Pippa Cleary is an award-winning British composer and songwriter. She is the only female British musical theatre composer to have had three shows produced in the West End. Including ‘My Son’s A Queer (But What Can You do?)’ and ‘The Great British Bake Off Musical’ which both ran this past year. For the 2023 Olivier Awards, Pippa wrote the opening number ‘The West End Stage’ performed by Hannah Waddingham and other West End stars. 

 

Pippa is currently working on writing songs for a new film ‘Journey to The Christmas Star’ commissioned by Storm Films where she is working alongside acclaimed American screenwriter and producer Philip LaZebnick (Pocahontas, Prince of Egypt, Mulan). 

 

 

Her work also includes music for award winning adverts ‘I Love Doing Dishes’ for Finish and ‘The Feelings’ for This is Jelly. Pippa’s highly praised musical ‘In the Willows’, written with hip hop producer Kieran Merrick, toured the UK in 2019. She has composed songs for a musical adaptation of ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ for BBC Teach and also won the Times Carol Competition 2013 for her song ‘In the Snow’. Her voice features on the popular award-winning children’s app ‘Hip Hop Hen’ which helps teach phonics through song. Pippa also won The Arts Foundation Fellowship for Composition in 2012 and is mentored by the renowned composer Claude Michel Schonberg. 

 

Whilst studying music at Bristol University, Pippa met her long-term writing partner, Jake Brunger. Together they have written many popular musicals, including ‘The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4’ (which was nominated for both the Evening Standard Award for Best New Musical and a UK Theatre Award), ‘The Great British Soap Opera’, ‘Prodigy’ and the recent West End production of ‘The Great British Bake Off Musical’. They have also written three children’s musicals together for the Singapore Repertory Theatre- ‘Red Riding Hood’, ‘Treasure Island’and ‘Chicken Little’.

 

As well as her song writing, Pippa also founded and created the award-winning business ‘Pippa’s Poppets’ which teaches music and drama to pre-school children in London. Since starting out in 2008, Pippa’s love for writing original children’s songs has created a unique and bespoke experience for all her nursery clients. 

 

Pippa has been visually impaired since birth, but this has never held her back. She has an exceptional musical ear and she collaborates with many orchestrators, producers and musical directors, to pursue her creative endeavours.