Victoria Bourne is a composer, performer, educator and and recording artist whose work encompasses folk, roots, and electronic music.
Victoria studied with leading contemporary sopranos Jo Morton, Rosemary Hardy and Sarah Walker, as well as the jazz singer Carol Grimes in London. She has MA in Music from the University of Bristol.
Her music has been featured on BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4. She has toured extensively with Husky Tones whose music was play-listed on BBC Radio 2.
In March 2022 she was invited to write a broadside ballad for ‘The Ballad for Maria Marten’ alongside other notable folk musicians including Lisa Knapp.
In 2021 her critically acclaimed album twisted folk album ‘Songs from the Cloud Chamber’ was released by Discus music record label and played on BBC Radio 3. She composed and produced the album, performing with Walt Shaw percussionist.
Hangover Square folk roots band was created during lockdown. A collaboration with Chris Harper releasing the album ‘Painting With An Open Heart’ in 2021. Tracks were played on BBC radio Bristol and nationally. As they were unable to go on tour she produced, directed and edited a full feature film of the album for its release.
She has released 4 of her own albums to date, 4 albums with Chris Harper as Husky Tones and Hangover Square and has also recorded 23 albums with the international collective United Isolation Ensemble.
Victoria founded and was the musical director of the Bristol Hippodrome Choir for 8 years, conducting concerts with Russell Watson, Sam Bailey and for BBC in Bristol.
‘So wonderful to hear the beautiful boiling of percussion and this very folk like melody moved and twisted and distorted into this landscape of trees and meadows and hill.’
Corey Mwamba
BBC Radio 3
“This richly atmospheric, haunting and melancholic album…achingly beautiful harmonies”
Andy Hamilton
The Wire Magazine
‘Painting With An Open Heart is like a balm for the soul and Bourne shows what an excellent singer she is’
Robert Ryttman
Zero Magazine
“Victoria Bourne producing some of the best music at the moment”
William McGiven
Sound and Jazz Radio
She has created a brand new Vix Bourne Vocal Course based on her years of experience successfully helping students of all levels develop and succeed in their singing.
Over the last 25 years she has led vocal classes and one-2-one sessions in theatres, universities, music shops, schools in community based workshops and privately.
Masters Degree in Music University of Bristol
Associate of Trinity College London (Distinction)
Post Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice Kings College London.
She has studied with leading contemporary sopranos Rosemary Hardy, Jo Morton and Sarah Walker as well studying with the jazz singer Carol Grimes in London.
Whether you’re an absolute beginner, aspiring intermediate or advanced singer, Victoria has a lesson for you. See LESSONS page for more information.
A truly collaborative folk-rock project by two isolated people thinking way bigger than their one-bedroom basement flat, sounding at times like a 40 piece ensemble. ‘Painting with an Open Heart’ is an expansive, lushly arranged mini-epic giving voice to the ghosts of a life lost.
“…this is hugely accomplished…an impressive calling card…a hangover most definitely worth nursing…”
“Victoria’s voice has a classical purity and laser clarity creating poetic structures that have only to be felt to be understood”
RnR Magazine
“…masterfully created, ambitious piece of work…the string arrangements shimmer over the tracks like sunbeams breaking through a clouded sky and the vocal harmonies are carefully crafted throughout…delicate vocal harmonies floating over a velvet wash of sound…Iridescent, cinematic and rich in texture…”
Folk and Honey
“An upbeat and brilliant track”
Adam Crowther
BBC Radio Upload
VICTORIA BOURNE AND WALT SHAW
Melodies inspired by traditional English Folk Songs floating above the pointilistic abstraction creating a richly atmospheric, melancholic, brooding and beautiful sound. Living in a twisted folk landscape. The threads of voice, electronics and percussion weave together, at times blending, but sometimes colliding, creating a kaleidoscopic, often haunting soundscape.
‘So wonderful to hear the beautiful boiling of percussion and this very folk like melody moved and twisted and distorted into this landscape of trees and meadows and hill.’
Corey Mwamba
BBC Radio 3
“This richly atmospheric, haunting and melancholic album…achingly beautiful harmonies”
Andy Hamilton
The Wire Magazine
“Pulling the listener away from the comfortable and familiar to experience something shocking and strange”
Chris Baber
Jazzviews
VICTORIA BOURNE
My current solo project ‘Nightingale Valley’ is to create/record a new collection of folk songs based on contemporary stories told by working-class women in Bristol, who don’t normally have a voice. Key questions I’m exploring are ‘What are modern folk songs?’ ‘How can I use technology to create them?’
“Her voice oozes beauty and pain in equal measure, grabbing the listener from the first note, it’s a voice that is impossible to ignore or forget”
Noise Magazine
“Bourne’s vocal is stunning, she makes you really understand how the voice can be used as an instrument”
Buxton Fringe Festival
‘Bourne’s vocals weave melodies that are reminiscent of Robert Plant’s own melodies‘
Bluesblast Magazine
Lighthouse Women was a song commission I made as part of ‘Ballads for Maria’ to read more about the project follow this link: