Alex Nowitz is a composer of vocal, instrumental and electroacoustic music. His work includes concert music as well as music for opera, dance and theatre. Nowitz is also a vocal performance artist, whistling and singing virtuoso who presents a wide array of extended techniques as well as a  countertenor and tenor voice. He studied music in Germany and USA. Furthermore, supported by STEIM Amsterdam, he developed two gesture-sensitive, electronic instruments one of which is the STROPHONION. For further informations visit www.nowitz.de!

'A composer with Northern Roots and an Internationalist perspective' 

‘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, and in 2024 was shortlisted for the RPS Awards for his concerto History Needs… composed for Nicholas McCarthy. 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 of  Music 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.

Tyneside Sounds Society is an emerging network and a public programme dedicated to the recording and interpretation of the sonic environment and sound heritage of Tyneside.

We inhabit the space between social, creative and heritage experiences improving public understanding of our contemporary aural landscape. 

Supported by https://soundcloud.com/twmuseums

Youmna Saba is a musician and musicologist who started her musical career in 2006 and has released four albums to this day (Arb’een (40), 2017, Njoum, 2014, Hal Bint Aabalha Tghanni, 2011, Min Aafsh el Beit, 2008). 

She is currently working on a research project that investigates the relationship between the art of the qasida (a musical form that is based on the vocal improvisation of classical Arabic poetry texts) and electronic and electro-acoustic treatments. 

Youmna has collaborated with many musicians of different musical backgrounds: Mike Cooper (GB), Jean Marc Montera (FR), Kyungso Park (SK), Piotr Kurek (PL), among others. She has taken part in international programs and residencies: Hwaeom Spiritual Music Residency (South Korea, September 2017), Sound Development City (Spain, Morocco, 2016), Gyeonggi Creation Center (South Korea, 2013), OneBeat (USA, 2012) and at La Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris as of January 2020. 

Youmna holds a master’s degree in Musicology, focusing mainly on the parallels between classical Arabic music and Arabic visual art.

self-taught, we bring childlike wonder & playfulness to our sound-collages.  

weve been described as  
'listening so the pain goes away.'  
'like a dream collapsing around the edges' 
'focussed - highly respectful - artisanal'.

international commissions and broadcasts; awards; sound design for theatre; app based sound walk

Experimental composer, producer and multidisciplinary artist working with sound, film, sculpture, installation and DIY electronics. I also create hand-made acoustic and electronic instruments from recycled natural materials and found objects.

I am interested in acts of translation and transformation, using sound as a way to describe visual, physical and emotional experience. My work often explores the idea of translating landscapes into sound and combines elements of ambient and electroacoustic music, minimalism and musique concrète. 

Contact: gwension.art@gmail.com

catHead is a new live electronic music project working across genres, most notably blending elements of ambient, electroacoustic, techno, triphop, breakbeat and UK bass. catHead designs and builds their own experimental electronic instruments from recycled materials and uses them alongside vocals, environmental recordings and a variety of hardware, traditional acoustic and electronic instruments to produce ethereal soundscapes, pulsating bass rhythms and glistening textures punctuated by metallic drum hits. catHead’s debut release is set to launch in 2023.

For bookings and all other enquiries contact gwension.art@gmail.com

gobscure is following