Minerva Scientifica Birthdays – Dring & Miller
7th September 2025
Madeleine Dring
Composer, Actress, Pianist, Singer
BORN 7th September 1923, Harringey, London
Nora Miller
Zoologist
BORN 7th September 1898, Dunipace, Scotland
Madeleine Dring (1923 – 1977) was a woman who went her own way as a composer. Her music is highly original, with a distinctive sound. She was well known as a TV actor, and was a brilliant pianist and singer. Nora Miller (1898 – 1994) was also an accomplished pianist, singer and organist, but her professional life centred on zoology – especially when it involved diving, travelling, photography and investigating underwater species.
You can find more about them on their Minerva Scientifica pages
https://minervascientifica.co.uk/madeleine-dring/
https://minervascientifica.co.uk/nora-miller/
Here is a taste of some of the music we’ve recorded to celebrate these brilliant women – you’ll find more on their pages above
“Business Girls” is one of “Five Betjamin Songs” that composer Madeleine Dring wrote in 1976, just one year before her death. It is performed here (both voice and piano)by Frances M Lynch who performed it as part of “Echoes from London” at the Stroud Green Festival on June 18th 2019.
Sea Lullaby by Shena Fraser minervascientifica.co.uk/shena-fraser/ is a setting of a poem by Eugene Field, and was written c. 1973 for Piano and Unison or Solo Soprano Voice, Published by Thames Publishing, 1973.
The words of this gorgeous lullaby have been slightly adapted to illustrate the story of Marine Biologist Nora Miller minervascientifica.co.uk/nora-miller/ whose mother, a really wonderful singer, studied with Hubert Parry. I imagine her singing to the young Nora about her future at sea.
The first performance in this version took place at The Engine Shed, Stirling, on September 18th 2018.It was recorded for the electric voice theatre’s Echoes-Minerva Scientifica Project in December 2018 by BBC Singer Margaret Cameron with Frances M Lynch on piano.
