Dani Howard

Described as having a ​“luminous and effervescent sound world” (Gramophone) and ​“a brilliant command of the orchestra” (The Times), British composer Dani Howard is quickly gaining international recognition with regular performances across Europe, the US and Asia. 
Howard’s work has been commissioned and performed by orchestras around the world including the London Symphony, BBC Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Gävle Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic and Amarillo and Charlotte Symphony Orchestras in the United States among others. Howard’s orchestral music has seen over 100 performances worldwide, and Howard’s music has been championed by conductors such as Domingo Hindoyan, Vasily Petrenko, Dalia Stasevska, Paavo Järvi, Elim Chan, Kazuki Yamada, Mark Wigglesworth, Chloé Van Soeterstède, Kwamé Ryan, Elena Schwarz, Xian Zhang and Michael Sanderling. 

Music
The 2026/27 season brings a new orchestral work, Arian (2026), premiered by long-time supporter Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, alongside a new chamber work for London Brass premiering at Kings Place. Her Cello Concerto ​‘Maverick’ (2026), premiered by her former teacher Richard Bamping and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in May 2026, sees its UK premiere with BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Chetham’s School of Music. The recording of her saxophone and piano work Dancing Shadows (2021) is coming out this season, performed by Jonathan Radford and Ashley Fripp. The EP is released in Autumn 2026 alongside a dance film. Howard is also writing a Violin Concerto for Emily Sun premiering in summer 2027, alongside a Left-Hand Piano Concerto for pianist Nicholas McCarthy.
A highlight of her 2025/26 season was her return to the BBC Proms with the world premiere of her Concerto for Brass ​‘Signal’ (2026), performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Järvi in August 2026. During that season, Howard was Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s inaugural ​‘Celebrated Composer’. Championed by Chief Conductor Mark Wigglesworth, her music was featured across 15 performances, including the UK premiere of her Saxophone Concerto (2024), performed by Jess Gillam. The concerto had its world premiere in February 2025 with Gillam and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under Dalia Stasevska.
In the 2024/25 season, Howard wrote a solo percussion work named Vasa (2025) for Colin Currie at Wigmore Hall; a Clarinet Quartet Concerto ​‘BLAZE’ (2024) for The German Clarinets and Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz; and a trumpet and piano work Continuum (2024) for Matilda Lloyd which featured as part of her ECHO Rising Star tour. A chamber work for the Leonore Trio, Unravelled (2025), was premiered at Presteigne Festival 2025 and will be performed at Music in the Round in October 2026.
In 2024, Howard was appointed Resident Artist with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Through her residency she was commissioned to write two new works for NYO, including a large-scale orchestral work at the BBC Proms, Three, Four AND… (2024), for over 260 musicians, which was broadcast on BBC Four. That year also saw the release of Howard’s debut album, Dani Howard Orchestral Works, on Rubicon Classics, featuring Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and trombonist Peter Moore, conducted by Pablo Urbina and Michael Seal. 
Following the premiere of Howard’s Trombone Concerto (2021) with Peter Moore and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Domingo Hindoyan, the work has since received performances from London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Gävle Symfoniorkester, The Orchestra NOW and with Hartford Symphony Orchestra in October 2026. In 2022, she won a Royal Philharmonic Society Award for her Trombone Concerto which was dubbed ​“an instant classic” (The Times). The piece was nominated at the Southbank Sky Arts Award, where she was also nominated for The Times “Young Artist of the Year” Award.
August 2023 saw the premiere of Howard’s chamber opera The Yellow Wallpaper (2023) at Copenhagen Opera Festival, with the UK premiere taking place the following month at Sadler’s Wells. The production was Howard’s second collaboration with commissioners The Opera Story; her debut opera Robin Hood (2019) premiered to critical acclaim, described as ​“a sophisticated and incredibly beautiful piece that surely places Howard amongst the best of contemporary British opera composers” (Bachtrack). 
Other orchestral highlights include a Percussion Concerto (2024) for Dame Evelyn Glennie and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, alongside works such as The Butterfly Effect (2023) premiered by Kazuki Yamada and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for the orchestra centenary celebrations, Ellipsis (2022) premiered by Vasily Petrenko and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in celebration of its 75th anniversary; Coalescence (2019) for Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; and Gates of Spring (2019) for London Symphony Orchestra and Elim Chan. In 2020, Howard was commissioned by the Antoni Gaudí building Casa Batlló in Barcelona to write music inspired by the building, which saw her record with members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony and Deutsche Oper Berlin.
An early success for Howard came with Argentum (2017), commissioned by Classic FM to celebrate their 25th anniversary, and co-commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society. Argentum has since received over fifty performances worldwide, including with BBC Symphony, Philharmonic, and Concert orchestras, at the BBC Proms with Sinfonia Smith Square (formerly Southbank Sinfonia) and recent US performances by the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra.
­­Born and raised in Hong Kong, Howard studied drums, piano, and cello from an early age. A profound turning point came at age nine when she began a nine-year mentorship under Richard Bamping, the Principal Cellist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Watching Bamping perform Strauss’s Don Quixote ignited her lifelong fascination with the infinite colour palette of the orchestra. She graduated with First Class Honours from the Royal College of Music as a Rose Williams Scholar, studying composition under Jonathan Cole. 