Anna Meredith’s orchestral fanfare Nautilus appeared as part Grammy-award-winning multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier’s orchestral debut with Britten Sinfonia at Bristol Beacon and the Barbican in January 2025, conducted by Suzie Collier.
The orchestral version of the 5 ½-minute track from Meredith’s debut album Varmints received its world premiere in 2021 from Dalia Stasevska and the Lahti Symphony Orchestra; Stasevska also conducted the piece at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in August 2022. Platoon released the world premiere recording of Nautilus by Stasevska and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in March 2024 as part of the album Dalia’s Mixtape. The Ukrainian-Finnish conductor discusses the 5 ½-minute track in a Gramophone podcast with Andrew Mellor here.
Nautilus will also open the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra’s 2025 season, making its New Zealand debut with Benjamin Northey on 1 March. On 11 January it received its Norwegian premiere from the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Michael Seal. Later in the spring it will appear with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra – the latter as part of the London Soundtrack Festival’s Gala celebration of Howard Shore on 22 March.
Widely used in film and media, Nautilus has featured in adverts for Prada and in Netflix's Lady Gaga documentary Gaga: Five Foot Two. In August 2023 the orchestral version was choreographed by Robert Dekkers and Post:ballet for the Burning Man Festival; the extended version of the track was also used by The Royal Ballet in 2019 for the re-opening of the Linbury Theatre, choreographed by Calvin Richardson for Something Borrowed.
Since its debut the orchestral version of Nautilus has received over forty performances to date; it received its US premiere from Thomas Adès and the LA Phil in April 2022; its other exponents have included the San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and Queensland Symphony Orchestra. A string quartet version appears on the Ligeti Quartet’s recent all-Meredith album, Nuc.