Trailblazers: Ten RCM Alumni Composers to Watch
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Upbeat introduces ten of the many RCM composition graduates blazing a trail in the UK and around the world.
As Professor Jonathan Cole, RCM Head of Composition, explains: ‘The Royal College of Music has been at the very forefront of contemporary music ever since its foundation, with most of the UK’s leading composers passing through its doors as students, professors or both.
‘One of many striking characteristics of past and present RCM composers is their extraordinary range of styles and approaches. Influential experimentalists such as Annea Lockwood and John White can be found alongside hugely popular figures like Rick Wakeman and Andrew Lloyd Webber, whilst the line of ‘essential’ British composers starting from Parry and Stanford continues through Vaughan Williams, Holst, Maconchy, Britten, Lutyens, Tippett, Knussen, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and so on.
‘In the music of today’s recent alumni, the vast range of approaches continues and reflects the RCM’s exceptionally open environment, which encourages and enables young composers to develop in deeply personal ways. Our community offers a huge breadth of opportunities, whether in writing for orchestra, chamber groups, the operatic stage or in creating installations, collaborating with dancers, visual artists, or creating music for films, games and a range of media.’
[quote quote="There are far too many to mention in one article, so the selection of composers below, presented in alphabetical order, is a mere sliver of the many young RCM alumni shaping the current contemporary music scene with confidence and individuality." author="Professor Jonathan Cole, Head of Composition"]
1. Raquel García-Tomás
‘interdisciplinary and innovative’ National Award of Music, Spain
In her own words
‘I like my works to promote personal and artistic growth with a strong social charge’ Sound Hemisphere magazine
Highlights
Interdiciplinary composer Raquel García-Tomás specialises in the cross-fertilisation of artforms, including collaborations with English National Ballet and the National Portrait Gallery. This season, Raquel is composer-in-residence at the Real Filharmonía de Galicia, and featured composer at the Palau de la Música Catalana. Other collaborations include the Royal Academy of Arts, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, London Sinfonietta and Oslo Sinfonietta. Awards include the Premio Nacional de Cultura 2024 (National Award of Culture, Government of Catalonia) and Premio Nacional de Música 2020 (National Award of Music, Government of Spain).
Press
Praised for…
‘the interdisciplinary and innovative character of her personal musical language’ National Award of Music, Spain 2020
‘the originality of her artistic approaches and the use and combination of her musical language with new technologies and video creation’ El Ojo Crítico Música Clásica 2017, RTVE
Listen: Blind Contours for orchestra (2021)
Find out more: Raquel García-Tomás website
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2. Alex Ho
‘sonic embrace and intellectual poise’ Opera Today
In his own words
‘A large proportion of my music hopes to investigate Chinese culture, and to reimagine Western contemporary classical music through Chinese idioms’ Hearing China
Highlights
Specialising in stage and interdisciplinary works, Alex’s output includes works for both Chinese and Western instruments, and even pieces for table tennis players, plastic bags, and audience participation. He won the FEDORA Opera Prize 2023 and UK Critics’ Circle Young Artist Award 2021, was a BBC Music Magazine Rising Star 2022, and residencies include Glyndebourne Opera (2023–26), Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier (2021–24) and Oxford International Song Festival (2022–23).
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‘A bold and moving creation’ FEDORA Opera Prize 2023
‘Spiky, menacing and poetic’ The Guardian
‘Compelling and individual’ UK Critics’ Circle Young Talent Award 2021
‘A beam of brightness, hope and resurrection’ Opera Today
Listen: Alex Ho - Listen
Find out more: Alex Ho website
[quote quote="To spend time with Lisa Illean’s music is to feed the quiet parts of your soul." author="Limelight magazine"]
3. Lisa Illean
‘music that seeps into your consciousness’ ABC Classic FM
In her own words
‘I am interested in the small, essential stuff of the universe. Of moments of unexpected kindness and tenderness; of coincidences, of perceptual minutiae – a shift in focus or hue – and of melodies only perceived in part’ Finding Our Voice
Highlights
Published by Faber Music, Lisa relishes exploring timbre via non-tempered tunings and ‘everyday’ instruments. She won the Australian Art Music Awards 2018, and performances include Ensemble Intercontemporain, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, London Sinfonietta, Britten Sinfonia and the BBC Proms. Autumn 2024 sees the premiere of Lisa’s Sonata in ten parts for solo piano, commissioned by Wigmore Hall and performed by Cédric Tiberghien.
