composed in 2015

commissioned by London Sinfonietta, London Sinfonietta Pioneers and 
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival

premiere by London Sinfonietta, conducted by Garry Walker
St John's Smith Square, London
10 October 2015

Chamber Symphony No.2 'The Australian'

ROKU045 - Sophie Agnel 'Learning' [Side A]

piano piece 2022

These two pieces were co-created with individuals in two prisons in the West Midlands over a period of four workshops in May 2025. Pianist Clare Hammond and I worked with participants to generate musical and conceptual ideas for these pieces for a performance to family and friends in July of the same year. Clare later toured these works across the UK as part of her 2025-26 concert series. 

Shattered Freedom, Shards of Hope (2025)

Shattered Freedom, Shards of Hope depicts a prisoner's journey. Regardless of our situation, freedom is fragile. Once it is shattered, it takes work to rebuild a life from the shards.

This piece was co-created by participants at HMP Featherstone over four workshops with composer Michael Betteridge and pianist Clare Hammond in May 2025. The project was supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, as well as grants from The Gloucestershire Piano Trust, The Marchus Trust and Leigh Day Solicitors. We are grateful to Staffordshire Prison Libraries, Changing Tunes, and Theatre in Prisons and Probation for their support and encouragement.

Internal Victories (2025)

Co-created by participants at HMP Oakwood and Michael Betteridge

Internal Victories incorporates sounds from participants' experiences of prison which were then modelled using graphic scores and translated into sound at the keyboard. Participants created chords on glockenspiels that were woven into the fabric of the piece and collaborated to structure a musical narrative. To represent the interests of the group, we melded two distinct musical styles together in this piece – drill and a folk-inspired melody.

The men wished to show that, while there is a great deal of darkness in prisons, it can also be a place of resilience, transformation and hope. Music can be a tool to build community regardless of setting, and the group wanted to acknowledge how their diverse range of ages, ethnicities, and experiences influenced this work, helping them forge connections with other participants whom they might not have met otherwise.

This piece was co-created by participants at HMP Oakwood over four workshops with composer Michael Betteridge and pianist Clare Hammond in May 2025. The project was supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, as well as grants from The Gloucestershire Piano Trust, The Marchus Trust and Leigh Day Solicitors. We are grateful to Staffordshire Prison Libraries, Changing Tunes, and Theatre in Prisons and Probation for their support and encouragement.

1. Shattered Freedom, Shards of Hope

Moveable Frames (2025)
excerpt of premiere concert recording
DiMenna Center, New York
May 25th, 2025

Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble
Charlotte Mundy, soprano
Elisa Sutherland, mezzo
Timothy Parsons, countertenor
Tomás Cruz, tenor
Jeffrey Gavett, baritone and director
Steven Hrycelak, bass

Moveable Frames (excerpt) 2025

This piece demonstrates an attempt to attend to an existing music; to situate oneself within a network of sonic matter previously occupied by another. 

Written for and premiered by Jason Alder, Camerino 2019.

Droning Falsities (for one's self)

Mark Dyer is a composer of concert and installation music. His primary artistic focus is that of the ‘musical ruin’ - the quotation and fragmentation of found musical objects - that might elicit a feeling in the listener analogous to that experienced when visiting an architectural ruin.

Droning Falsities (for one's self)

Mark Dyer

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