MOBO award winner to compose RSC score

AWARD-WINNING singer-songwriter Laura Mvula is to compose music for the Royal Shakespeare Company's Rome season next year.

The MOBO Award winner, and multi Brit Award, Ivor Novello Award and Mercury Prize nominee, will write the music for Antony and Cleopatra, which runs in Stratford-upon-Avon from 11th March to 7th September next year.

The play itself will be directed by Iqbal Khan and will also be broadcast live to cinemas on 24th May.

Laura was born in Birmingham and was a student at Swanshurt School for girls in the suburb of Kings Heath, where she grew up.

She has three Brit Award nominations, including the coveted Critics' Choice in 2013, and her second studio album, The Dreaming Room, was released in June and was shortlisted for the 2016 Mercury Prize. In 2003 she won two MOBO Awards, for Best Female Act and Best R&B/Soul Act.

Tim Sutton is a musical director and composer for theatre and will be composing the music for Titus Andronicus, and award-winning artist, composer and performer, Mira Calix, will compose the music for Angus Jackson’s Julius Caesar.

The RSC's head of music, Bruce O’Neil, said: "We commission new music for all our shows, working with some of the best composers and performing their music live.

"Shakespeare’s plays are full of music, and its importance as part of the theatrical experience in Stratford is reflected in a fine tradition of composing talent. It’s a privilege to add Mira Calix and Laura Mvula to that list, and to welcome back Tim Sutton."