Biography
Josephine Stephenson is a French-British composer, arranger and performer working across contemporary classical and indie music.
A sought-after collaborator, she has worked as arranger and/or performer with prominent artists including Damon Albarn, Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys and Daughter. Her concert music, described by The Times as ‘music to arrest the ears and stop the heart’, has been commissioned by institutions such as the BBC, Radio France, Wigmore Hall and Kings Place, performed by the likes of London Sinfonietta, Aurora Orchestra and Ensemble Intercontemporain, and broadcast on France Musique and BBC Radio 3. She won an Ivor Novello award in 2023.
With a focus on harmony, sonority and dynamic immediacy, her music is nurtured by an interest in investigating the intersections of so-called ‘high’ and ‘popular’ cultures and creating bridges between different (musical) worlds. She has scored short films by The Apiary (for Aesop), Antonia Luxem, Scott Vickers and Julia Jackman, including the latter’s ‘Emma, Change the Locks’ starring Olivia Williams, for which she won ‘Best Composer’ at Underwire Film Festival in 2015.
Described as ‘music to arrest the ears and stop the heart’ by The Times, her concert music has been commissioned by institutions such as the BBC, Radio France, Wigmore Hall and Kings Place among others, performed by the likes of London Sinfonietta, Aurora Orchestra and Ensemble Intercontemporain, and broadcast on France Musique and BBC Radio 3. She was recently composer in residence at the Opera Grand Avignon, won an Ivor Novello award for her piece Comme l’espoir/you might all disappear and had two premieres as part of the Steve Reich edition of the Festival Présences in Paris in 2024.
The first track released under her alias Juneson was a collaboration with French singer-songwriter Laura Cahen, produced by Mike Lindsay, entitled "Si Rien Ne Bouge". More timely is Cahen's recent single ‘Quitter la ville', which Josephine co-composed, a nod to the urban exodus of the pre-Olympic summer but also a call for freedom, revolt & love! You can see it here. With the release of the album expected in 2025 there is a lot to look forward to.