The RSCM is sad to announce that Margaret Rizza, the composer whose distinctive, contemplative music has become widely loved in churches and communities of prayer, died earlier this month, aged 97.

For around 25 years Margaret was a professional singer, performing under the name Margaret Lensky and working with leading composers and conductors including Benjamin Britten, Igor Stravinsky and Leonard Bernstein. She subsequently taught singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, from 1977 to 1994, while becoming increasingly involved in music-making in hospitals, hospices, prisons, schools and other community settings.

It was not until 1997, that Rizza began composing. Her music grew from her Christian faith and her experience of prayer, drawing particularly on Gregorian chant and the music of Taizé.

Margaret was awarded an ARSCM in 2001 as a liturgical composer, and from 2009 she worked increasingly closely with the RSCM, writing music intended for choirs of all kinds, including those with modest resources.

Her RSCM publications include God of hope and Lord of healing; Song of Mary and Song of Simeon; The Celtic Collection, a set of 18 pieces for a variety of voices and instrumental combinations; and Officium Divinum, later recorded by the Convivium Singers. Her O Sapientia was included in the RSCM’s 2019 festival service book Where shall Wisdom be Found?

For Margaret, composition was never simply about creating music to be performed. Her music was intended to help people pray. Her belief that beautiful music should be available to singers of every ability, made her an especially valued friend of the RSCM.

Her music will continue to provide what she sought to offer through it: a space for stillness, reflection and prayer.

May she rest in peace and rise in glory.