Press
‘extraordinary stuff’ The Arts Desk on Lisa’s debut portrait album on NMC recordings
‘To spend time with Lisa Illean’s music is to feed the quiet parts of your soul’ Limelight magazine
‘Illean conjures an air of precarious beauty from her lightly woven fabric of filaments and intimations’ The Wire magazine
‘exquisitely quiet shadows shaded with micro tunings’ The Sydney Morning Herald
Key RCM performances
- Januaries – New Perspectives 2022
- Of Night – From the Soundhouse 2017
- New Perspectives / LPO Debut Sounds 2016
- Explore Ensemble 2015
Listen: arcing, stilling, bending, gathering: I
Find out more: Lisa Illean | Faber Music
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4. Hannah Kendall
‘imaginatively intricate flashes of sound’ The Financial Times
In her own words
‘I’ve been really interested in trying to creolise sounds within my music. By that I mean blending soundworlds that are of the European – for example, the symphony orchestra – with instruments that are typically associated with the Afro Diaspora’ London Symphony Orchestra interview
Highlights
Hannah embraces an array of influences, including non-traditional instruments. Collaborations range from projects with choreographers, poets and art galleries, to work with the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, The Hallé and Ensemble Modern. Awards include the Ivor Novello Award for Best Large Ensemble Composition 2023 and Hindemith Prize for Outstanding Contemporary Composer 2022.
Press
‘searingly impactful’ The New Statesman
‘rich inner life’ San Francisco Chronicle
‘Her sound-world was new to me and it is all her own, often using everyday implements such as combs to pluck, strum, caress phrases that can be hypnotically static and then feverishly dramatic’ Sir Antonio Pappano
Key RCM performances
- The Spark Catchers – RCM Symphony Orchestra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, 2023
- I don’t belong here – FestivALL, 2022
- Verdala – New Perspectives, autumn 2024 & FestivALL, 2021
- Vera – International Women’s Day, 2020
Listen: Hannah Kendall - Soundcloud
Find out more: Hannah Kendall website
[quote quote="Utterly brilliant." author="Gramophone magazine on Jasmine Morris"]
5. Jasmine Morris
‘enchanting sound world’ Gramophone magazine
In her own words
‘I find it really inspiring and fulfilling to immerse myself in different artforms in order to bring together different genres to make a rich and immersive performance’ ThisWeek Culture
Highlights
Jasmine Morris combines instrumental writing, electronics, field recordings and sampling of found sounds. Residencies and accolades include LSO Soundhub, Britten-Pears Young Artist, Dartington Music Festival and BBC Young Composer of the Year. Her work has been performed at venues including the Barbican, Aldeburgh Music Festival and Kings Place, with commissions from Riot Ensemble and the Solem Quartet.
Press
‘ethereal, quasi-atemporal atmospheres … encased in Morris’ enchanting sound world. Morris’ linear writing, too, is gloriously flowing… Utterly brilliant’ Gramophone magazine
Key RCM performances
- Church on the Blood – Revolutions, RCM/Tête à Tête, 2024
- String Quartet for Emperor of Japan’s visit, 2024
- New Perspectives , 2023
- Statues of the Voice – Great Exhibition Road Festival/RCA , 2021
- FestivALL, 2021
Listen: RCM Mini Operas: Revolutions
Find out more: Jasmine Morris website
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6. Nicholas Morrish
‘a fresh, humorous slant’ Thea Derks
In his own words
‘I like vocals to be like that, like a night cry, an angel animal. Old hardcore tunes would throw these sounds in, anything to create the rush, the descent into another world. I love this feeling’ The Wire magazine
Highlights
Producing many of his works using a modular synthesizer system, Nicholas Morrish works with electronics and acoustic ensembles, in settings from concert hall and stage to studio and installations. Winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize 2014, other prizes and residencies include London Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Sound and Music’s New Voices, New Dots and Inspired by Digital.
