Who or what inspired you to take up composing, and pursue a career in music?
Music has been my number one passion since I was a child. I started with classical piano, but then had a realization that I wasn’t fully fulfilled performing others’ music, and that I needed to take a risk and try to find my own musical voice. I went on to study electronic music composition and piano at the university, and have been on an obsessive never-ending journey since!
Who or what were the most significant influences on your musical life and career as a composer?
Growing up my biggest influences were my grandmother and father. Both were very passionate about classical music. My grandmother played classical piano and organ until her early 90’s, and my dad listened to classical music constantly and took our family to Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts. Then in my teens the big influence was Chicago house and Detroit techno, and then next IDM music on labels like Warp and Ninja Tune, pre-fusion jazz, and soul music. It was inspiring to be in Chicago in the 90’s when post-rock took off too. Thrill Jockey and bands like Tortoise were combining electronics into rock music in a new way, and it was an exciting time to experience music evolving.
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?
The biggest challenge was rising above being a local musician. Taking my career from local shows to other cities in the states, and then touring and releasing music internationally, took a lot of hustle. My husband is also from Chicago, so it wasn’t easy for us to pick-up and leave. He agreed we could move to London if I was accepted into the Royal College of ‘Music Composition for Screen’ Masters program. The program accepts about ten students per year, but I was determined! I felt trapped and like I’d hit a creative wall in Chicago. So I think the greatest challenge was extracting myself from that situation, and putting myself in a better place to create and expand.
What are the special challenges/pleasures of working on a commissioned piece?
I love working on commissioned pieces. Whether a film score, a song for a compilation, or a bespoke piece for a performer, I really enjoy having set parameters going into it. Like Stravinsky’s famous quote, “The more constraints one imposes the more one frees one’s self. And the arbitrariness of the constraint serves only to obtain precision of execution.”
What are the special challenges/pleasures of working with particular musicians, singers, ensembles and orchestras?
The biggest challenge is organizing it! We’re all busy people, so finding a time we can all be in the same room can be like a Tetris game. There are so many pleasures. I’ve met so many incredible people who dedicate their lives to their passions and bettering themselves. It’s a a great little bubble of a world.
Which works are you most proud of?
The debut London Electronic Orchestra album. This is a few years of exploration and experimentation all coming together, and I’m very excited for it’s release.
Who are your favourite musicians/composers?
John and Alice Coltrane are two of my favorite musicians. My favorite composers are Chopin (piano works), Eric Satie, Philip Glass, and Steve Reich.
What is your most memorable concert experience?
The first big London Electronic Orchestra concert in 2014 for a 36-piece orchestra at the Britten Theatre. I was figuring it out as it went along, but we pulled it off! It gave me the confidence to keep going with the project.
What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?
Believe in yourself and focus on your craft.
Where would you like to be in 10 years’ time?
I would like to be touring internationally with London Electronic Orchestra, composing new music, and writing film scores. Basically continuing on the same path.
London Electronic Orchestra
DEBUT ALBUM RELEASED MAY 6, 2016 ON THE VINYL FACTORY LABEL
Kate Simko has carved an international career as an electronic music producer, film composer, live performer, and DJ. Hailing from Chicago, Kate’s music reflects the influences of the city’s underground sounds, as well her background in classical piano and jazz music.
Who or what inspired you to take up composing, and pursue a career in music?
Chance circumstance! I grew up in a tiny cottage with parents and three siblings, but close to my tenth birthday my grandfather died suddenly and it was suggested that I should go to live with my grandmother in her large farmhouse. From there being no space suddenly there was a great deal! There were few luxuries, but there was a piano, and my grandmother also had a general interest in music. Somehow I think that these two influences got me started. Before I had ever seen an orchestral score I had “invented” it, and by the age of 14 I had written three schoolboy symphonies etc…
Until the age of 16 I attended a very ordinary ex-Secondary Modern school (metalwork, technical drawing, milking the cows and horticulture). I recall taking my Midnight Symphony (80 pages of full score) to the music master one day who practically fell off his chair. He was very supportive and the piece was even performed by local music teachers. But my second stroke of fortune happened when I was awarded a scholarship place to the adjacent independent school. There they fostered my (probably quite thin) talent and enthusiasm for composing, and I was encouraged to apply to read Music at Cambridge.
