Explore Susan’s life
Read about Susan Spain-Dunk’s life, education, career and musical context.
Susan Spain-Dunk
Composer | Conductor | Violinist/violist
The life and music of
Susan Spain-Dunk
Susan Spain-Dunk FRAM (1880-1962) was an English composer, conductor and violinist/violist. This site contains information about her life, works and manuscripts.
Susan composed over 120 works, of which more than 20 were published. Her works include orchestral music, chamber music, tone poems, overtures, brass band and military band marches, and organ, piano and choral works.
She conducted her orchestral works at Henry Wood Promenade Concerts in London 1924 - 1927 (the second woman to conduct at a Promenade concert).
Susan was the first woman conductor of a live Proms broadcast, on 25 August 1927, and her works were broadcast by the BBC from then onwards. She also conducted at Bournemouth, Eastbourne, Folkestone and Torquay festivals.
She won the Charles Mortimer Prize for Composition in 1906 and two Cobbett Prizes for chamber music compositions in 1907 and 1909.
Susan was a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music (RAM), and Professor at the Royal Academy of Music 1938 - 1941.
In recent years there has been a revival of interest in Susan’s music, with several world premiere performances and recordings.
Susan’s family hold an archive of manuscripts for almost all of her works.
Many pieces have recently been transcribed and edited for performance and recording, but there are still some pieces which have yet to be recorded (or sometimes even performed).
This website was set up by Susan’s family and their collaborators to provide information about her life and music. We are also preparing a book for publication.
Please do get in touch if you are interested in recording or performing Susan’s music, would like to know more about her story or are aware of relevant historical material.
Discover Susan’s music
Browse her compositions and find recordings and links for listening .
Today
Find information on present day performances and discoveries, and a book in preparation. Please do get in touch with us if you are interested in performing or recording Susan’s music or have any questions or comments.