New UE composers from the United Kingdom (2024)

Born in Suffolk, England, Adam Meehan-Staines is a Conductor, Composer, and Teacher. He is the Choirmaster and Director of Chapel Music at Marlborough College, where he leads the aspiring and diverse programme of choral music; he directs the four choirs at the College, and the 250-strong Marlborough College Choral Society and Orchestra. In addition to weekly services at Marlborough College, he has also conducted services at St Pauls Cathedral, Leeds Cathedral, St George’s Chapel (Windsor Castle), The Queen’s College (Oxford), and has conducted in concerts at the Royal Academy of Music, and the Royal Overseas League. Meehan-Staines has conducted larger scale works with the Marlborough College Choral Society and Orchestra, such as Mozart Requiem, Bruckner Te Deum, and Mendelssohn's Elijah (unabridged) with soloists such as Mary Bevan, Martha Fontanals-Simmons, Rhian Lois, Andrew Tortise, and Dominic Sedgwick.

From a young age, he became inspired by choral music, leading him to his first professional post as a musician, holding a Choral Scholarship at St Edmundsbury Cathedral where he also began to learn the organ under David Humphreys. He graduated from the University of Leeds with an honours degree in Music, and the University of Buckingham with a Postgraduate Certificate of Education. Whilst at Leeds, he conducted the University Chamber Orchestra in his final year, and directed a vocal consort to win the University of Leeds Chamber Music Competition. In addition to this, he held a Choral Scholarship at Leeds Cathedral, where he was also invited to conduct the Boys’ Choir on occasion; he was also asked to deputise for Leeds Minster and Leeds College of Music. As well as recording choral works on theBrilliant Classicslabel, Adam has sung on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, and as a soloist for the Headingley Academy of Operatic Research.

As a composer he began writing music from a very young age, and has continued to do so throughout his life. Meehan-Staines' compositions developed after his undergraduate degree when he studied for a Master's Degree in composition with Professors John Pickard and Emma Hornby at the University of Bristol. He now receives regular commissions, and his music has been performed at St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Cathedral, St George's Chapel (Windsor Castle), The Queen's College (Oxford), and Chichester Cathedral, among many other places. Last year he was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Schools of Music, and was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Alex Man-Wai Cho is a London-based Hongkongese composer, pianist, organist, improvisor, has been studying in Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance for his Master of Music degree in Composition, graduated in July 2023.

Alex Cho had won the Champion of Composition Secondary Class in the 6th Hong Kong Virtuosos Music Competition in 2015, and Second Honor of Composition Open Class in the 8th Hong Kong Virtuosos Music Competition in 2017. He is also one of the 5 finalists of the Runswick Composition Competition. His opera “Esther”, has been premiered in concert format at Blackheath Hall under his own baton, and his concert suite, “Esther Fantasy”, based on the opera, has been premiered at Cadogan Hall under the baton of Jessica Cottis. He is also one of the 3 composers from all over the world chosen to participate for the Vienna Composition Lab.

Alex has started composing when he was 13 years old. Alex is currently studying Composition under Alex Paxton, Douglas Finch, Gwyn Pritchard and Nye Parry at Trinity Laban, and David Roche in Vienna.. Throughout his teenage years, he continued to self-learn counterpoint and orchestration. His musical style is heavily influenced by Mahler, with his great orchestration sound, and by Beethoven, with his classical structure in orchestral pieces. The counterpoint of Bach also shows a constant influence in his orchestration texture. The use of orchestral sound by contemporary composers, such as Gwen Pritchard, James McMillan, Alex Paxton, and Thomas Ades, left a great impression of Alex, and enriched his expressiveness in orchestration. He has composed in various genres of composition, including opera, organ solo pieces, piano solo pieces, chamber music, and orchestral works.

Alex started learning the Piano at the age of 11, and obtained his Grade 8 ABRSM qualification in 2014. He studied Piano Performance under Douglas Finch at Trinity Laban.

Alex is also an organist, studied under Gary Tong.

Currently, Alex is a freelance student composer, taking composing requests from fellow students and people/organizations, participating in different competitions, and selling his own compositions online. He also teaches piano, and occasionally holds freelance repetiteur and accompaniment posts, and is the organist of The Church of St Mark with St Margaret, Plumstead.

