BILSLAND, Ethel Edith

  English composer, soprano and pianist. She was a Professor of Voice at the Royal Academy of Music in London where the Ethel Bilsland Award for Singing was established in her honour. Bilsland sang at the 1923 Proms in Queen’s Hall alongside other giants of English classical music, such as the conductor Sir Henry Wood and the pianist York Bowen. Bilsland lived most of her adult life in Eltham, South London. She was widowed at an early age, and with the onset of the Second World War, vocal instruction was her way of ensuring security in her career, and in the upbringing of her two children. Bilsland wrote for voice, piano, chamber ensembles and orchestra. However, much of her output remains only in manuscripts.

Biography by Dr. Samatha Ege.