Sadie Harrison

Sadie’s music is regularly performed and broadcast internationally with works released on various labels including Naxos, Cadenza and Toccata Classics. Her music is published by UYMP, ABRSM and Recital Music.

Her focus during 2015-16 was the collaborative project Gulistan-e Nur: The Rosegarden of Light, working with US Ensemble Cuatro Puntos (with whom she is Composer- in-Residence) and students from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (where she is Composer-in-Association). This unique project brought together musicians from three continents in tours across the USA and Europe. The resulting The Rosegarden of Light CD was released in 2016 to great critical acclaim with BBC Radio 3’s Record Review describing it as ‘moving and intriguing’.

Sadie was appointed as Visiting Fellow to Goldsmiths College in 2015 in recognition of her research work on Afghanistan. 2015 also saw the release of a portrait CD by Toccata Classics, described as a ‘disc of glittering intensity’ (Observer) and ‘beautiful and intriguing’ (BBC Music Magazine).

January 2017 has already been busy with Sapida-Dam-Nau for the Afghanistan Women’s Orchestra (Ensemble Zohra) being premiered at the Closing Concert of the World Economic Forum, Davos with subsequent performances in Geneva, Zurich, Weimar and Berlin. Sadie was also appointed as the first Composer-in-Residence at the Bei Wu Sculpture Park.

A disc of her piano music performed by Ian Pace, Pippa Harrison, Duncan Honeybourne and Renée Reznek will be recorded for Prima Facie in April.

Sadie is a member of the British Music Collection’s Steering Group, a composition mentor with the South West Music School and tutor with New Music in the South West.

John Pickard

John is Professor of Composition at Bristol University, where he has worked for 20 years. He has composed four symphonies, five string quartets, concertos for piano and for trombone and over 40 other works in many genres. The most recent disc of his orchestral music (Sea-Change; Piano Concerto and Tenebrae), issued by BIS records in March this year, has received critical acclaim, with International Record Review (May 2013) describing it as 'outstanding' and BBC Music Magazine (June 2013), in a 5-star review, declaring the release 'an absolute triumph'.

John is currently writing a new orchestral piece commissioned by the Nagoya Philharmonic in Japan for performance in May 2014.
For more info please visit: www.johnpickard.co.uk

Anna Meredith

Anna is a composer and performer of both acoustic and electronic music.
Her music has been performed everywhere from the Last Night of the Proms to flashmob performances in the M6 Services, Latitude Festival to PRADA fashion campaigns, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival to the Ether Festival, and broadcast on Radio 1, 3, 4 & 6

She has been Composer in Residence with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, RPS/PRS Composer in the House with Sinfonia ViVA, the classical music representative for the 2009 South Bank Show Breakthrough Award and winner of the 2010 Paul Hamlyn Award for Composers.

During 2012 she wrote HandsFree as a PRS/RPS 20x12 Commission for the National Youth Orchestra which was performed at the BBC Proms, Barbican Centre and Symphony Hall as well as numerous flashmob performances around the UK.

Her new body-percussion piece Connect It, made with choreographer Dvid Ogle, is a commission for the BBC Ten Pieces Initiative which launches in Autumn 2014 and aims to reach every Primary age child in the UK over the coming year.

Anna's two electronic EPs - Black Prince Fury and Jet Black Raider have been released on Moshi Moshi records to critical acclaim including Drowned in Sound's Single of the Year.

Projects during 2013 included arrangements for The Stranglers & Laura Marling with the London Sinfonietta for the 6Music Prom, performances/commissions at Latitude Festival, Streetwise Opera and a Recorder Concerto for Erik Bosgraaf and the Aurora Orchestra. As well as Connect It, plans for 2014 include commissions for the Scottish Ensemble, Living Earth Duo and a Residency in Hangzhou as one of the British Council/PRSF China Residencies.

Anna is also supporting Anna Calvi on her UK Tour and writing her debut album - due for release next year. For more info please visit: http://annameredith.com

Michael Ellison

Michael’s music defies categorization, integrating contemporary and classical sensibilities with traditional influences into a unique and personal idiom. Described as “beautifully crafted, robust and absorbing” by American Record Guide, Michael’s music is full of colour and contrast, evocative atmosphere and emotional breadth. Having lived and worked in the collision of cultures that is Istanbul for over ten years, his recent work explores the integration of disparate traditions and sonic experimentations into meaningful new forms.
Notable commissions have included the opera Say I Am You-Mevlana (2012), co-produced by Rotterdam Operadagen and IKSV and the Istanbul Music Festival, the ‘Turkish’ Concerto K. 219, for Turkish instruments, cello and orchestra (2008) commissioned and premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Kubla Khan (2011) for the 2011 Istanbul Music Festival with Hezarfen Ensemble Michael currently teaches composition at the University of Bristol.
For more info please visit: www.ellisonotes.wordpress.com

Lois Wyatt

Lois began learning the cello at an early age and has been playing for thirteen years. Alongside her cello studies, Lois has become a keen and enthusiastic composer; recent highlights have included a performance of her Christmas Carol for unaccompanied chamber choir in Bath Abbey and writing a trio for contemporary music ensemble, Plus Minus. She is currently studying for a Masters degree in Composition at Bath Spa University.

This is Lois’ second NMSW commission having previously been invited to compose a new work for Kokoro.

Litha Efthymiou

Litha, who studied composition with Stephen Montague at Trinity College of Music, has been awarded numerous prestigious prizes and awards, including the St Paul's Sinfonia composition competition and, together with long-standing collaborator Effy Efthymiou, the 'Greenwich International String Quartet Composition Competition'.