Alma Deutscher, born 2005, began playing the piano at the age of two and the violin at the age of three. At the age of six she composed her first piano sonata, a year later she wrote the short opera "The Sweeper of Dreams".

Deutscher composed a violin concerto and a piano concerto between the ages of 9 and 12. The opening concert of the Carinthian Summer Festival 2017 was dedicated to the premiere of these two concertos, with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and with Deutscher as soloist on violin and piano.Deutscher's first major opera "Cinderella" was performed in Vienna in 2016 under the patronage of Zubin Mehta, and was received with enthusiasm by the public and the critics. Der Standard wrote: "... this amazing girl, who also wrote this amazingly good opera, bursting with original ideas". In Deutscher's reinterpretation of the well-known fairy tale, the character of Cinderella is no longer a passive victim who is chosen by the prince only because of her dainty feet, but a creative free spirit, a talented composer who is oppressed by her envious stepfamily. A production of this opera by Opera San Jose, California (2017) was described by Opera Today as a “once-in-a-lifetime opera-going event that had audiences standing and cheering.” This production was released by Sony Classical as DVD in 2018. Further productions were staged by the Vienna State Opera (in a children’s version), by the Salzburg State Theatre, and by the Wexford Festival. The "Wiener Zeitung" wrote about the Vienna State Opera production: "In concentrated form, Deutscher puts on a firework display of her best earworms, and the twelve-year-old is a melodist of high grace. Her cantilenas convey bottomless sorrow or overflowing longing as needed."

Alma Deutscher's first solo piano CD, From My Book of Melodies, was released by Sony Classical in 2019. Saarländische Rundfunk described the album: "The poetry of a Franz Schubert, the melancholy of a Chopin, the grace, lightness and brilliance of a Mozart - all this can be found in Deutscher's piano gems... [as well as] outstandingly crafted and brilliantly interpreted compositions that have depth". The first book with compositions by Alma Deutscher was published by G. Schirmer in 2021. Her second full opera, Des Kaisers neuer Walzer (The Emperor’s New Waltz), was commission by the Salzburg State Theatre and premiered there in 2023.

Articles and reviews about Alma Deutscher and her music have appeared in the national feuilletons, from the "New York Times" to "China Daily" to most major newspapers in Europe. Numerous TV stations around the world have featured programs about her. She was the protagonist of a one-hour BBC and CBS 60 Minutes documentary.

Alma Deutscher was awarded the European Culture Prize Taurus at the Vienna State Opera in 2019.

List of composition: https://www.almadeutscher.com/compositions

‘A Radical Optimist’ – Aleksandra Line, Mūzikos Saule

‘BEN LUNN puts his beloved birthplace Sunderland on the musical map’ – Linton Stephens, BBC Radio 3

‘His work extends the palette of sounds that can be brought into contemporary classical music, redefining both modern composition and concert-hall inclusion.’ – Alan Morrison, Rhinegold.co.uk

Powerful, poignant and deeply moving, Lunn’s composition certainly represents the spirit of Disability History Month 2018 and our current struggle for justice. – Gemma Nash, Disability Arts Online

‘Ben’s music is intricate and complex with unusual harmonies, making it challenging and exciting – well worth making the effort as the effect created was magnificent’ – John A. MacInnes

Ben Lunn has forged himself a unique position within the new music landscape. As a composer, Lunn’s music reflects the material world around him, connecting to his North-Eastern heritage or how disability impacts the world around him or his working-class upbringing. Alongside this, he has become renowned for his championship of others, which have seen him creating unique collaborations with musicians from across the globe and developing unique concert experiences and opportunities for others. He has won accolades from the Scottish Music Awards in both 2023 and 2020 for his work with Hebrides Ensemble and Drake Music Scotland. In 2022, Ben Lunn became the first North-East composer to be selected for the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Composer Scheme which sees him paired with Music in the Round.

Lunn’s music has been described as ‘Evocative’, ‘Restrained Otherwordliness’, ‘Chilling’, ‘sophisticated and most importantly obsessive’ or ‘produces…glorious roaring sounds’ and ‘desolate monotone’. He has also been referred to as a ‘Composer of life music’, as well as ‘like Beethoven but drunk’ or a ‘real barn-stomper’.

