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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 > Highlights, successes & alumni

Above: Head of Department of Composition, Professor Julian Philips, talks to acclaimed composer Michel van der Aa

Highlights, successes & alumni

Recent department highlights include:

  • The department has a longstanding partnership with EXAUDI and PlusMinus, and composers work with both ensembles as first-year Masters students 
  • Q&As with visiting composers, including recent Q&As with Sir Harrison Birtwistle, John Adams, Louis Andriessen, Michel van der Aa, Steve Reich, Helmut Lachenmann, Tristan Murail and Judith Weir 
  • Each year, Composition students work with writers from the Opera Making and Writing course on Voiceworks, a collaborative writer/composer/singer project culminating in vocal works performed at Wigmore Hall 
  • The Composition Department has a major partnership in place with the Royal Opera House for the development of contemporary opera. Every two years, the Royal Opera House stages a new opera by a Guildhall School/Royal Opera House Composer in Residence, while students on the MA in Opera Making and Writing programme (see page 36) enjoy formative creative opportunities at the Royal Opera House 
  • Each year, MMus students collaborate with choreographers at London Contemporary Dance School to develop new works which receive two public performances at The Place, the UK’s premiere centre for contemporary dance 

Recent successes

Na’ama Zisser (Guildhall School/Royal Opera House Composer-in-Residence 2015-18)

In 2015, Na’ama Zisser was appointed as Philip Venables’ successor as Guildhall School/Royal Opera House Composer-in-Residence. Her new opera, Mamzer Bastard, exploring the relationship between Jewish Kantorial singing and traditional operatic singing, was staged by the Royal Opera House at Hackney Empire in June 2018.

Philip Venables (Guildhall School/Royal Opera House Composer-in-Residence 2013-16)

Philip Venables’ new operatic version of Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis received its world premiere at the Lyric Hammersmith in May 2016, in a new production staged by the Royal Opera House, and went on to win the UK Theatre Award for Achievement in Opera, the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Large-Scale Composition, and a British Composer Award. Venables’ latest work, The Gender Agenda, premiered at the re-opening of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, before performances across Europe.

LSO Panufnik Composers Scheme

In recent years, Guildhall School graduate composers featured in this scheme have included Gonçalo Gato, James Hoyle, Daniel Kidane, Jack Sheen, Donghoon Shin, Michael Taplin and Alex Tay.

Oliver Leith (Composition 2014)

Oliver Leith has had works performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestra of Opera North, and London Sinfonietta. He is a participant in Sound and Music’s Next Wave scheme and a member of the LSO Soundhub scheme. In 2014 he was awarded a Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize, and in 2016 won a British Composer Award.

Raymond Yiu (Composition 2014)

Raymond Yiu’s work includes The London Citizen Exceedingly Injured, written for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and The World Was Once All Miracle, which was premiered by Roderick Williams, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis in 2018. His piece Symphony was premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the 2015 BBC Proms season. Northwest Wind, written for and premiered by Lontano, won a British Composer Award in 2010.

Edmund Finnis (Composition 2013)

Edmund Finnis has enjoyed particularly close associations with the London Sinfonietta, who have variously performed, toured and recorded six of his works, and the London Contemporary Orchestra, with whom he was Composer-in-Association from 2013 to 2016. In 2017, his orchestral work The Air, Turning received its premiere by the BBC National Orchestra of Scotland, conducted by Ilan Volkov. Finnis received a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists in 2012, and was Composer-in-Residence at the 2013 Chelsea Music Festival in New York City.

Mark Simpson (Composition 2012)

Mark Simpson is Composer in Association of the BBC Philharmonic. His oratorio The Immortal was premiered by the BBC Philharmonic at the 2015 Manchester International Festival to immediate critical acclaim. Other works with orchestra include Israfel, premiered by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, sparks commissioned for the 2012 Last Night of the Proms and A mirror-fragment… written for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. His first opera Pleasure was commissioned by Opera North, the Royal Opera and Aldeburgh Music and premiered in 2016. His music is published by Boosey & Hawkes.

Francisco Coll (Composition 2011)

Francisco Coll made his BBC Proms debut in 2016 with Four Iberian Miniatures for violin and chamber orchestra by Augustin Hadelich and the Britten Sinfonia under Thomas Adès. The same year saw the premiere of Mural by the Orchestre Philharmonique Luxembourg under Gustavo Gimeno, and a new Harpsichord Concerto for Mahan Esfahani and Britten Sinfonia. Coll’s opera Café Kafka received its London premiere at the Royal Opera House in 2014. His music is published by Faber Music.

Matthew Kaner (Composition 2010)

Matthew Kaner was BBC Radio 3’s Embedded Composer in 3 during their 70th anniversary season in 2016; his residency involved the writing of over ten new works, which were premiered on air throughout the period. His orchestral work Encounters was premiered at the Lucerne Festival in 2017 with Jeffrey Means and the Festival Academy Orchestra. Matthew was the recipient of a Roche Young Commission from 2015-17, and won the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize in 2013. He is a professor of composition at Guildhall School.

Bushra El Turk (Composition 2006)

Selected by the BBC as one of the most inspiring 100 Women of Today, Bushra has written various works for the concert hall, dance, theatre and multi-media, performed and broadcast on radio and television worldwide. Her pieces have been performed by ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Opera House, London Sinfonietta, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Manchester Camerata, and more. Her music is published by Composers Edition.

Christina Athinodorou (Composition 2005)

Christina Athinodorou’s work has been featured in festivals worldwide, including the Biennale di Venezia, Grafenegg Festival, MITO SettembreMusica, ISCM World New Music Days-Wien Modern, Salle Pleyel, Onassis Cultural Center, Music Biennale Zagreb, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, deFilharmonie Chamber Series. She won the Prix de Jury and the Coup de Coeur du Publique in the composition competition Île de Créations in 2013 for her orchestral work, Interméde pour une mer jamais vue, which is published by Éditions Durand.

Alumni include:

 

    • Mica Levi
    • Oliver Leith
    • Philip Venables
    • Jack Sheen
    • Bushra El-Turk
    • Daniel Kidane
    • Raymond Yiu
    • Edmund Finnis
    • Mark Simpson
    • Sylvia Lim
    • Na’ama Zisser
    • Francisco Coll
    • Lara Agar
    • Matthew Kaner
    • Christina Athinodorou