Composer, musical director and animateur based in Manchester, UK.  Writes musical theatre, for the theatre and for the concert hall, as well as other spaces.  My profile is rather eclectic and features work with young people, amateurs, arrangements as well as much of my own music.  Enjoy!

Ailís Ní Ríain is an Irish composer. 


“...shows a voice that is independent, exploratory and quirky.” – The Irish Times 4*

“The sounds are bright, fresh and inventive…wide ranging and often provocative.” – The Guardian 4*

‘Seductively tintinnabulating […] music that dances and delights,’ – BBC Radio 3 New Music Show

A significant talent”– The Irish Times

“… her bold approach combined with ingenious imagining of musical shapes” – The Wire

“…an ideal introduction to a highly original composer, with powerful and distinctive ideas” – Musical Opinion 5*

‘The Last Time I Died is a broad demonstration of her curious and unique creative mind’ – Morning Star 4*

She works broadly in the areas of concert music, music installation, electroacoustic and music­-theatre. Her interdisiplinary approach has led to numerous collaborations with writers, dancers, performers, visual and theatre artists. 

Her musical work has been commissioned, performed and broadcast worldwide. In 2016 she was awarded the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Award for Composers and Portrait album of her work was released by NMC Recordings in 2023 receiving many favourable reviews.

British-German composer Charlotte Bray is an esteemed and in-demand composer, exhibiting uninhibited ambition and desire to communicate. Her music is exhilarating, inherently vivid, and richly expressive with lyrical intensity. An Ivor Novello Award winner (2019), she uses her voice to spotlight global issues, including the refugee crisis, unification, terrorism, and humanity’s impact on nature. She is currently the Composer-in-Residence with L​’Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, which is a 3‑year position for the 2023/24 – 2025/26 seasons. 

Bray’s music has been performed and commissioned by institutions such as BBC Symphony and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestras, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Aurora Orchestra, and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. Her work has featured at festivals in Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Tanglewood, Aix-en-Provence, Verbier and Kuhmo, as well as with renowned conductors including Marin Alsop, Sir Mark Elder, Sakari Oramo, Oliver Knussen, Jessica Cottis, Daniel Harding, Duncan Ward, and Karina Canellakis.

Internationally acclaimed percussionist Joby Burgess is best known for his virtuosic, lissom performances, daring collaborations and extensive education work.  In brief ... Mr Powerplant / New Noise Maker / EnsembleBashur / Spitfire Sample Boy / percussionist for Peter Gabriel, Stewart Copeland, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies ...

Described by the Musician's Union as "one of the UK's most exciting and versatile musicians", Lee Westwood is a guitarist and composer whose wide-ranging output stems from a long-term tenacity for musical exploration. Far from ordinary, Lee's works span from the Music-Geometry crossover of his multimedia exhibition 'A Hidden Order' to a vast back-catalogue of works for solo guitar; from headlining festival stages with Hip-Hop groups and Prog Folk acts to commissions from some of the UK's leading soloists, ensembles and choirs.

Lee's music has been supported and commissioned through organisations including Arts Council England, PRS Foundation, LSO Soundhub, Sound and Music, Making Music, Composit New Music Festival, John Armitage Memorial Trust, University Of Sussex and Cheltenham Composer Academy. Alongside many years of touring his own solo guitar works, Lee's music has also been performed by members of the LSO, Riot Ensemble, Joby Burgess, Maarten Stragier New Music Players, Workers Union Ensemble, MusArc, The Chapel Choir of Selwyn College Cambridge, Notes Inégales, Adam Swayne and Hidden Order Ensemble.

Lee received Arts Council support for his recent exhibition 'A Hidden Order', a collaboration with geometer Sama Mara exploring the relationship between music and geometry. Manifesting as a collection of large-scale prints, an album, a video installation and an interactive platform, the exhibition centres around a multimedia performance of a new suite of chamber works, whereby geometric artwork responds in realtime to live music (Saatchi Gallery; SCOPE Miami; Athr Gallery; Prince's School Of Traditional Arts; Chalice Wells Trust; Edinburgh International Science Festival; Kashya Hildebrand; Abu Dhabi Art).

As a guitarist, Lee has shared the stage with countless guitar and folk legends, and has toured his music extensively throughout the UK and Europe. Lee played for five years with Songlines Award nominees Dizraeli & The Small Gods, and currently tours and records with experimental trio Le Juki. He has released an extensive back catalogue of albums, both solo and collaborative, and a book of selected works for solo guitar.

Outside of the concert hall, Lee has composed music for film, documentary, advert and installation, and is one half of the music production company Nimzo Studio, working closely with clients such as Magnum photographer Olivia Arthur ('Stranger' – MOMA, New York; Magnum Print Room, London; Gazebook, Sicily; Photo Festival, Barcelona & Delhi) and the BBC ('Joan Of Arc: God's Warrior').

Although largely self-taught, Lee is currently studying with Martin Butler towards his Doctorate at the University Of Sussex, and has studied privately with James Weeks, Martin Suckling and Alison Kay. Through his ongoing work in education, Lee has run workshops, masterclasses, lectures, seminars and private tuition for institutions such as University Of Sussex, University Of Cyprus, Aldeburgh Young Musicians, Chalice Wells Trust, Prince's School Of Traditional Arts, Cumnor House School and Access To Music.

David Lancaster is a composer based in York (UK).  Originally from Wigan, David studied music at the University of York, and was for three years RVW Composer in Residence at Charterhouse.  During that time he won several awards for composition and enjoyed a number of high profile performances.  Following a long period of silence he returned to composition in 2007 and his music has been subject to a dramatic simplification of style in a search for greater clarity of form and expression.  

In November 2013 his Strata was given its first performance by the Orchestra of Opera North; it was recorded for CD by the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra (under Mikel Toms) in June 2015.
In 2014 David’s Vertigo string quartet was performed in Hong Kong and at the Aspen Festival, Colorado and his large-scale choral work Apocalypse - which tells the story of the end of the world as depicted in York’s medieval stained glass - was given its premiere by The 24 conducted by Robert Hollingworth during York’s Festival of Ideas.  (Earlier this year Apocalypse was revived by the Danish Radio Vocal Ensemble at three concerts in Copenhagen and was broadcast by Danish Radio).

In 2015 the quintet Strike was performed in Hong Kong and York and the saxophone quartet Swan was revived in London by the Lunar Sax Quartet.  Premieres included Batubulan for solo piano, Art of War for soprano, oboe and bass trombone, and Public Order for concert band and tape.

His violin solo Rough Cut has been published by UYMP and received its first London performance in February 2016 given by Peter Sheppard-Skaerved; in July Late Music will present the premiere of Breathless, composed for the Orichalcum Brass Quintet. 

In 2016 he completed PhD in Composition at the University of York with Roger Marsh.

Dr David Lancaster is Associate Professor of Composition at York St John University, and is Artistic Director of York's Late Music concert series.

www.davidcomposer.com

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