How does a simple country boy end up there?.. Or three years later taking a doctorate?… I still wonder….
Important though all those were, I really had little idea of what I was doing, even less a voice or much technique. The Professor at Cambridge (I will not cause embarrassment by naming him) honestly told me as much; though I resented it at the time, he was quite correct. A few years ago I helped to commission a work from him, and gently reminded him… – we were both able to laugh!
In fact not long after my doctorate, and despite a fair degree of apparent success, I decided to abandon writing altogether. I looked through the microscope to see nothing; I also increasingly came to despise the whole new music world. So I hibernated for twelve silent years…
In 2001 I was suddenly fired up to write again. My good friend Michael Bell, pianist, directly challenged me to write again – it was a necessary, if rude, awakening! One of his students showed precocious musical gift and somehow these two catalysts, both playing in front of me daily, conspired to open my eyes to what had lain dormant. The result was a sudden flowering – it was as if a voice arrived ready-formed – the pen moved itself. I had never felt such confident ease in writing. This flood has remained undiminished now for fourteen years.
Who or what were the most significant influences on your musical life and career as a composer?
I am sure we can all think of specific “moments” – little glimpses of another plane. From my humble background of course everything was eye-opening, but as a teenager I was especially struck by encountering Schubert’s Die Winterreise, the delicate transparency that opens Peter Grimes, Strauss’s 4 Last Songs, Boris Godunov and so forth.
But the greatest sculptors of my musical psyche are the works of Leoš Janáček and Gustav Mahler, both of whom, like the painter Edvard Munch, dared to “compose their lives”, “to live in their compositions”. They taught me that music is not about playing games with notes, or some kind of “progressive scientific research”, but about conveying that life force that drives us, warts and all. We are each individual pebbles on the seashore, and each make our own splash in the ocean.
There have also been personal encounters: Robin Holloway, my first teacher, showed that one could fly in the face of orthodoxy (and God knows there is far too much of that “Emperor’s New Clothes-ishness” in the contemporary music world – …and recently, too!). His 2nd Concerto for Orchestra and Scenes from Schumann are personal favourites.
I learnt most perhaps though from Michael Bell. I truly think, through working with him daily in a music department and on recordings, that I finally understood how to listen, especially to articulation. There is a huge debt…
Recently I have become close friends Ondrej Vrabec, solo horn of the Czech Phil, and their Assistant Conductor. He has taken my music to his heart and become my greatest champion, commissioning and playing my horn concerto, and conducting other works.
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far? What are your frustrations?
I could mention having had to juggle my composing with a full time teaching post for many years. But far more significant is “the glass ceiling”, and sad to say, especially the glass ceiling in this country. The greatest challenge for any composer is a lack of interest. We need to hear our work performed in order to grow, and we are also fragile things on whom constant rejection takes its toll.
My real sadness is that so many of the people with power have no genuine interest in music, no inquisitiveness, and often no ears! I have lost count of the “jobsworths” who cannot get rid of one fast enough because the preconceived box cannot be ticked – it would not even occur to them to listen simply out of curiosity. Had I Beethoven’s talent it would be just the same. That is the greatest frustration, not anything more intrinsically related to inner struggle or personal compositional development.
Who are your favourite composers?
First and foremost, Leoš Janáček! I have held his walking stick, his conducting baton and the autograph scores of the Sinfonietta and Glagolitic Mass – incredible! One always hears his music as if it were for the first time. I admire hugely his coherent, cohesive sound world, his passionate drive, clear ideas, cunning textures and sparkling colours – how can one not smile every time!? I always do! Most of all, however, his was an utterly personal language but one which never lost its roots, or its connections with the listener. Compare this to what one now sees so often: a manufactured (and all-too-familiarly) empty desire simply to break the mould, or merely to relay the baton of progressive Modernism “logically” from one’s teacher to one’s pupil. No, Janáček had real genius.
….And then.. all the “wrong” people for a 21st Century composer…. Mahler, Rachmaninov, Ravel, Prokofiev, Nielsen, Sibelius…
What are your most memorable concert experiences?
Mahler 10, both as a young man and a few years ago at Symphony Hall, Birmingham with CBSO; and Jenufa at Opera North in 2015 – legs of jelly on both occasions!
