Judith Bailey – An obituary
The Cornish composer and conductor Judith Bailey has died aged 83 after a short illness (18 July 1941 – 16 March 2025). She was born in Camborne, Cornwall during the second world war. Her father was a master-baker and confectioner who was a church organist by the age of fourteen. Her mother was also keenly interested in music and Judith was an only child.
In 1959 Judith went to the Royal Academy of Music in London where she studied conducting, composition, clarinet and piano. Her teachers were Maurice Miles (conducting), Andrew Byrne (composition), Stephen Water (clarinet) and Leslie England (piano). At the Royal Academy she met the violinist Juliet Davey, and they became lifelong friends and collaborators. Juliet and violist Lucy White were the core of the Davey ensemble that frequently performed her music over the years. The Davey’s gave the premiere of her first string quartet, and recorded it and some of her other instrumental music in 2007 for Metier.
After graduating Judith initially became a peripatetic woodwind teacher. From 1971 she then worked as a freelance composer, conductor and clarinettist, and was still working at the time of her death. Her partner Isabel Young, who died in 2003, was a highly competent amateur ‘cellist who led the section in the Southampton Concert Orchestra. For many years while they lived in South Harting, deep in the heart of the South Downs.
Judith Bailey became conductor of the Southampton Concert Orchestra in 1969, and the Petersfield Orchestra in 1972, positions she held until 2001. In that year she decided to return to her Cornish roots to reside at Gwithian Towans, a spectacular location in the dunes on the north coast near Hayle. She was soon appointed conductor of the Penzance Orchestral Society and the Cornwall Chamber Orchestra. Her 80th birthday was celebrated with a concert of her music in Truro cathedral and she was at the premiere of her last orchestral work – Sea of Atlas – in Southampton in December 2024. As recently as January 2025 she conducted the chamber orchestra in a program that included her Cliff Walk Symphony.
Judith wrote over 90 original compositions in many different genres, most of which have been performed and published. In addition to the disc alluded to above, two of her orchestral works – Havas and Concerto for Orchestra have been recorded for EM Records (reviews).
Judith was a modest person who lived frugally. Sensitive and creative, she was also a talented painter but music was her driving force. She made a huge contribution to Cornish musical life for which she was made a bard of the Cornish Gorseth.
Patrick Waller
