Gwyneth Herbert is an award-winning British composer and lyricist, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and record producer.

As a recording/performing artist she has released 6 critically-acclaimed albums (including the first UK Blue Note release in 30 years), and toured extensively with her band across the UK and also in Europe, Canada, the US and Kenya, and has shared stages with artists such as Boy George, Amy Winehouse, Jamie Cullum and John Cooper Clarke.

Drawing on influences from the worlds of jazz, folk contemporary classical music and storytelling, she performs with a variety of instruments and a “casually commanding voice – whether softly nuanced as confiding speech or at full soaring-contralto stretch” (The Guardian). 2016 saw a 10-date festival tour of North America and headline shows across the UK and Europe including at the Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room, as well as a concert performing her work with the London Sinfonietta at a sold out Kings Place, London.

2017 sees the development of her new touring and recording project Letters I Haven’t Written, in collaboration with acclaimed video artist Will Duke:

“In a world of memes, status updates and limited characters, this is a project exploring the lost art of letter correspondence – intimate, historical, personal and political snapshots of dialogue which capture moments of time – and all the emotions that surround putting, or not putting, pen to paper.”

Gwyneth is also increasingly in demand for her composition work, and featured as composer, lyricist, musical director and voice of the title role in the Bristol Old Vic’s hugely successful Christmas production of The Snow Queen (Dec ’16 – Jan ’17). She has also co-created three musicals including 2014’s The A-Z of Mrs P (Southwark Playhouse); conducted and performed her own film score at the British Film Institute; and has just written a song for BBC One’s EastEnders (viewership 5-10 million). Commissions she will be working on in 2017 including works for Aldeburgh Music, Mahogany Opera Group and Roman River Festival, as well as a new music theatre piece, The Rhythm Method, supported by the Wellcome Trust.

Additionally, Gwyneth is highly sought-after for her songwriting/creative devising workshops with young people. She has facilitated numerous programmes in the UK, the US, and Kenya, and ties these in with her touring schedule whenever possible – see Workshops page for more details.