What are the special challenges/pleasures of working with particular musicians, singers, ensembles and orchestras?
As mentioned above, I am still at heart a simple country boy. The sheer magic of hearing one’s music played at all whether by an orchestra, ensemble, or musician, has never left me; particularly working with an orchestra, a beast so varied and “improbable” – a mysterious coalescence of so many musical minds! And one never, never stops learning!
What are the special challenges/pleasures of working on a commissioned piece?
Challenges?… Well – in short, a deadline! How many composers have missed those!? But also not having total freedom in the parameters of a piece. I will say, perversely, that I have been fortunate enough not to have been commissioned that frequently and thus have had the freedom to decide my own agenda and timescales. However, contrarily, sometimes an awkward restriction, or unforeseen stipulation can force a creatively productive exploration – perhaps my Storyteller is an example – a mini-concerto for double bass and ensemble..
Pleasures?…. The opportunity to work with specific performers who “share the investment”. That combined journey is truly special. Of course a guaranteed performance is always welcome, and the time spent with like minds, often in a nice location!
Of which works are you most proud?
This is hard. For me I only succeed when there is a feeling of communion with the listener; of conveying some powerful idea successfully – and if I am shaken up by hearing it, myself! If I may slightly sidestep this question, I feel that perhaps my most significant work is the ongoing Steps piano series, which is an unusual and wide reaching project. This format, five large cycles comprised of smaller pieces, has great potential for colour, variety, and feeling of “journey” over a long time span without exhausting the listener. Like a song cycle, these short pieces can say a great deal.
But I hope also that in time my symphonies and concerti will stake a claim to scheduling. Perhaps my 2nd Symphony is the most epic of them – like Mahler’s 2nd it is my own “Resurrection”!
How would you characterise your compositional language?
This is often asked and so difficult to describe. My sensibility is Romantic rather than Classical. For me both emotional drive and a sense of free, organic growth are vital. I am with Mahler: music should contain all of life! My work is quite traditional in terms of genre, motif, development and perhaps also formal structures. One commentator said that I wilfully ignored recent stylistic trends, yet sounded distinctively modern. I hope so….
How do you work?
I grew up with pen and paper, but predominantly now I work on a computer with Sibelius software. I rarely use a piano. This might be surprising, given my general stance, but I have gradually made the process quite spontaneous. I work interactively with “realised instrumental sounds”, which again I have learnt to “hear past”.
Another composer once said that he had changed from a traditional “successive accumulation” technique to become more like a potter with a wheel – throwing on a slab of clay and subconsciously moulding “on the fly”. This is my method, too. It all starts very crudely, and hopelessly wrong, but gradually refines.
However, I never cease mentally doodling – all day, every day!
What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?
For composers, maybe also for others, too, it is important not to try “to manufacture” a voice. So much of the 20th century is riddled with shallow people like that. One trick ponies who have grabbed a little nameable “-ism niche” for themselves. My “honest professor” above always used to say that a student should simply try to compose the best piece he can, and that if a voice is there it will emerge when it is ready.
Unfortunately the whole current arts system glorifies all the wrong things. Thus young composers and performers are thrust into the limelight (as I was) long before they should be, and are often discarded just as fast. What does one know at the age of 25!?…. To resist the “industry” and not simply to fill the expected template is very hard when one’s shelf life is ten years. For composers finding a true voice can take a lifetime. I wish this were better realised by promoters and broadcasters.
Where would you like to be in 10 years’ time?
In truth, on a small island with perfect peace! Conversely, to avoid the tinnitus and deafness that may slowly now be robbing me of my art.
But more practically, I would like simply just to be writing, with others finding performances and recordings for me. So much time is wasted in being one’s own manager.
Artistically, I suspect that my voice is now quite settled and may not actually change that much… I am not a Stravinsky! But who knows… I would love to reach the obligatory nine symphonies (and Steps volumes)…
What is your present state of mind?
The “full half” of the glass is content to explore further my sound world, with plenty of projects in mind; the empty half is endlessly frustrated by being ignored and banging my square head on the institutional round hole.
