Frances M Lynch Performer, Artistic Director, Composer
FRANCES HAS PURSUED AN INTERNATIONAL SOLO CAREER AT THE FOREFRONT OF CONTEMPORARY VOCAL MUSIC, specializing in Music-Theatre, Electronic Music, Opera, and Chamber Music.
AS A PERFORMER she has worked closely with composers, including: Berio, Kagel, Weir, Finnissy, Frances-Hoad, Viñao, Wimhurst & Wallen.
SHE HAS APPEARED AS A SOLOIST with Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Cryptic, Tabula Rasa, Kent Opera, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Moderne, The Lost Jockey, Communicado Theatre Company, Second Stride Dance & Extemporary Dance Theatres and Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble Lisbon.
She has collaborated on numerous projects with diverse artists including Cantata Dramatica; Keith MacIntyre, visual artist; several Indian and Chinese Ensembles; and diverse theatre and dance companies.
AN INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED PERFORMER, Frances has appeared across the globe- throughout Europe, Scandinavia, Japan, Mexico, Singapore and the USA. Venues include the Science Museum, London, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Barbican Concert Hall, ICA, Africa Centre and Saddlers Wells; Glasgow Royal Concert Hall; Naval Dockyard, Portsmouth; Gothenburg Opera; IRCAM; ZKM; De Ysbreker ; a canal barge, Holland; and Prefectural Concert Hall, Yokahama.
She has also performed in countless contemporary music festivals and events, such as Huddersfield; Cervantino, Mexico; Almeida; Alicante; Lisbon; Second Glance, London; the Mòd, Scotland; Henley; Aberdeen Festival of Enchanting Story Telling; and the Edinburgh International and Fringe Festivals.
She has broadcast internationally eg. Radio France, Swedish Radio, and Scottish TV and has worked extensively across the BBC. Her broadcasts encompass international stations, including Radio France, Swedish Radio, and Scottish TV. She has also worked extensively across the BBC; her radio credits include Radio 3, “Woman’s Hour” on Radio 4, and local radio stations; and for TV include “Blue Peter”, “Sound on Film” and many opera and dance series. She has also created and presented her own programmes for Radio Resonance and RTE.
Frances has also been involved in recordings for NMC amongst others, featuring on the covers of magazines like Classical Music and Opera Now.
FRANCES IS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF ELECTRIC VOICE THEATRE which has been active in the UK and Europe as a multi-disciplinary music-theatre ensemble of singers and designers for sound, light and stage since 1985. The company has worked with many great composers including Luciano Berio and Judith Weir. Their current projects promoting women in science and music from the UK (Minerva Scientifica) has been touring, working with schools, community choirs, orchestras and scientific institutions, creating and commissioning music, making podcasts, live zoom events and publishing research and recordings into women composers from the past.
AS A COMPOSER Frances has written a great many works for choirs, music theatre, art exhibitions, plays, instrumental ensembles and commercial recordings. These include “Stella Maris” (Phelim Roland) a large scale community play staged at The Victory in Portsmouth Harbour, with Solent People’s Theatre; “Shades of Earth” and “Colour Pulse 5” for mixed voices and electronics for Colourscape Festival, “The Emperor and the Nightingale” a children’s opera for Big Mouth Piano Tales; and Tailgneachd nam Ban Bhuidseach (The Witches’ Prophecy) for Còisir Lunnainn (The London Gaelic Choir), “Harmony Squared” to accompany THE GREAT TAPESTRY OF SCOTLAND, a commission for Barefoot Opera, and a variety of library music tracks with partner Herbie Clarke.
Some of her recent works for the electric voice theatre initiative – Minerva Scientifica – have been played on BBC Radio 3, including Superposition of State (8/1/2022 )– a collaboration with Quantum Physicist Dr. Isabelle Riou, Teledyne e2v and Virus in Molecular Mode (10/7/2021)- in collaboration with Brian Sutton, Professor of Molecular Biophysics, King’s College London, inspired by the work of Dr Rosalind Franklin on Virus Structure.
She has collaborated with visual artists creating multimedia works eg. “Miss Amy-Lloyd Folding“ with Hannah Fox released in April 2023, which was one of 2 works commissioned by the Serpell Lab (Alzheimers’ research) and the Centre for Opera and Music Theatre at the University of Sussex; and a number of works with Jack Sewell including Firmament for Soprano and Tenor Viol with words from Nature’s Pictures 1671 by Natural Philosopher MARGARET CAVENDISH which has received almost 5,000 listens on Youtube.
Touring works for live and zoom performances include “Without Fungi” an acapella work in collaboration with mycologicst Professor Lynne Boddy (July 26th 2021); “No Need To Knead” for String quartet, speaker and 2 female singers, January 2021 – a recipe for the GRANT LOAF created by Nutritionist Doris Grant (1905 – 2003) ; “Salt Tears” for Mezzo, Stones and mixed voices created with Conservation Scientists from Historic Environment Scotland; “Minerva Mathematica” for mixed voices, premiered at the Science Museum in London and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in June 2018 and “Dark Matters” for orchestra and solo voice with St Andrews astronomer Anne-Marie Weijmans! Her stage work “Scottish Superwomen of Science” won 5 star reviews at EDINBURGH FRINGE 2017.
Numerous works were recorded for the first Minerva Scientifica CD – “The Franklin Effect” and released on First Hand Records in October 2016, one of which was played on BBCRadio 3 on June 8th 2018
“…excellently performed, mind-stretching disc…all the composers have brought imagination to their works, and there are fascinating sounds aplenty…” (**** BBC Music, Jan 2017)