Ben Lunn studied at the Royal Welsh College ofMusic and Drama under the guidance of Peter Reynolds, and also the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre with Marius Baranauskas. He has also received mentorship from composers Param Vir and Stuart MacRae. Since graduating from his Master’s Lunn relocated to Airdrie, where he currently resides; working as conductor, musicologist, teacher and composer. In September 2021, Ben Lunn started his PhD at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where he is exploring the impact of political ideology on composition – discussing Hanns Eisler, Alan Bush, Isang Yun, Luigi Nono, Jian-er Zhu, and reflecting upon his own work.

Lunn’s work has been featured in many leading international festivals including Sound Festival, Crossroads International Festival, Vale of Glamorgan, London New Wind Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Druskomanija, DaDaFest, Arēna Festivals, Leeds Leider+, Zilele Muzicale Aniversare, HASS FEST, Durham Brass Festival, Toronto Contemporary Music Lab, Second Movement’s Rough for Opera, and Occupy the Pianos. He has had the privilege of working with leading international ensembles and soloists including Royal National Scottish Orchestra, Orkestris Sinfonia Concertante, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, N.A.M.E.S, Sofia Soloists, Ensemble 360, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Quadra Quartet, Hebrides Ensemble, Digital Orchestra, SONO Ensemble, Lomond Brass, Lotte-Betts Dean, Eegeru, Grace Maria Wain, NOYO, Orkest De Ereprijs, Ensemble Proton Bern, Red Note Ensemble, Ensemble Synaesthesis, Music Theatre Wales, Lore Lixenberg, Ligeti Quartet, ÖeNM, Ensemble X and Y, Nikolai Matsov, Rolf Hind, Stephanie Lamprea, Francoise-Green Duo, Garth Knox, Lore Lixenberg, Ember Septet, 5K Brass, Zubin Kanga, Martynas Levickis, JVLMA, and Jauna Muzika.

As musicologist, Lunn’s specialities focus on Baltic Music, Horaţiu Rădulescu, Political Ideology and composition, and Composing and Disability. He has had the honour of lecturing at some of the world’s leading academic institutions including Fordham University, Mozarteum, RWCMD, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Jazepa Vitola Latvijas Muzikas Akademija, Komitas Conservatory, Durham University and Amsterdam Conservatoire. His articles have been published across Germany, UK, US, Russia, Lithuania, and collected by the Arvo Pärt Centre. He has also written for the Music Information Centre of Lithuania and Latvia. He was featured in the recent Policy Press book Lived Experiences of Ableism in Academia in which he contributed a chapter. He has also produced documents offering unique insights into how to make the concert experience more accessible Concerts from my point of view, as well as advising concert promoters and organisations to make their work more accessible for disabled artists, What we need to thrive. He has also worked closely with Making Music UK on a new document to assist amateur ensembles.

In 2021, Ben helped found the Disabled Artist Network, an organisation which is bridging the gap between the professional world and disabled artists. Ben is chair of the Musician's Union's Scottish and North of Ireland Regional Committee and is chair of the North Lanarkshire Trades Council. He also contributes to the Morning Star and Culture Matters.

Catherine Fearns is a British composer living in Switzerland. As a guitarist and keyboardist for acclaimed all-female heavy metal group Chaos Rising, Catherine is a busy songwriter in the field of extreme music. However she is also a classically-trained pianist, with a fascination for the surprisingly close links between classical and metal music. Indeed it was heavy metal that brought her back to the piano after a twenty-year hiatus. Her unique compositional style explores the links between these two seemingly incongruous musical forms. Catherine is an award-winning novelist, and for her, writing and composing are both part of the same storytelling process. Her first solo piano album 'half life' was released by Blue Spiral Records in January 2022 and is available on CD, vinyl, and across all streaming platforms. Her second solo album, 'solitary walker', followed in 2023. The sheet music to all the pieces is available from Universal Edition.

Eden Longson is a composer, arranger, and drummer based in London who creates music that combines his love of jazz and contemporary classical music into a sound world all his own. Eden studied Music at the University of Liverpool before obtaining two postgraduate degrees in Composition from the Royal Northern College of Music.