World Premiere of Peter Seabourne Piano Concerto no.2 given by Kristina Stepasjukova with the Academy Orchestra of the Czech Philharmonic. The performance took place at the Martinu Hall in the Lichtenstein Palace, Prague on 12th March 2016 and was received with tumultuous, sustained applause and much comment. It has already been partly broadcast by Czech Radio:
Who or what inspired you to take up composing, and pursue a career in music?
I always enjoyed music as a child and played recorder and then oboe growing up. I only really got into composing at the age of 16 when I was experiencing such horrific stage fright that it became clear I needed a different outlet. However, I came from a completely non-musical family so had no concept of how to turn this thing I enjoyed doing into an actual career. Perhaps the penny dropped at some point in my third year of undergraduate – studying Social and Political Sciences – when I realised that composing gave me the greatest pleasure of any activity in my life, and that if I wasn’t doing something creative I would lose my mind.
Who or what were the most significant influences on your musical life and career as a composer?
All of my teachers who have helped me more than I can say, but especially Cecilia McDowall, Oliver Leaman, Dominic Murcott, Stephen Montague and Reza Vali. Also, hearing ‘Atmospheres for Orchestra’ by Ligeti completely changed my life.
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?
Believing that I can do it, having the courage to make an artistic statement, dealing with failure, organising my life and work despite the total absence of a schedule, making money.
What are the special challenges/pleasures of working on a commissioned piece?
Commissioned pieces are wonderful because you know you are working with people who are excited about contemporary music and keen for a challenge. There is always that worry that you’re going to deliver something that they will absolutely hate, but you can’t think about that, as then you will simply never write anything. You just have to believe that if you do something with enough integrity, it will work as a piece of art.
What are the special challenges/pleasures of working with particular musicians, singers, ensembles and orchestras?
I’ve done quite a bit of work with children and voluntary musicians so that has its own challenges in terms of how difficult you can make the parts, but also how interesting they have to be too. If you’re writing for an orchestra of children and you make the trombones count 200 bars rest then it’s likely those trombonists will be put off contemporary music forever. I feel that in a case like that, I have a duty to make their parts interesting so in the past I have experimented with handheld percussion and singing in the context of a large ensemble. The great thing about working with an ensemble like The Hermes Experiment is that you feel nothing is off limits. When I told them I wanted to write a piece that combined the melodies of Iranian classical music with Renaissance Counterpoint, they didn’t even bat an eyelid. And that was wonderful.
Which works are you most proud of?
The pieces where I held onto an artistic idea in spite of being terrified it wouldn’t work; working my way through that vulnerability and coming out the other side intact always makes me feel quite proud.
Who are your favourite musicians/composers?
Ligeti is my shining beacon of inspiration at all times. Also Stravinsky, Berio, Morton Feldman, Rebecca Saunders and Xenakis. And I believe Bach is good for the soul.
What is your most memorable concert experience?
Memorable concerts seem to either be incredibly exciting or make me sob uncontrollably. One was Johannes Moser playing the Lutoslawksi Cello Concerto and then a Bach Cello Suite as an encore (I sobbed in my cheap seat). Another was Lisa Batiashvili performing Shostakovich’s 1st violin concerto which was just incredible. And also a rehearsal of the Berlin Phil conducted by Simon Rattle performing Mahler 2 (I couldn’t get a ticket for the performance), in which I cried throughout.
What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?
That self-doubt is both productive and good and will make you a better artist in the end. That you should strive at all times to do something new, whatever that may mean. To remember to be nice to people, as everyone in music is baring their soul and doing the best they can. To not neglect your personal life and relationships: practising the piano for 8 hours a day may make you a great pianist but it won’t ultimately make you happy, only people can do that.
Where would you like to be in 10 years’ time?
I actually wrote a 10 year plan as an exercise with some friends last year. It involved composing, teaching, travelling and love. I don’t want to tell you the details as for some reason I’m scared it won’t then come true.
New works by Soosan Lolavar will be premiered by The Hermes Experiment at The Forge, Camden, London on 16th February, together with works by Giles Swayne, Ed Scolding, Claude Debussy and Richard Rodney Bennett. Further information
Soosan Lolavar is a British-Iranian composer, sound artist and educator who works in both electronic and acoustic sound, and across the genres of concert music, contemporary dance, installation, film, animation and theatre.
