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Francesca Le Lohé (she/her) is a composer and community musician originally from Stoke-on-Trent, active in Japan and the UK.
Theatrical projects and intercultural exchange are integral to Francesca's work.
She strives to make ambitious music-based projects which provoke awareness and discussion, bringing together the experience and skills of multiple people across disciplines and cultures. Recent projects include: "On an Endless Road" concert & talk featuring new piece for satsuma biwa & voice about feminist anarchist Itō Noe (Performances: Japan 2023 + UK tour 2024); "Who is Molly Leigh?" community opera exploring the story of accused witch Molly Leigh (R&D: 2024. Performances: July 2025 in partnership with B-arts); "THE鍵KEY": an immersive, site-specific opera inspired by Tanizaki's novella, featuring a mixture of Japanese and Western artforms (2019 “Keizo Saji Prize”. Tokyo & London, 2018 & 2019) |
"An outstanding British talent…This is the timeless way creation should happen."
(The Asahi Newspaper)
"an inspired synergy between words, music, visuals and space"
(on THE鍵KEY, Opera Magazine)
"compact, sensitively heard"
(on Blind Man and an Elephant, The Observer)
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Francesca's work has featured in festivals such as Tama Music and Arts Festival, Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival, London Festival of Architecture, Sonorities and Noise Floor. Her compositions have been performed by numerous ensembles, including Southbank Sinfonia (alumni), GBSR duo, Trio Atem, "Senju Dajare Community Band", Psappha and Red Note ensemble. She has held artist residencies at Hospitalfield (UK), Elektronmusikstudion (Sweden) and NOVARS (research centre for sound, space and interactive art, UK). Francesca is a LSO Soundhub Associate 2022-2024. From 2015-2021, Francesca was based in Tokyo after receiving a 2015 Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation Scholarship. Alongside her compositional activities, Francesca studied traditional instruments, including the sho, which she regularly performed on with The Japan Gagaku Society, and worked as a facilitator with the music therapy NPO Kokoro Talk Music. She completed her undergraduate at the University of Manchester and her masters at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, studying with David Fennessy and Alistair MacDonald. Francesca is also Project Manager at Contemporary Music for All (CoMA), a participatory new-music charity, where amateur, emerging and established music-makers of all backgrounds, ages and abilities build a culture of musical participation together. |
Design: Komatsuzaki Ami
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