Menu
GUILDHALL SCHOOL

Discover Guildhall

Music Tour

Explore our Music facilities with Guildhall students

Guildhall has prepared me for a career in music therapy from searching for jobs to having brilliant work experience from the placements they chose for me

Emma Barber
MA Music Therapy

Emma Barber
Guildhall had a crucial role in my success. The very high quality orchestral projects and masterclasses prepared me for professional life

Joao Seara
BMus Double Bass

Joao Seara
Studying at the Guildhall School has been a life-changing and unforgettable adventure

Rebekah Carpio
MMus Clarinet (Orchestral Artistry)

Rebekah Carpio
Working in pairs during the MA has helped me developer a deeper understanding of how opera composers work and how to spark their imaginations with a libretto.

Zoe Palmer (writer)
MA Opera Making and Writing

Zoe Palmer (writer)
The relationship between the Barbican, BBC, and Guildhall is absolutely invaluable as it provides opportunities for students that cannot be found elsewhere.

Emiko Edwards
MPerf Piano

Emiko Edwards
Writing music for theatre has been a highlight of my time at Guildhall, as it has allowed me to explore an art form in which I have a great amount of interest and to work towards a professional finished product.

Alexander Hall
BMus Composition

Alexander Hall
Barbican is a key partner of Guildhall, and we can often get artists who perform there to do a masterclass or project with us, and we often do performances at Barbican events.

Ieva Vaitiekunaite
BMus Electronic Music

Ieva Vaitiekunaite
Whether it is in sit-in rehearsals, side-by-side projects or chamber orchestra sessions, the LSO players offer invaluable guidance and provide a glimpse of the exceptional standards we aspire towards.

Rees Webster
MPerf Oboe (Orchestral Artistry)

Rees Webster
I was excited to cover a role in the UK premiere of Andrew Norman's 'A Trip to the Moon' in the Barbican, have a solo recital at LSO St Luke's and also to sing on the stage of Wigmore Hall.

Mirjam Mesak
MPerf Vocal Studies

Mirjam Mesak
I knew about the fantastic tutoring and resources, but the friendly and stimulating environment clinched it for me.

Eden Lonsdale
BMus Composition

Eden Lonsdale
I had the opportunity to play percussion with the Guildhall Studio Orchestra which gave me the chance to learn from, and play alongside, amazing senior players, as well as to perform with the incredible Liane Carroll.

Dave Adsett
BMus Jazz Drums

Dave Adsett
Guildhall is an institution that knows it has to be connected to the outside world - that's the key thing. It's not a bubble. It has roots in the city and in the world.

Jonathan Ferrucci
Artist Diploma Piano

Jonathan Ferrucci
One minute you could be playing in the Guildhall Studio Orchestra with jazz musicians, the next you could be playing in the opera pit, then the next minute you'll b e with actors doing the musical and then playing a symphony in the orchestra.

Millie Ashton
BMus Violin

Millie Ashton
The departmental philosophy of returning opera back to something that is essentially produced as part of a company is a really great thing.

Klara Kofen (writer)
MA Opera Making and Writing

Klara Kofen (writer)
The quality of teaching is amazingly high. With the guidance and help that I've been given, I feel my work has got dramatically better over a short space of time.

Lucy Armstrong (composer)
MA Opera Making and Writing

Lucy Armstrong (composer)
I set up a piano trio when I arrived, and we have weekly coaching with members of the Endellion Quartet and the faculty. It has been very rewarding.

Leo Popplewell
MMus Cello

Leo Popplewell
It seemed like this was a place to go and experience a complete world of art and performance and see what happened - a place that really encouraged you to make things that you want to make.

Vittorio Angelone
BMus Percussion

Vittorio Angelone
Home > Music > Principal study > Composition

Composition

Individual Lessons and Masterclasses | Workshops | Techniques of Composition | Orchestration | Electronic Music | Analysis | Aesthetics

Guildhall offers some of the most stimulating and creative training for composers available in the UK. Our guiding principle is that composers should develop in collaboration with technically-proficient, sympathetic instrumentalists under the expert guidance of experienced practitioners. Our commitment to developing your unique voice as a composer means that we will workshop every composition that you write. 

By studying at a conservatoire you will benefit from a range of unique opportunities. These include access to performers, an outstanding faculty of professional composers distinguished in a wide-ranging field of compositional activity, specialism and artistic approach, and a host of external partners. You will be based in a lively arts complex, and our focus on innovation and collaboration will help you take full advantage of Guildhall’s multidisciplinary environment, working within a constant cross-departmental flow of ideas, skills and creativity. 

