The hottest summer academy for Young  Composers

Catherine Kontz (b. 1976) is a London-based composer whose works explore nonlinear form, visual/spatial elements, and musical theatricality.

Recent premieres include Fruitmarket for BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Die Regenmacher for ensemble recherche and Il Floridoro for vocal ensemble Exaudi at Rainy Days/Philharmonie Luxembourg, and the opera Neige at Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, which she both composed and directed. Her chamber opera A Certain Sense of Order - On a poem of Anne Sexton (with Canadian theatre-makers tick tock) is currently on tour.  

She studied piano in her native Luxembourg with Michèle Ries, and in London with John Tilbury. In 2008, she received her doctorate in composition from Goldsmiths, University of London, supervised by Roger Redgate, for her research into Deleuzian theory in relation to mime opera, the cinema of David Lynch, and the Japanese art of Kabuki. This culminated with the groundbreaking music theatre work, MiE, which enjoyed a run of six sold out performances after its première. 

Kontz can also be seen co-fronting avant-pop band French For Cartridge and is one half of experimental duo une cartouche. She likes bright colours, bold clashes, a bit of dissonance and looks to catch a few beautiful moments on her way.

 www.catherinekontz.com

Composer (BMus: Royal Birmingham Conservatoire / MMus & DMus: Royal College of Music)

Born in Athens, studied and worked as a graphic designer, while studying accordion and piano. After lessons with Costas Varotsis, he shifted entirely to music and moved to the Netherlands to study composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. His teachers were Yannis Kyriakides, Martijn Padding, Cornelis de Bondt and Diderik Wagenaar. At the same conservatory he studied classical singing, while taking lessons in medieval and renaissance polyphony singing by Rebecca Stewart. He has taken masterclasses by Franck Bedrossian, Christian Wolff, Klaus Lang, Mark Andre, Dimitri Papageorgiou and Orestis Toufektsis.

He has won the impuls composition competition where his piece "Kāma" premiered on 2017. He has collaborated with musicians such as Klangforum Wien, ASKO|Schönberg Ensemble, Ensemble dissonArt, Nieuw Ensemble, Momenta Quartet, Slagwerk Den Haag, Ensemble KLANG, Enno Poppe, Ilan Volkov, Bas Wiegers, Ben Roidl-Ward, Katerina Konstantourou, Theodore Antoniou, Yorgos Ziavras, Konstantinos Terzakis and many more. His music has been presented in venues and festivals like Muziekgebouw aan ‘t Ij Amsterdam [NL], MATA Festival New York [US], impuls Festival [AU], Onassis Stegi [GR], Greek National Opera [GR], Athens & Epidaurus Festival [GR], REACTOR Vienna [AU], Korzo Theatre [NL] Tehran International Electronic Music Festival [IR] etc. 

As a singer/performer, he focuses on challenging and demanding singing and music-theatre works, including “Kassandra” by Iannis Xenakis and “Anaparastasis I” by Jani Christou, Recitations by George Aperghis, Maknongan by Giacinto Scelsi, as well as polyphony from Medieval and Renaissance era. He has performed together with the ASKO/Schönberg Ensemble, ASKO Kammerkoor, the Ballata Ensemble, the Athens State Orchestra and the Greek National Choir. Additionally, he participated in several premieres by composers or artists including Kate Moore, Kriests Auznieks, Nikos Ioakeim, Maya Verlaak, Nikos Galenianos and more.

He is the founder and artistic director of the new music ensemble TETTTIX in Athens, which already shapes an important presence in the music scene of Greece, staging music theatre or interdisciplinary performances.

His interest for music-theatre started with performing J. Christou’s works and with participating in Karyn Benquet’s choreography “Ensuing” in Nederlands Dans Theater. His first opera "Strella", was commissioned and premiered by the Greek National Opera in 2023, repeated on the next season due to its great success.

From 2019 his is a PhD candidate on music-theatre, under the guidance of Dimitri Papageorgiou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) and Franck Bedrossian (University of Music and Performing Arts Graz).

Christian Carey's compositions have been performed by the New York New Music Ensemble, Cassatt String Quartet, loadbang, Atlantic Chamber Orchestra, Locrian Chamber Players, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Dal Suono Sommerso, singing cellist Jody Redhage, NYC opera flutist John McMurtery, and Met Opera flutist Diva Goodfriend-Koven.

Composer Larry Goves and his ensemble house of bedlam.

https://larrygoves.bandcamp.com/follow_me

Contact: hangruizhangmusic@gmail.com

Hangrui Zhang is a Chinese composer who is true to his artistic personality and dedicated to creating a unique voice in his music. His compositions often draw inspiration from non-musical elements, such as pop culture, visual arts, and the environment.

Hangrui began his formal music training in the United States. He earned a Master of Music degree in composition from The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA. In 2020, he obtained an Artist Diploma in composition from the Royal College of Music in London, UK.

Hangrui's music has received recognition in competitions such as the American Prize, the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, the iSING! Composition Competition, and the Donald Sinta Quartet National Composition Competition. His compositions have been performed in Europe, the US, and China by various professional chamber ensembles and orchestras, including the Donald Sinta Quartet, Eastman BroadBand Ensemble, Talujon Percussion Ensemble, Yarn/Wire, Symphony Number One, members of the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, and the Kunming Nie'er Symphony Orchestra.

Currently, Hangrui is pursuing his Doctor of Music degree in composition at the Royal College of Music under the supervision of Kenneth Hesketh. He holds an RCM Studentship. His current research project explores the cross-genre and cross-disciplinary influences from Japanese pop music and Western modern paintings, both of which he has enjoyed for many years.

I'm a musician based currently in Norwich. I play trumpet and flugelhorn, write pieces and songs, and go swimming. I play with Natural Causes (www.naturalcauses.org.uk), Rude 2.0 (with trombonist Annie Whitehead), and I lead the Moonrise Trio. 

I also lead workshops, which at the moment includes work with the charity Musical Keys in Norwich, which has included improvising with apps, songwriting, and making graphic scores, with the different groups Musical Keys is involved with (www.musicalkeys.co.uk).

I also have a website, here, if you're interested: www.chris-dowding.co.uk - I'd be happy to hear any comments. My debut solo album is on the way - more on that soon..!

Hangrui Zhang is following