Avril Anderson was born in
Southsea,
Hampshire, England in 1953. In 1972 she entered the
Royal College of Music where she studied with
Humphrey Searle and
John Lambert. Anderson won the
Cobbett Prize for composition, and her music has been performed in
Europe, Australia and the United States. Anderson has directed educational projects, and took a position at the Royal College of Music in 2001. She is co-artistic director with her husband David Sutton-Anderson of contemporary music ensemble Sounds Positive, which has performed more than a hundred premieres of works by British composers. Anderson was Composer-in-Residence for the Young Place London Contemporary Dance School from 1990 until 2000. She is an adjunct professor at
University of Notre Dame, London programme, where she has taught since 1997. ==Works==