From her childhood in the coal-mining valleys of South Wales, Hilary Tann developed the love of nature which has inspired all her music, whether written for performance in the United States or for her first home in Wales. The influence of the Welsh landscape is evident in many chamber works and in text selections from Welsh poets R S Thomas and Menna Elfyn. She now lives in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York where she is the John Howard Payne Professor of Music at Union College, Schenectady. Hillary Tann is also deeply interested in the traditional music of Japan, has privately studied the shakuhachi and made guest visits as a composer to Japan, Korea, and China.

Hilary Tann holds degrees in composition from the University of Wales at Cardiff and from Princeton University. From 1982 to 1995, she was active in the International League of Women Composers and served in a number of Executive Committee positions. Many works are available on albums from North/South Recordings, Channel Classics, Deux Elles, and others.

from notes by Signum Classics © 2010