Born in 1979, Elizabeth Winters studied viola, piano and recorder at the Royal College of Music Junior Department and then viola on the undergraduate course at the RCM. After graduating, she studied composition at Goldsmith College, where she gained her MMus in Composition with Distinction. Her principal composition teachers were Judith Bingham and Kenneth Hesketh. She has also worked with Julian Anderson, John Casken (Lake District Summer Music Composer Residency) and Colin Matthews, Michael Gandolfi and Oliver Knussen (Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme).
Her music is regularly performed throughout the UK, by performers as diverse as the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Singers, Ensemble 10/10, Rarescale, The Orlando Consort and Aurora Nova. Her works have been programmed as part of LSO Discovery, the Presteigne Festival, the Royal Opera House ‘Exposure’ Series, the Leeds International Concert Season, the European Capital of Culture Concert Series, the Aldeburgh Festival and during services at St Paul’s and St Alban’s Cathedrals. Several works have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Elizabeth won a British Composer Award (2009, Making Music Category) for her orchestral piece The Serious Side of Madness. Other competition successes include first prize in the Orion Orchestra Composer Competition and first prize in the Liverpool Capital of Culture New Composer Competition. She has also received support from The Composers’ Fund, which is a PRS for Music Foundation initiative in association with the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.