Undergraduate

BMus

Guildhall School’s undergraduate Composition pathway is intended to support your creative development as a composer, whatever your interests or sources of inspiration. There is no ‘house style’; we are not looking for one kind of composer. Consequently, our community of student composers is very diverse, but with a shared sense of commitment, purpose and mutual respect.

The BMus Composition programme is built on two complementary strands of academic activity: Original Composition and Techniques. Original Composition activity follows a four-year trajectory that builds from small-scale chamber projects in Year 1 (monody, duo, voice and instrument, percussion ensemble), through the more ambitious demands of working with wind quintet, string quartet and 14-piece ensemble. The programme culminates in Year 4 with works for full orchestra, vocal ensemble and live sounds and electronics. All compositions are workshopped either by your fellow students in the School or by professional, world-renowned visiting ensembles and soloists.

The Techniques strand is intended to equip you with a high level of skill and expertise in the craft and technique of musical composition. In the first two years, topics range from Harmony and Counterpoint to Pastiche Composition; 20th Century Materials explores core concepts in 20th and 21st century harmonic and rhythmic practice and provides practical experience of working with percussion. In addition, a Creative Ensemble element will challenge you to collaborate in a performing ensemble, offering a chance to engage with ideas and possibilities of experimental, and often transmedial, practice. Topics in Years 3 and 4 range more widely and include Aesthetics, Workshop Skills and Orchestration. In all four years of Techniques work, you will also take classes in Electronic Music and Analysis. 

Workshopping your work

At the heart of the programme is the workshop process. We make a commitment to workshop every piece that you write, from your first exercises for one or two instruments, to full ensemble and orchestral pieces in your third and fourth year. This programme thrives on close partnerships with other Guildhall School departments, and all undergraduate composers are encouraged to develop their skills and experience by working collaboratively as creative artists.

Read more about the BMus programme structure.

Postgraduate

Guildhall Artist Masters (MMus/MComp) in Composition

Read more about our postgraduate specialism in Composition.

MA in Opera Making and Writing

Read more about the new MA in Opera Making and Writing, in association with the Royal Opera House.

MPhil/DMus, MPhil/PhD

Read more about our Composition research programmes.

Activities and Ensembles

  • Individual lessons – 30 hours a year for BMus and MMus/MComp students; 20 hours a year for MA in Opera Making and Writing students (plus production classes and mentoring)
  • Open Sessions – a series of weekly presentations given by both staff and distinguished visiting composers, to discuss current concerns, ideas and aesthetic questions relating to contemporary music
  • Workshops – all student compositions are performed and rehearsed in formal workshops, providing composers with a broad range of feedback and response and a richer perception of their creative ideas in real time
  • Departmental classes and seminars – the undergraduate programme includes a substantial series of departmental classes, while postgraduate and doctoral students take part in seminars
  • Creative Ensemble – made up of BMus years 1 and 2 student composers who are encouraged and supported to work experimentally using their own cohort of composers as a performing ensemble
  • Guildhall New Music Ensemble, which presents a concert each term curated by a Guildhall School composition professor or visiting composer
  • Work placements for undergraduate composers via the Professional Studies module
  • City Chamber Choir Composer-in-Association – each year, one Guildhall School composer is appointed as Composer-in-Association to the City Chamber Choir, an association which offers creative development and a London premiere of an a cappella choral work
  • London Symphony Orchestra/London Philharmonic Orchestras – the Department has good connections with both institutions and supports its student composers to apply for either the London Symphony Orchestra’s Panufnik Young Composers Scheme or the London Philharmonic Orchestras’s Young Composer programme

Owing to the School’s location within an international arts venue, distinguished visiting composers pass through our doors regularly, giving masterclasses, seminars and individual lessons to our students. The department enjoys close working relationships with a number of external partners including the Royal Philharmonic Society, Royal Opera House, London Contemporary Dance School, The Opera Group, and the Wigmore Hall, organisations such as Sound and Music, new music ensembles such as Exaudi or Chroma, orchestras such as the BBC Symphony, London Symphony or Aurora orchestras, and festivals such as the City of London Festival and Spitalfields Festival.

Further information

If you would like further information, or a detailed outline of our course, please contact the Composition Department Manager to request a copy. Or read our Frequently Asked Questions about the Composition course 

Alternatively, come to our Open Day, when the content of the course will be explained in more depth and you will have the opportunity to ask questions.