Based in Los Angeles, New Zealand native Linda Dallimore composes for orchestras, chamber ensembles and film.

Linda’s music features jagged melodies, colorful timbres, groove-driven rhythms and assemblage, weaving narratives rooted in psychological processes alongside sociological, cultural, and environmental concerns. Her works emerge from introspection and empathy, drawing on an awareness of cognition and psychology as catalysts for musical ideas.

Influenced by musical feminist icons such as Aretha Franklin and Lauryn Hill from a young age, Linda’s work often takes a female perspective; recalling childbirth, the trials and tribulations of parenthood, and channeling a slow-burning feminist rage as musical fuel.

Linda is currently completing a doctorate of musical arts in composition at USC, and serves on the music theory faculty at the Colburn School and with the LA Phil’s Composer Fellowship Program for young composers.

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Linda Dallimore premieres her new work, Honneger’s Wife, with the USC Thornton Symphony on February 27th, 2026. (Photo credit by Sherman Tsang)

  • Her music displays a clarity of thought with imaginative and dynamic textures, carried by a musicality that encompasses a range of moods, from mystical to humorous

    —Chamber Music New Zealand

  • Musical sustenance and form... peaking with a bold progression of implacably shifting harmonies

    —New Zealand Herald, William Dart

Music

 

Tête-à-tête - a miniature piano piece commissioned by the piano duo HOCKET

Ascension for viola and alto flute - commissioned and performed by Ensemble Klangrauschen. Supported by Creative New Zealand

Self Portrait - for piano trio. Commissioned and performed by the New Zealand Trio

Honegger’s Wife for orchestra - performed by the USC Thornton Symphony under Donald Crockett