Dream Hunter chamber opera for 4 singers and chamber ensemble of 7 players (2011)

An impressive new chamber opera by Nicola LeFanu.. Fuller's is a model libretto, inspiring responses and finding its fulfilment in LeFanu's sentient and highly charged music. Tracking the nerve system of each character, her score is both spiky with tension and, particularly in the voice of Catarina (delectably sung by Charmian Bedford) sensually melismatic.. these were quite some words, quite some music. The subtlety of word and music makes this an irresistible 50 minutes that festival directors should be quick to take up.
—The Times (February 2012)

A tautly dramatic hour of intensely coloured, sinuous music. Director Carmen Jakobi produced some wonderfully fresh ideas.. the ensemble Lontano played with needle-sharp precision under the assured direction of Odaline de la Martinez.
—The Observer (February 2012)

From the first, LeFanu revealed operatic ability. She sets words well. She has a command of picturesque, imaginative instrumental colour. Dream Hunter held the attention securely. Martinez and Lontano eloquently sounded LeFanu’s arresting score. Caryl Hughes’ singing passed with honours.. Charmian Bedford’s performance was eloquent. Dream Hunter is an opera I’ll not forget’. Opera April 2012
—Opera (April 2012)

The Bourne for soprano and harp (2008)

the highpoint for me turns out to be Nicola LeFanu's setting of Christina Rossetti. The Bourne is a minutely balanced work with a harp accompaniment (played by Lucy Wakeford) that gently frames and shadows the bewitching contours of the melody. Melancholic, meditative and profoundly moving, sung with minute control by Ms Atherton, Ms LeFanu's song is utterly transporting.
—The Economist (April 2009)

Misterium Mirabile for SSA choir (1999) & Rosa sine Spine for SSA choir (2002)

two exquisite carols by Nicola LeFanu
—The Times (January 2008)

Light Passing chamber opera for seven solo singers, chamber ensemble and small chorus (2004)

a welcome and absorbing addition to Britain’s post-Britten chamber operas…it has the equipment to entertain and illuminate for years to come
—The Times (October 2004)

an opera that challenges and satisfies in equal measure
—Opera (January 2005)

LeFanu’s boldly invigorating and moving modern chamber opera, based on the life of Clement VI (1291-1352), generally viewed as the most brilliant of the Avignon popes. LeFanu and her highly skilled librettist John Edmonds have turned Clement’s life into a thoughtful and profoundly engaging stage work
—Church Times (November 2004)

Catena for eleven solo strings (2001)

Even more rewarding is Catena.. it’s an absorbing, subtly evolving and imaginatively textured study which employs microtonal intervals to judicious and liberating effect
—The Gramophone (April 2005)

[Catena] demonstrates LeFanu’s skill in building and sustaining large structures. Sheerly beautiful and passionate, its riches are characteristically understated and implicit, the brilliance of the writing always at the service of the musical argument.
—Tempo (April 2006)

Amores for horn and strings (2004)

there was backbone here as well as beauty, and in Richard Watkins’ hands the horn part ricocheted around with thrilling, dramatic effect.
—The Times (February 2004)

In these evocative five movements, full of haunting allusions, a central lyrical nocturne liberated the horn into a brilliant extended cadenza in the fourth, with the Goldberg’s vibrant strings drawn back into a passionate and taut argument in the finale.
—The Guardian (February 2004)

The Same Day Dawns for soprano and ensemble (1974)

Nicola LeFanu is a composer of exceptional gifts of head and heart.
—Michael Steinberg in The Boston Globe (November 1974)