Her work has been performed at the Royal Festival Hall, V&A, National Maritime Museum, ICA, Chisenhale Gallery, LSE New Academic Building, Blackheath Concert Halls, Jacqueline Du Pré Music Centre, Bonnie Bird Theatre, Circus Space and broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
In 2013 she was selected as one of two Embedded composers in residence at the Southbank Centre and received funding from Arts Council England, Jerwood Charitable Foundation and Iran Heritage Foundation to pursue ‘Stay Close’, a ten-month project exploring contemporary classical music as a means of cultural exchange between the UK and Iran. In 2012 she won the John Halford Prize for Composition awarded by Ian Pace and was selected as part of the Adopt a Composer scheme funded by PRS for Music Foundation and run by Making Music, in partnership with Sound and Music and BBC Radio 3.
She holds degrees in Social and Political Sciences (University of Cambridge), Musicology (University of Oxford) and Composition (Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance) and her research interests include the politics of gender and sexuality, post-colonialism and the music industry and postmodernism in electronic musics. She has worked as an Assistant Lecturer at Trinity Laban Conservatoire, leading a course on music, gender and sexuality and at City Lit Adult Education college where she teaches classes on music and opera appreciation, film music and music gender and sexuality.
Who or what inspired you to take up composing, and pursue a career in music?
I’m not sure I can really attribute it to any one thing in particular. I always wrote music, even as a child, but I didn’t think it was an unusual thing to do. (Perhaps coming from a family of artists and musicians gave me a slightly odd perspective!) Strangely enough, a really key moment for me in my youth was giving up the violin: I absolutely hated learning the instrument, and once I’d stopped, I suddenly rediscovered my love of classical music, and began to play the piano and compose again.
I was very lucky at school too; we had an incredibly skilled and inspiring Head of Music who encouraged and supported me in my last-minute decision to apply for music degrees rather than languages.
Who or what were the most significant influences on your musical life and career as a composer?
Perhaps it’s a trite response, but the musicians who have influenced me the most tend to be those I can identify with on a personal level as well as musically. There’s always been something about Toru Takemitsu’s life and career, his struggle to come to terms with his cultural heritage and the difficulties of writing in Japan after the war, the fact that he was self taught and, by all accounts, an incredibly warm, humorous and unpretentious man that somehow strikes me as a good model of how to be a composer in these complex and ever-changing times.
Billie Holiday has also always been a heroine of mine; her ability to bear her soul in every recording she ever made (and no doubt every performance she gave), in spite of the many adversities she faced in life, inspires me continually.
Of course my teacher, Julian Anderson, also had a profound influence on me as a composer. I couldn’t really compose before I studied with him; I was full of ideas, but only had my instincts and a few very basic tools for realising them. He was incredibly encouraging, but also equipped me with the means to be constructively self-critical, which I’m immensely grateful for.
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?
There were some very difficult periods for me as a student. Composing has always been something of an emotional outlet for me, and I think it’s sometimes very exhausting to confront your emotions when life can seem so complex and uncertain. But then composing is always so much harder than you expect it to be anyway!
What are the special challenges/pleasures of working on a commissioned piece?
It’s always a privilege to be commissioned to write a new piece, but it’s not really that different from writing in your own time, apart from having the pressure of a deadline. That can be a useful catalyst for getting the piece finished though!
What are the special challenges/pleasures of working with particular musicians, singers, ensembles and orchestras?
It’s always a great honour to be commissioned by a specific performer. Knowing that they have selected you to write for them based on their appreciation of your previous work is hugely reassuring as a starting point, and of course, it’s always wonderful when you can work closely with them on the work in progress, and even better when they’re pleased by the final composition and play it with enjoyment and commitment.
Working with Richard Uttley recently on my new Dance Suite has been fantastic. We live close to one another and the process really has been very collaborative. I’ve written bits of the piece, played or shown them to him, and he’s then responded and helped me with very practical suggestions; I’ve learnt so much from the process, and it’s only really possible to do that when you’re writing for a particular soloist.
On the other hand, it can be quite scary when you’re writing for a really prestigious group. I remember composing for the LSO and occasionally thinking – oh god, the LSO’s first violin section are going to play those notes: they’d better be good. I try not to let myself worry about that too much, however; otherwise I’d never be able write anything at all!
