Research & Collaborations:
I am professor of composition and researcher at the Royal Academy of Music, London.
My research centres around my compositional work and collaborative projects, which have included live and electronic installations for art galleries, collaborations with dancers, choreographers and poets, and live scores for silent films. I am especially keen to work on projects which allow close collaboration and experimentation during the writing process.
Building on my doctoral research (completed in 2019), recent projects continue to explore the practice of ‘creative transcription’, the reworking and deconstruction of existing musical works to create new pieces somehow in dialogue with the originals.
If you are interested to collaborate on a future project or want to learn more about my work, I would be delighted to hear from you. Please use the contact section of this website.
Selected Projects:
Two Minds // Unrealities (2023)
These two substantial new works emerged from a collaborative research project with pianist Joseph Havlat. Two minds is a chamber work for piano/synthesiser, flute, clarinet, violin and cello, and Unrealities is a work for solo piano/synthesiser. In both works, the pianist plays both acoustic piano and synthesiser, which is placed directly above the keyboard on the grand piano. Both pieces explore the sonic potential combining synthesised and real sounds (including real and synthesised piano sounds in the first movement of Unrealities “Piano-fake”). They also explore different ways of using performance technique and “touch” on the synthesiser to control musical elements such as tuning and attack/decay profiles. (For example, longer notes might allow sounds with slower attack to emerge, louder notes might raise tuning instead of dynamics etc.). This means the technique for controlling the keyboards on the two instruments will be significantly different for the various synth patches, requiring adaptation and new strategies from the performer.
Alternative views from history — A suite for recorder, viol, lute and ensemble (2021)
Research project in collaboration with recorder player Tabea Debus, supported by the PRS Open Fund and the Royal Academy of Music Research Department.
Composed and recorded in 2021, the work is a suite of six movements, each based on a preexisting historical work. The piece explores the boundaries between arranging, transcribing and composing, pairing period and modern instruments in a unique and colourful ensemble.
Variations on something to remember (Installation) (2019-20)
For electronic soundtrack and dancer.
An ongoing collaboration with choreographer Suse Tietjen.
Explore some of Suse’s work here.
Extracts:
Photo: Maria Gibert
Britten-Pears ‘Brass Elements’ — Composer in Residence (2018)
I was the composer in residence with the Britten-Pears advanced brass course at Snape, working on a spatial composition for 16 brass players to be performed in the Britten Studio. The idea of a proliferating fanfare which rapidly spread through the concert space formed the basis for the final section of the work, where the whole ensemble play independent parts.
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland — Conservatoires UK Conference (2018)
Presentation: ‘Inhabiting styles and borrowing materials: a composer’s perspective’
‘MusicFest’ — Composer in Residence (2017)
I spent a week at MusicFest (Aberystwyth, Wales) developing sketches with pianist Tom Poster, clarinettist Joseph Shiner, and harpist Glain Dafydd.
Elements of these sketches were developed into a longer work ‘The Lowland Hundred Strikes’ for piano, clarinet and string quartet the following year.
In Welsh folklore, the ‘Lowland Hundred’ or Cantre'r Gwaelod is a mythical submerged kingdom in Cardigan Bay. Learn more about it here.
Submerged forest @ Borth, close to the rumoured Cantre'r Gwaelod
NHK Royal Academy of Music Lectures (2017)
LUDO for large ensemble was broadcast on Japanese National Television as part of the Royal Academy of Music’s lecture series.
Sibelius Academy, Helsinki — Doctoral Research Symposium (2017)
Presentation: Composition as ‘dialogue’; inhabiting styles and genres
Tokyo University of the Arts GEIDAI — Research Exchange Project (2017)
A collaborative project, working closely with performers to create a new composition for traditional Japanese instruments.
Suse Tietjen Tanzorchester, Hamburg — Research Residency (2016)
In collaboration with dancers from the Erika Klütz Schule für Theatertanz und Tanzpädagogik, Hamburg.
Royal Philharmonic Society — ‘Notes, Steps, Timelines and Collborations’ (2014)
A collaborative course for composers and dance choreographers
Artes Mundi — Installation (Chapter Arts) (2014)
Commissioned by Sinfonia Newydd, this was a live installation combining electronic and acoustic music which reacted to the exhibitions by Sharon Lockhart.
Teaching & Qualifications
I am a dedicated and sought after teacher, happy working in lots of different settings. Alongside my one-to-one composition teaching, at the RAM, I run lecture courses in orchestration, techniques of composition and music analysis and aesthetics. I also established the Royal Academy of Music’s ‘Young Composer Club’, which gives pupils studying at London state schools an opportunity to have their compositions performed and recorded at the RAM.
Alongside these projects, I teach composition at the The Purcell School for Young Musicians and the Questors Young Musicians Club. I have also run educational workshops with various festivals and organisations in the UK, including the Aldeburgh Young Musicians.
Please view my C.V. here.