Alongside writing music for his band The Mighty Thunderwells, as well as several short films, Eden has been commissioned to write music for the 2022 RPS Henderson Chamber Ensemble Award winners Northern Reeds, the 2022 Manchester Connect Chamber Festival string orchestra, as well as the Talland Quartet for performance in the 2023 Enys Chamber Festival. Eden has also written music for the Band of the RAF College which was performed in the 2023 National Concert Band Festival where Eden was awarded the NCBF Young Composer of the Year for his work 'Topple the Acropolis'.

Eden has been chosen by the Saxophone Orchestra Manchester to be their Composer-in-Residence for 2024 where he will write a new work to be premiered in April 2024 in Manchester. Eden has many roots in Manchester, especially at the Royal Northern College of Music where he wrote music for the RNCM Wind Orchestra, Saxophone Orchestra, and Brand New Orchestra. Other Manchester outfits such as clarinet/cello combo The Off-Piste duo, the Tangent Wind Quintet, and the Rosamund Brass Quartet have commissioned Eden to write music for them. When the Off-Piste duo premiered Eden's piece 'Swimming in a Fish Bowl' in March of 2023, a young clarinet student in the audience claimed the piece was her 'favourite of the concert'.

Eden is constantly writing new music and working with various musicians, and will endeavour to make available all of the music on Universal Edition so that soloists, chamber and large ensembles can all enjoy playing his music.

Emre Şener is a London based composer, conductor and performer from Istanbul, Turkey. His intense yet delicate music evolves narratively where many opposites overlap and develop simultaneously. He is the winner of the Ateneo de la Laguna Composition Award (Spain), The Alan Bush Prize (UK), Ragazze e Ragazzi Salvemini 1990 Composition Award (Italy) and a recipient of the Ministry of Culture Choir Composition Award (Turkey). His works are performed regularly in Europe alongside recent premieres in the Auditorio de Tenerife and St. Martin in the Fields. His music is published by Universal Edition Wien. He has worked alongside prominent musicians like Emmanuel Coppey, Giorgos Panagiotidis, Clara Orif, Tak-Nara Ensemble, MotoContrario Ensemble, Ensemble Taller Sonoro, Sena Bielander, Manuel Zurria and more. He has also worked extensively in the area where theater meets contemporary music, working intimately with the director Çağla Karslıoğlu and producing a staged production with Nanine Linning. He has been supported by Talent Unlimited since 2021.

In 2021 he was the guest artist to Paris Youth Society of music and in 2022 he became the co-founder and artistic director of London Contemporary Soloists.

As a composer he studied with Rubens Askenar in Royal Academy of Music, London where he held a scholarship. He attended the masterclasses of Marco Momi, Salvatore Sciarrino, Stefano Gervasoni, Fabian Panisello and Agata Zubel. He was a participant in the VIPA festival, Akademie für Neue Musik - Boswil, Festival Contrasti, Catedra de Falla Composition Studio and the Darmstadt Ferienkurse.

As a conductor he held a scholarship to study with Sandro Gorli in Italy. Aside from being the conductor of London Contemporary Soloists, he has conducted the Paris Youth Music Society, Divertimento Ensemble and many other miscellaneous formations from symphony orchestras to soloist ensembles.

Emre also takes stage with electronics, violin and the Turkish traditional instrument Bağlama.

His recent commissions include works for the Royal Academy of Music commemorating its bicentenary with the ‘200 Pieces’ project, by Corti Chiese e Cortili for a piece for solo flute and electronics, by Talent Unlimited for a Double Concerto for Piano and Violin and for the festival ‘Les Journées de Pont ar Gler’ in Brittany.

A British/Taiwanese musician currently residing in Hong Kong. Evelyn is known as a pianist, actively collaborating with artists and composers from all over the world.

Her passion for contemporary music started back in her London days where she spent over 18 years studying and performing in the UK and Europe. She was featured in Park Lane Group Young Artists Concerts at the South Bank Centre before graduating from the Royal College of Music, since then she became involved with many contemporary music groups, projects and actively premiered new works and made numerous recordings including ‘Mahakai’ - an improvisatory album with saxophonist Paul Dunmall. In her solo album ‘Poets from the East’ for Avie Records, she also included music by Desyatnikov, Ma Shui-Long and Tabakova. In her recital album with violist Maxim Rysanov, Tabakova’s Whispered Lullaby was also featured alongside other romantic works.

