choral-orchestral celebration of light, on 7th December 2025, at Birmingham's Symphony Hall. 300 singers of the CBSO's Adult, Youth and Children's Choruses will perform in a concert hosted by presenter Satnam Rana, alongside other premieres by Joan Armatrading and Cassis Kinoshi. On 11th June 2026, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra will premiere Roxanna's double concerto (title TBC!) for oboe (Helena Mackie) and cor anglais (Drake Gritton), conducted by Domingo Hindoyan. More details on Roxanna's Performances page.
The first three months include premieres in Montpellier, Oregon, Vienna, Manilla, Chicago and London (see Performances page for details) whilst Roxanna works on a big multi-faith choral-orchestral piece and the remaining movements of an organ mass. A very Happy New Year to you all!
Roxanna has been awarded the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Works Collection. The Ivors Academy said: "The Ivors Academy is proud to announce Roxanna Panufnik as recipient of this year’s Outstanding Works Collection Award. Roxanna Panufnik will receive her first Ivor Novello Award tonight in recognition of her consistently exceptional body of work. The Ivors Academy celebrates Roxanna's many achievements across choral, opera and instrumental compositions, highlighting her ability to bridge diverse faiths and cultures through music."
Roxanna Panufnik’s arrangement of the gorgeous Maronite Syriac Christmas hymn 'Glory be to the Word' is being sent to choir directors all over the world. They will donate £3 for every copy they print, if they perform it. (Email fundraiser@roxannapanufnik.com for a perusal score ) Money raised will go to support Three Peas, a fabulous charity helping refugees (including many from the Middle East) stranded in camps on Greek Islands. World-renowned illustrator Axel Scheffler, 'The Gruffalo', 'The Snail and the Whale', has drawn the stunning illustration to go alongside the Carol. You have the chance to bid on this wonderful original picture here until 10th December 2024 at 8pm British time. Proceeds will go towards supporting Three Peas' work. Please consider donating here - thank you so much!
- commissioned by the Liberal Jewish Synagogue Yom Kippur service
- in Hebrew with translation and transliteration
- world premiere 05.10.22 Liberal Jewish Synagogue Choir, LJS, London
- Has also been performed at a Cathedral Evensong on Holocaust Memorial Day
- Commission sponsored by Merula Frankel, dedicated in loving memory of her husband Richard and granddaughter Tugela, who were tragically lost in a car accident. Merula asked me to reflect Richard’s sense of positivity and Tugela’s childish sense of fun in the music and this is reflected in the higher, lighter central section. The music ends, returning to a mirror image of the opening as man is reverted to dust, ending in bittersweet harmony.
- buy here
- approx. 5 mins
On 26th September, the London Mozart Players will perform Four World Seasons at St Martin-in-the-Fields with Ruth Rogers as soloist and accompanied by stunning visual projections! Tickets here.
Palestinian Amwaj Choir, who took part digitally in Garsington Opera's production of Dalia, commissioned a 'Dalia Suite' which they have toured to cheering crowds, around France. Stunningly staged by Marina Meinero and brilliantly conducted by Mathilde Vittu, the youngsters had audiences in tears with emotion and joy. The Palestinian premiere will take place this coming Summer. Meanwhile, watch 'Creating Dalia' here.
15th February sees the long-awaited (thanks to the pandemic) UK premiere of 'Alma's Songs without Words' - Roxanna's orchestrations of Alma Mahler's beautiful songs, commissioned by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with conductor Valentina Peleggi. First night will be at Glasgow's City Halls: Grand Hall and on the 16th at Inverness's Eden Court Theatre. Then Palestine's wonderful Amwaj Choir are touring 'Dalia Suite' around France - a sneak preview of excerpts at Brussels' Notre Dame de Victoires au Sablon on 22nd February, world premiere of the full Suite at Saint-Omer's (France) Theatre La Barcarolle then on to Institut de Monde Arabe, Paris.
Catch up with Roxanna's two BBC Proms appearances, this Summer - 'Mindful Mix' with VOCES8 & the Carducci Quartet premiered Floral Tribute, co-commissioned by VOCES8 & the BBC Proms, a setting of poet laureate Simon Armitage's beautiful tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth. Watch here (at 1:02:31) or listen here (55:57). The re-live the Coronation with a new orchestration of Coronation Sanctus receiving its world premiere at the Last Night of the Proms. Watch here (41:14) or listen here (39:00).