Which works are you most proud of?
Someone recently told me that when a composer admits that they’re proud of a piece, it usually means they know it’s not very good! Personally I find it difficult to be completely happy with anything; the critical faculties you need to write your best music are also those that can make it difficult to enjoy them afterwards, because you’re always aware of what you could have done better.
Having said that, I am quite fond of a few short pieces that I had to write very quickly (one of them in just one day!) – perhaps it’s because I had somewhat reduced expectations of myself in those circumstances. Many others I’m relatively pleased with, but still have niggling doubts about passages I think could have improved with slightly more time and a better sense of focus.
Who are your favourite musicians/composers?
That’s hard to answer; there are so many, and I’m always on the look out for new pieces and performances to give me ideas and enrich my listening.
I suppose I would certainly want to name Guillaume de Machaut, Tomás Luis De Victoria, Henry Purcell, J.S. Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, Szymanowksi, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, Wayne Shorter, Oliver Knussen, Henri Dutilleux, Hans Abrahamsen, Jonathan Harvey, Claude Vivier, Gerard Grisey and Franco Donatoni, but that’s far from an exhaustive list.
What is your most memorable concert experience?
I’ve many fond memories of concerts and it’s hard to rank them, but one that really sticks in my mind is a Chick Corea gig I went to with some friends back in 2004; he and his band just gave an utterly sensational live performance.
More recently I attended an incredibly good concert with the London Philharmonic Orchestra that included Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloë and the premiere of Julian Anderson’s Violin Concerto; it was an exquisite performance of the perfect programme. I also loved the Orchestra of the Age Enlightenment’s performance of the St Matthew Passion directed by Mark Padmore just before Easter this year.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Retiring, once I’m old and tired of working, to somewhere beautiful in Italy where I can eat amazing food everyday and enjoy the good weather.
What do you enjoy doing most?
Walking and cycling in the countryside and making things for the flat. (My dad is a furniture restorer and instilled a love of woodwork and DIY in me as a child.)
(interview date: June 2015)
Born in London, Matthew Kaner studied Music at King’s College London and was jointly awarded the Purcell Prize for graduating top of his year in 2008. He then gained a distinction for his Masters at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, supervised by Julian Anderson, where he subsequently continued his studies as a Composition Fellow for a year. He has been teaching on various undergraduate courses at both King’s and the Guildhall School since 2009, becoming a Professor of Composition at the latter in 2013, in which year he was also made a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Matthew has composed works for the London Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Philharmonia, members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Workers Union, Siglo de Oro, King’s College London Choir and Orfea amongst others, and soloists including Richard Uttley, Julia Samojlo and Sam Corkin. His music has been performed at various venues in the UK and abroad, including Seiji Ozawa Hall, the Barbican, the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Purcell Room, LSO St. Luke’s and Snape Maltings. It has also been broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and featured in the Aldeburgh, Norfolk & Norwich, City of London and Victoria International Music Festivals.
In the summer of 2012 Matthew was the Margaret Lee Crofts Fellow in Composition at the Tanglewood Music Center, Massachusetts, where he worked and studied with composers George Benjamin, John Harbison, Oliver Knussen and Michael Gandolfi. He attended the Britten-Pears Contemporary Composition course in 2011. In 2013, he was one of the winners of the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize and was consequently commissioned to write a new work for the Philharmonia’s Music of Today series, premiered in the Royal Festival Hall on 31 May 2014. He was also the recipient of a London Sinfonietta Writing the Future chamber commission. His quartet for flute, clarinet, viola and cello, Chants, was premiered in the Purcell Room as part of the New Music Day on December 8, 2013.
Matthew was the 2013 Composer-in-Association with the Workers Union, composing a work with electronics entitled Organum which they premiered with the support of the PRS for Music Foundation, culminating in a final performance at LSO St. Luke’s on 9th November 2013. His commission for the London Symphony Orchestra, The Calligrapher’s Manuscript, was premiered under the baton of Robin Ticciati in the Barbican Hall in September 2013 and received with critical acclaim.
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Who or what inspired you to take up composing, and pursue a career in music? 
The Cross-Eyed Pianist 