Prior to Royal College of Music, Evelyn was studying at The Purcell School of Music. This was the time she was inspired and became interested in composing. Though the seed was planted at that time, Evelyn was always more forcused on performing and teaching. After years of dedication to music, she turns her love of music to expressing it with her own language. In 2021 her first official work was born - ‘Fantasies for Children’ , a set of 20 miniatures for piano solo dedicated to her two sons.

Evelyn is a Steinway Artist.

Graham Nathan Harris is based in London UK. He studied composition to Masters level at Royal Holloway and Surrey Universities.

He is currently Soundhub associate composer of the London Symphony Orchestra. He has been awarded national and international prizes for his works. In 2021-22 he gained four composition prizes. In Italy for his Piano Concerto (3rd prize), Serbia for his Piano Concerto (2nd prize), Vienna for his Trumpet Concerto (honorable mention), and in UK for his organ piece ‘Luce Prima’. He currently has a commission for a piano trio.

Leading performers have expressed an interest in his works, and he has had professional performances from concert pianist Nicola Meecham, and organists Kevin Bowyer and Francesca Massey.

He is a prolific composer. He has written both solo and chamber/ensemble works, electronic works, and also orchestral works.

Hyung-ki Joo

John S. Wilson

Lester Hough (b 1950) studied Composition with Anthony Hedges and Prof Alastair Borthwick. He is a composer, pianist, conductor and educator. He was the author of the Hofnote Aural Training website which pioneered online aural training in the early 2000’s. Currently director of Hull Piano School, Lester studied the piano under the Oxford piano teacher Vincent Packford, a pupil of Harold Craxton. He has continued to work as a teacher, composer and performer through a varied career.

Lester has been a finalist in various international composers' competitions. In 2019 he was finalist in the Carl Orff Competition in Munich. In the same year he was also finalist in the Sacrarium composers' competition in Lviv, Ukraine.

Das Orchester 5***** "The CD debut of the young Bulgarian-British musician Martin Georgiev brings us an entirely individual musical narrative world, from London. In it, heaven and earth are reflected."

Limelight Magazine **** “a triumph… bold, sophisticated compositional vision executed with brilliance.”

London-based composer, conductor, percussionist and producer born in 1983 at Varna, completed PhD in Composition at the Royal Academy of Music, London. Composer in Residence of the City of Heidelberg (Komponist für Heidelberg 2012|13), BBC Symphony Orchestra Embedded Composer 2010-11, Laureate of the TACTUS International Composers’ Forum in Brussels, Belgium (2004, 2008 and 2011 selection), the Composition Grand Prize of the Sofia National Philharmonic Orchestra, UBC Golden Stave Award and over 20 more awards and scholarships. Georgiev's compositions have been performed by the Brussels Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Covent Garden Soloists, Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Heidelberg Philharmonic Orchestra, Sofia National Philharmonic Orchestra, National Orchestra of Belgium, Kammerorkest van het Noorden, Azalea, Ukranian Festival Orchestra, Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles, broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Deutschladfunk, NPO4, Rete Toscana Classica, the Hungarian National Radio and the Bulgarian National Radio amongst many, conducted by Michel Tabachnik, Fabien Gabel, Rossen Milanov, Jessica Cottis, Pascal Rophé,Vania Moneva, Franck Ollu, Gary Walker, and others, often featuring the composer himself who, as a conductor, has appeared with orchestras, Ballet and Opera companies and ensembles across Europe.

Official Website: www.martingeorgiev.net

Matthew Brown is an English composer and violist, born in 1985. He read music at Canterbury Christ Church University under Prof. Roderick Watkins and was later awarded a scholarship by the Richard Newitt and Radcliffe trusts to study for a Master of Music in Composition at the Royal Northern College of Music under Prof. Adam Gorb and Paul Patterson. In 2017, Matthew began a PhD in composition at RNCM, focusing on balancing idealism and pragmatism in wind orchestra composition, with Adam Gorb and Paul Patterson as his supervisors.

