After a decade as a professional viola player, Sally Beamish moved to Scotland in 1989 and has since built up an international reputation as a composer. Her first education project was working with five Strathclyde schools and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, for which she wrote The Lost Pibroch (1991). Since then most of her orchestral work has been linked to education projects in some way.

She has also written a number of works for pre-school and primary school children, including the nativity musicals Winter Journey (1996) and Mary's Precious Boy (1999). Sun and Moon (1999), a dance project for pre-school children with choreography by Rosina Bonsu, is awaiting publication. Works commissioned by amateur orchestras include Caledonian Road (1997) and The Day Dawn (1997).

Her work embraces chamber, vocal, choral and orchestral music and is widely performed and broadcast. During 1998 she began a four-year appointment as composer in residence with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Recent works include Knotgrass Elegy for the BBC Proms (2001), and a full-length opera based on the life of Mary Shelley, commissioned by the Brighton Festival and Scottish Opera.