After a fabulous premiere of Coronation Sanctus , Roxanna is revving up for a packed Summer. On 21st July she will make her debut with Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus in her 2-conductor piece 'Across the Line of Dreams' at Ravinia Festival, with Marin Alsop & Valentina Peleggi. Next premiere will be 'Jesu, my Delighting' for Berlin's Bundesjugenchor + Baroque 'cello and continuo organ, in Ansbach Germany 3rd August. Then her joint BBC Proms & VOCES8 commission 'Floral Tribute' at the Royal Albert Hall on 9th August. 25th - 29th August, Roxanna will be featured composer at Presteigne Festival where 5 of her works will be performed, including the world premiere of song cycle 'Gallery of Memories' (sung by Zoe Drummond and accompanied by Chris Hopkins) will take place, on the 26th. (More details on Roxanna's Performances page)
Roxanna is thrilled and deeply honoured to be commissioned by King Charles III to write some music for his coronation at Westminster Abbey on 6th May, this year. More details to follow...
Roxanna has arranged an achingly beautiful Ukrainian lullaby-style carol 'Sleep, Jesus, Sleep' (Spy, Isuse, Spy), in aid of refugees of all nationalities. The single with Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir, Ukrainian soprano Inna Husieva and Afghan Tabla player Sulaiman Haqpana (because since Putin announced his "special military operation" in Ukraine, the many thousands of still homeless Afghan refugees the UK airlifted out of Kabul last year have been all but forgotten) has been released on Signum Classics https://lnk.to/SleepJesusSleep with all funds going to the Refugee Council. Roxanna also sent the sheet music to every choral director she knew (and some she didn't!) with an 'honesty box' policy - asking them to donate £3 to https://www.gofundme.com/manage/refugee-fundraising-carol for every copy they printed out. As a result there are 50 live performances this Christmas and Epiphany in cathedrals, churches, concert halls and schools all over the UK, Belfast and Philadelphia (see Performances page for details) and over £4,800 raised for this very special cause. Christmas Spirit is well and truly alive!
Commissioned and premiered by Garsington Opera on 28th, 30th & 31st July 2022, 'Dalia' told the story of a Syrian refugee girl, in her early teens, fostered in the UK. Dalia struggles with this new very alien culture and xenophobic, nosy neighbours but finds hope, joy and acceptance through becoming a national youth cricket champion. Performed to a packed house every night, The Telegraph and The Observer both gave the opera four stars, describing it as ".. an excellent season-closer features a richly textured score and life-changing debuts." and "Garsington's refugee community opera bowls everyone over. ...sharp, embracing and affecting", respectively.
Over the next three months, premieres abound - new choral works for Twickenham Choral's centenary celebrations, Southwell Minster's adoration of their stunning architectural leaves, Bath Abbey girl chorister's 25th anniversary and a cheeky reworking of Sir Andrzej Panufnik's Five Polish Folksongs for City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and their associated youth and children's choirs. Then follows a new piano work 'Babylonia' commissioned and performed by Margaret Fingerhut at Ryedale Festival and last, but so definitely not least, 'Dalia' a new opera for Garsington Opera Festival. Check out my Performance page for further details!
Catch Roxanna speaking LIVE online with Jessica Duchen Tuesday 2nd March about her approach to spiritual music, hosted by University of Edinburgh's School of Divinity. Click here for tickets/access!
Oboist Chris O'Neal and the London Mozart Players will open Wimbledon Choral Society's concert at London's Cadogan Hall with Roxanna's Letters from Burma on 27th November, 2021. Click here for tickets!
WHAT DO YOU GET if you mix a European brown bear's heartbeat, a string quartet and a highly emotional composer? Why, Lament for a Bulgarian Dancing Bear which is the track seeming to attract the most attention, so far, from Roxanna's latest Signum Classics release Heartfelt! The Sacconi Quartet are joined by a star-studded cast of the UK's finest soloists in a new CD of Roxanna's chamber music available here. Watch a beautiful short film made by Joe Morgan about the title tracks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ4Yr0jGG4o&t=66s