His works are regularly programmed across the UK and overseas with recent performance venues including Bridgewater Hall, Liverpool Philharmonic Music Room, 1901 Arts Club and Maida Vale Studios. Notable performances of works include Death Song (2012) for BBC Singers, Longing (2019), performed by Gwilym Simco*ck (piano), Rob Buckland (saxophone) and BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and RNCM, Masquerade (2021) for Manchester Camerata, Coast (2021) for BBC Philharmonic and Feeling Free (2023) which was premiered by the RAF Concert Band and has since been published by Universal Edition. Els Encantats (2022) for wind band is published by Hafabra Music.

Matthew's compositional style is mostly tonal, yet explores the use of harmony and textures within a fresh and contemporary idiom. His soundworlds range from dark and subdued, expansive and lush, to alight with energy. Many of his most recent works have been influenced by world music, dance music and jazz. Matthew is also heavily influenced by his chromesthesia, which means that he is able to 'see' music in colour, for which he associates each pitch with its own unique shade.

“Matthew’s subtle orchestration and sensitive changes of texture are beguiling.” (conductor Peter Bassano, 2017)

Please see www.matthewbrowncomposer.co.uk for more details.

Paul Coles is a guitarist, teacher, performer and composer.

Known for his contemporary pieces that are technically interesting but accessible for most players to perform and enjoy, his works range from pieces for the developing musician to commissioned works performed and premiered by some of the world’s leading guitarists.

Enthusiastically reviewed have been, amongst others, his CDs Imágenes de España recorded by Craig Ogden, Evocaciones de España recorded by AgustinMaruri and Kevin Michael Jones (guitar [&] cello) as well as the première of his guitar concerto The Lost Gardens performed by Roberto Limon.

Born in 1966, Peter Bannister studied at King's College Cambridge and in Paris with Naji Hakim (composition), Geneviève Ibanez and Michel Beroff (piano). His awards include the Prix André Caplet for musical composition from the Institut de France as well as prizes at international competitions in San Sebastian (composition), Chartres and Nuremberg (organ). From 2006 to 2013 he was associate artistic director to John Nelson and composer-in-association with SOLI DEO GLORIA Inc. (Chicago). He has written over 50 orchestral, choral, vocal and instrumental works, performed in the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Notre-Dame de Paris, Vale of Glamorgan and Cheltenham Festivals, London Southbank Centre, Saarländischer Rundfunk, Klangbogen Wien, Settembre Musicale di Trieste, Ensemblia Mönchengladbach, Chartres, Frankfurt and Salzburg Cathedrals. Commissioners have included the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Rencontres Musicales de la Prée, Polish Ministry of Culture, Niederrheinische Sinfoniker... Resident in France since 1994, he currently lives in Cluny in Burgundy.

Full biography

Born in London but living in France since 1994, Peter Bannister received his initial training and introduction to professional music as a member of Trinity Boys' Choir in London in a variety of settings from opera productions to recording sessions for Monty Python. His teachers included David de Warrenne (piano), Helen Roy (voice) and John Shepherd (organ). Following his musical studies at King's College Cambridge, where he was a liturgical organist under the direction of Stephen Cleobury, he studied in Paris as a French government scholarship holder with Geneviève Ibanez, Michel Beroff (piano) and the composer/organist Naji Hakim. He was awarded prizes at the international competitions of Chartres, Nuremberg (organ) and San Sebastian (composition) as well as the André Caplet composition prize of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts. He worked for several years in the field of opera as a pianist/vocal coach/assistant conductor (Opéra National de Paris, Théâtre du Châtelet, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence), working with conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, James Conlon and Jukka-Pekka Saraste.