Her recent concert commissions include 'Bustling' (for recorder quintet), commissioned by Consortium 5 and PRS Women Make Music, premiered at St George's Bloomsbury as part of the Wilding festival in June 2013; 'States of Ice - Diamond Dust' (for guitar), commissioned by the International Guitar Foundation and premiered at Bath Assembly Rooms in July 2012, and 'Egg Soldiers' (for percussion quartet), premiered by acclaimed percussion group Ensemble Bash at Kettle's Yard, Cambridge in May 2012.

She has written music for, produced and directed large-scale multidisciplinary projects, working with artists from the fields of theatre, dance and film. Her composing credits for theatre include: 'The Engineer's Corset' (R and D at The Brewery Theatre, Bristol,  Bread and Circuses, 2013); 'Reminiscence' (Jacksons Lane, Theatre DaCapo, 2008) and 'Wherever I Hang: A Hip Hop Ballet' (Arcola Theatre, London, 2007).
For more info please visit: www.efthymiou.co.uk

Geoff Poole

Geoff is a freelance composer living in the Cotswolds. A former Professor of Composition at Bristol University his love of the classical mainstream is enriched by interest in medieval music, jazz, experimental and mathematical influences, as well as folk traditions from Europe, Africa and Asia.

He has lived and worked in Nairobi (1985-7), in the USA as Visiting Fellow in Composition at Princeton (1997-8), and has collaborated with traditional musicians in South Korea (2008). His compositions include Two-Way Talking for Ghanaian Drummer and 5 ensembles, Swans Reflecting Elephants for Javanese Gamelan and orchestra, and Lucifer for piano and brass.
For more info please visit: www.geoffreypoole.com

Julian Leeks

Julian is a Bristol based composer and the founder and artistic director of NMSW. He has written in various genres, including orchestral and choral music, songs, solo pieces and music for chamber ensemble. His compositional style reflects his broad musical interests which extend from renaissance polyphony up to the contemporary avant-garde.

Elements of world music, minimalism and rock (evidence of his previous musical life as a singer, guitarist and songwriter with various bands) can also be heard in some of his music.

NMSW was born out of Julian’s teaching experience, where he found that even the most musically literate students had very little exposure to or understanding of contemporary music. As a result, the core objective of NMSW is to help young musicians reach their full potential by giving them the chance to experience the best music currently being written and to provide the most promising composers with the practical opportunities that will enable their talents to flourish.
For more info please visit: www.julianleeks.com

Andy Keenan

Having studied clarinet and composition at the Royal Academy of Music, Bristol-born composer, orchestrator and producer Andy Keenan is active in a wide variety of musical genres and in a number of different roles.

He has been score editor and arranger on numerous projects for major publishing houses, including Boosey and Chester, and has worked with composers such as Mark Anthony Turnage, Steve Martland and Jocelyn Pook. As score editor and orchestrator for Michael Nyman, he has worked on films such as The Actors, Nathalie X and The Libertine as well as a number of Nyman’s Operas and concert works.

Andy has worked at The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Shakespeare Globe Theatre and the National Theatre in London and has orchestrated projects for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia and London Symphony.

In his role as a producer he has worked with contemporary musicians in the fields of classical, jazz and electronic music.

As a composer he has written a number of works for small ensembles, three for Wind Orchestra and two pieces for large symphony orchestra, including a commission for the first piece in the inaugural concert of the Docklands Sinfonia in London. He is currently writing a concerto for Bass Clarinet and Strings as well as a piece for the CityWater Music Ensemble in Sacramento, California and one for the Providence String Quartet in Rhode Island. He will be producing albums for both of these groups later in the year.

Sara Garrard

Sara studied music at the University of Bristol and is excited to be returning to study composition as a postgraduate.  She has also scored several film and television projects, and works with Bristol theatre companies, most recently providing a live keyboard score to Degrees of Error's improvised murder mystery at the Edinburgh Fringe.
For more info please visit: www.sara-garrard.com

Kostis Tsioulakis

After studying in Athens for a degree in History & Archaeology, Kostis started a masters degree in Film Scoring at the University of Bristol. Currently, he is a PhD candidate exploring the application of polyrhythmic textures and Eastern modes on Western instrumental ensembles.

In parallel with his studies, Kostis has written music for over 30 feature & short films, documentaries, computer games and websites, while also collaborating with Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London. Kostis's latest work includes the full score for the feature film "How Not To Disappear Completely" (2013, UK) and the main music for the TV Documentary "Neubeginn Auf Griechisch: Die Krise Als Chance" (2013, Germany-France).
For more info please visit: www.kostistsioulakis.com

Manos Charalabopoulos

Manos is a Greek-British composer and pianist. He has been commissioned by ensembles, such as the Hezarfen Ensemble (KlangZeit-Festival, Germany) and the Bridge Quartet (American College of Greece), and contemporary music organizations such as New Music in the South West and Contemporary Music Venture. He was a shortlisted composer for the Britten Sinfonia’s OPUS2015 competition and is currently composing a work for soprano and ensemble to be premiered at Festival Musica (Strasbourg) in September 2015. As a performer he has appeared in venues across the UK, Greece and France.

He has studied at the Universities of Oxford (BA in Music) and Bristol (MA in Music – Composition). Having completed a year of piano studies with Eugen Indjic at La Schola Cantorum in Paris, he is currently undertaking doctoral studies in composition at King's College London under the supervision of George Benjamin and Silvina Milstein as a scholar of the London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP).