Errollyn Wallen CBE elected Honorary Fellow of Girton College

We are delighted to announce the election of composer and musician, Errollyn Wallen CBE, as an Honorary Fellow at Girton College, University of Cambridge. 

Errollyn is a multi-award winning composer whose work blends classical composition with contemporary musical influences. Her prolific output includes over twenty operas and an extensive catalogue of orchestral, chamber, and vocal works that have been broadcast and performed all over the world – and beyond: selected to represent the best of human musical achievement in NASA’s STS-115 mission, Errollyn’s recordings have travelled 7.84 million kilometres in space, completing 186 orbits around the Earth. 

Among the top twenty most performed living classical composers, Errollyn has been commissioned to compose music to mark some of the most important moments in contemporary UK history, including the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games 2012 and the late Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilees. 

An innovator in classical music, Errollyn notably composed the groundbreaking piece Feeling Her Way in collaboration with artists Sonia Boyce for her installation that was displayed in the British Pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale and won the Golden Lion Prize. Errollyn’s reprise of Jerusalem, commissioned for and debuted at the Last Night of the Proms 2020, provoked national discussion of the role and complicated history of nation-defining anthems including Blake’s classic. In recognition of her incredible body of work, she became the first female composer to receive an Ivor Novello Award for classical music, and in August 2024, she was appointed as the next Master of King’s Music at Kings College, Cambridge. 

The celebrations opened with an ‘in conversation’ event with the Mistress, Dr Elisabeth Kendall and continued with the official Ceremony of Admission, which featured music led by our Director of Music, Dr Martin Ennis and performed by Girton Bye-Fellow, Professor Margaret Faultless, and Girton students Chiara Falls, Myriam Lowe, Emily Clare-Hunt, Chris Brain, Immie Graham, Isabella Chan, Charlotte Howdle, and Gabriel Kennedy.

• Watch the 'In conversation' on our YouTube.
• For more event photographs visit our Flickr.

^{Updated August 2024.}