His catalogue comprises over fifty orchestral, choral, vocal and instrumental works, influenced by a wide range of sources from Hildegarde von Bingen or Baroque counterpoint to Olivier Messiaen, Polish aleatorism, neo-minimalism or acoustic/electric jazz. Commissions and creations in Europe and the United States have led to collaborations with Musique Sacrée de Notre-Dame de Paris, Rencontres Musicales de La Prée, Saarländischer Rundfunk, the Polish Ministry of Culture, Vale of Glamorgan/Cheltenham Festivals, Niederrheinische Sinfoniker, Ars Nova Copenhagen, Trinity College Choir, Cambridge, Cor Cantiamo, Illinois (CD Psallite Deo, 2016), Bourges and Chartres Cathedrals...) A meeting in 2000 with the American conductor John Nelson had a decisive impact on his development, leading to the composition of the works Nuages de Magellan and Pursued by Bronze Horsem*n for the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, premiered at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in 2004 and 2006 respectively. From 2009 to 2013 he was Associate Artistic Director to John Nelson and Composer-in-Association for the Chicago-based sacred music organization SOLI DEO GLORIA Inc., for which he wrote a series of works including Hermosura de Dios for voice and orchestra, premiered by Hungarian mezzo-soprano Andrea Melath at the Zemplen Festival in 2010 and an Organ Concerto in memoriam Albert Schweitzer, premiered in Stuttgart Cathedral in 2013. As a conductor of his own work, he directed his oratorio Et iterum venturus est in memory of Olivier Messiaen (2008) in the closing concert of the Messiaen centenary cycle in the composer's church of La Trinité in Paris with the Ensemble Ochestral de Paris, Maîtrise de Paris and the French Army Choir. In 2013 he directed his Breathe in me at the Palais Omnisports Paris-Bercy and in 2016 his electro-acoustic Stabat Mater with the Warsaw-based Ensemble Hashtag at the Poznan International New Music festival in Poland.

More recent projects have included a Miserere for voice and orchestra premiered by Finnish soprano Tuuli Lindeberg and conductor Teemu Hämäläinen (April 2017), an Ave Maria performed in a cycle of five concerts by organist Yves Castagnet and soloists from the Maîtrise de la Cathédrale Notre-Dame in Paris, a 10-movement Ecumenical Magnificat for soloists, choir and orchestra premiered in Heilbronn in October 2017, a suite for bass clarinet and piano for New York clarinetist David Gould, premiered at the International ClarinetFest in Oostende, Belgium (July 2018), Angel of Lviv for the Ukrainian violinist/organist Ivan Dukhnych as well as the 75-minute song-cycle Lauda and Litany (2018-2021).

As a pianist and organist he has performed in recital or as a soloist with orchestra (Rachmaninov, Handel, Beethoven, Chopin... ) in Europe and North America (BBC TV, France-Musiques, RAI, London Southbank Centre, Cambridge Festival, Vienna Stephansdom, Klangbogen Festival Wien, Heilbronner Meisterkonzerte, Pollini Auditorium Padova, Organnum Istriae (Croatia), Lviv National Opera, Settembre Musicale di Trieste, Cathedrals of Erfurt, Konstanz, Salzburg and Ulm, organ festivals in Arezzo, La Verna, Chartres, Gdansk-Oliwa, Ravenna, Montreal (International Congress of Organists. ..). He has also been a continuo player with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris.

As an interdisciplinary researcher, Peter Bannister holds an M.Th in Systematic and Philosophical Theology from the University of Wales - his academic publications on music and theology include chapters in Messiaen the Theologian (Ashgate, 2009), Twentieth-Century Organ Music (Routledge, 2010), Contemporary Music and Spirituality (Routledge, 2013), Mystic Modern: the Music, Thought and Legacy of Charles Tournemire (Church Music Association of America, 2014) and James MacMillan Studies (Cambridge University Press, 2019). He has given invited presentations at the Institut Catholique de Paris, the Universities of St Andrews, Boston and Gothenburg, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Cardiff BBC Hoddinott Hall, Théâtre du Châtelet... He currently lives in Cluny in Burgundy, where he plays the organ for the Taizé Community.

Peter Le Tissier is a Scottish composer and conductor, working primarily in his roles as Artistic Director of the Edinburgh City Orchestra and Surbiton Symphony Orchestra, along with other freelance conducting work. Peter was educated at Royal Holloway, University of London, where he had the opportunity to study at both Undergraduate and Masters’ Level from 2015-2020, achieving 1st Class Honours. As a conductor, Peter’s work has often focussed on a mixture of established romantic composers, alongside introducing newer works to audiences. Alongside some of his own works, Peter has performed the world premiere of pieces by composers who have been specifically commissioned for his orchestras, alongside world and European premieres of pieces with his orchestras in Scotland and London. Peter has had the opportunity to perform in multiple European countries with a variety of different ensembles.

As a composer, Peter takes inspiration from both the natural world of his native Scotland, as well as the work of poets and artists both Scottish and from abroad. Alongside multiple song settings and works for orchestra, Peter has written works for chamber ensembles and solo instruments inspired often by poetic and visual arts.

Tom Smailis a composer of orchestral, chamber, choral and vocal music. His best known works include the fiveFairy Talesfor large ensemble and narrator, with words by Emma House. Two of these were toured nationally by English Touring Opera and recorded narrators include Michael Gambon and Harry Enfield.

In March 2012Music in the Marble, a symphonic work in 7 short movements inspired by 7 sculptures (commissioned by art dealer Daniel Katz), was premièred by City of London Sinfonia.Soliloquy for Stringswas given its first performance in April 2013 by The Arch Sinfonia.

In August 2013 his chamber operaSoon, with words by his wife Alba Arikha, was given its première at the Riverside Studios as part of the Tête-à-Tête Festival.

In 2014 Tom was commissioned to write the music for the Royal Court production ofa trilogy of Samuel Beckett playsstarring acclaimed actress Lisa Dwan. Two weeks at the Royal Court in January 2014 was followed by two weeks in the West End. In August it was at the Southbank Centre. September saw a national tour and October the start of an international tour, beginning atBAMin New York and culminating in June 2015 at the Barbican.

2014 premières also includedCharadefor violin and piano at the Casa dei Mezzo Festival in Crete, andA Winter’s Tale, with the New London Children’s Choir at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (part of the Dylan Thomas Festival).

In January 2015Love, Loss and Chianti, a Christopher Reid double bill, devised for the stage and starring Robert Bathurst, with music for viola and cello by Smail, had a two-week run at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester. Smail has had particular success with his chamber music. In January 2013 he gave a concert featuring four chamber music premières: a duet forviola and cello; a trio forclarinet, violin and double bass; a setting of Samuel Beckett’s last poem,What Is the Word, scored for two sopranos, cello and narrator; and a setting of W.S. Merwin’sInstructions To Four Walls, scored for two sopranos, two contraltos, harp and glass harp. His trio, Somewhere Else, was subsequently taken up by The Gaudier Ensemble and his firstString Quartetby the Allegri Quartet.

February 2016 saw the première of his song cycle,Forgotten Voices of the Great War, for soprano, tenor, baritone, cello and piano, with text from the book of the same name by Max Arthur. Its most recent performance was at thePetworth Festivalin August 2018.

2016 also saw the completion of a cello sonata,The hazard of the die, andThro’ midnight streets, a setting of William Blake’s London, premièred by the New London Children’s Choir at the Barbican in March 2017.

Tom has just completed his second opera,Blue Electric, which premièred at thePlayground Theatre, Latimer Road in October 2020, selling out on all four nights. Directed byOrpha Phelan, it is based on the critically acclaimed fragmented memoir,Major/Minor, by his wife,Alba Arikha. A 40-minute, work-in-progress version of this, directed by Hugh Hudson(Chariots of Fire)was performed at the 2018Tête-à-Têtefestival.

He began his professional musical career as a jazz drummer, working with many of the greats of the British jazz scene including Mark Lockhart, Iain Ballamy and Mornington Lockett. He began composing ten years later following intensive work with Huw Watkins.

Alongside his music for the concert world, Tom has written extensively for film and television. His most recent film,Last Words, directed by Jonathan Nossiter, was selected for the Cannes Film Festival in 2020.Gauguin – a dangerous life, andHokusai, a major British Museum/NHK co-commission, both directed by Patricia Wheatley, were released in cinemas in October 2019 and June 2017 respectively. His commercial credits, in addition to many films for the cinema and a host of wildlife programmes for the BBC, includeDaniel Libeskind – the making of an architectfor the BBC,The Whale that swam to Londonfor Channel 4 andDaphne, for BBC TV drama.

His work for BBC Radio 4 includesAnd it came to pass…narrated by Timothy West and broadcast on Christmas Day 2005. He has also written scores for five Agatha Christie radio plays includingElephants can remember(2006)andOne, two, buckle my shoe(2004), both directed by Enyd Williams and dramatised by Michael Bakewell.

Recent choral works include a long awaited newIn the bleak midwinterand settings of Samuel Daniel’sCare-charmer Sleepand Kevin Crossley-Holland’sThe Heart-in-Waiting, the latter commissioned and premièred by the choir of St. George’s, Hanover Square.

Tom, as mentioned, is married to the writer,Alba Arikha, and they live with her two children in London.