Press
‘a telling and impressively individual composition’ RPS Awards
Listen: Volta by Nicholas Morrish
Find out more: Nicholas Morrish website
[quote quote="One of the things that excites me about my generation is that we are all so magpie-like in the way that we explore and borrow from diverse musical styles." author="Laurence Osborn"]
7. Laurence Osborn
‘surreal beauty and wit’ The Tablet
In his own words
‘One of the things that excites me about my generation is that we are all so magpie-like in the way that we explore and borrow from diverse musical styles’ Nonclassical
Highlights
After studying for an MMus in Composition with Kenneth Hesketh at the Royal College of Music, graduating with Distinction, Laurence Osborn has forged an international career. The focus of Wigmore Hall’s ‘Laurence Osborn Day’ retrospective in 2023, he also won the 2024 Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Chamber-Scale Composition for TOMB!, and earned an Ivor Novello Award nomination for Essential Relaxing Classical Hits. He was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize in 2017, and has held positions in association with LSO Soundhub, Nonclassical and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
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‘prodigious dramatic talent’ The Arts Desk
‘intriguing, sometimes unnerving, but always engaging’ The Guardian
‘a fascinating effect’ The Telegraph
Listen: Laurence Osborn Soundcloud
Find out more: Laurence Osborn – Rayfield Allied
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[quote quote="... the most joyous sound I’ve heard in ages!" author="The New York Times on Alex Paxton"]
8. Alex Paxton
‘a magician of sound’ The Financial Times
In his own words
‘I want to make the music that makes me feel most alive to write and most alive to listen to’ The Financial Times
Highlights
Composer of unique, vibrant scores and an improvising trombonist, Alex has created several critically acclaimed albums and operas, including for English National Opera, and has won awards including the Ivor Novello Award, Royal Philharmonic Society Prize, Elbphilharmonie’s Claussen-Simon Composition Prize and the Leverhulme Arts Scholarship with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. His work is frequently performed internationally, and he is dedicated to writing for musicians in community settings.
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‘the most joyous sound I’ve heard in ages!’ The New York Times
‘defies every conceivable genre boundary’ Paul Hindemith Prize, Winner 2023
‘packed with life force unlike anything else’ Ivor Novello British Composer Awards, Winner 2021
‘Some of the most genuinely extraordinary orchestral music you’ll ever have the good fortune to experience’ 5 against 4
Key RCM performances
- Spake – RCM Philharmonic, 2016
- Bel and the DRAGON – RCM/Tête à Tête, 2016
Listen: Bel and the DRAGON, RCM
Find out more: Alex Paxton website
9. Sasha Scott
‘fantastic expansive soundscapes’ BBC Radio 6 Music
In her own words
‘I try not to treat writing for traditional instrumentation versus creating music with electronic sounds as being different styles. I like to treat the two approaches as different sound palettes’ Magazine Sixty
Highlights
A musical polymath, Sasha Scott’s career combines roles as a composer, arranger, producer and violinist. Winner of the 2019 BBC Young Composer Competition, Sasha has received commissions from guitarist Sean Shibe, Aurora Orchestra, and the BBC Symphony and Concert Orchestras. She was on the Britten Pears Young Artist programme 2022–23 and LSO Panufnik Composers Scheme 2023–24, and her works have been heard on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 6 Music, in BBC Maida Vale Studios, Kings Place, Southbank Centre, Cadogan Hall, Poly Theatre Beijing and Aldeburgh Festival. Sasha is one of the eight composers joining the 2025 RPS Composers programme.
Press
‘Sasha Scott’s 1000 parts of you made an impact with its electronic wash of sound, bowed electric guitar and wordless vocals like siren calls… clearly a name to watch’ The Times
‘a chaotic sequence of electrical impulses, exploding in all directions, seemingly dark while gazing towards the light’ MagazineSixty
‘Tremulous and powerful’ 5 against 4
Key RCM performances
- Swarm – Electronics Concert, 2022
- Melanesia – Head On! Festival, 2020
Listen: Head On! Works by RCM composers
Find out more: Sasha Scott website
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[quote quote="... one of today’s most innovative and influential composers." author="Classic107 on Christopher Tin"]
10. Christopher Tin
‘prodigious breadth’ Examiner
In his own words
‘A lot of my best ideas come when I’m just doing something totally mundane, like folding laundry... sometimes it’s this act of putting your creative thoughts in the background while the foreground is doing something that actually leads to the best results.’ Sounds of Life
Highlights
A two-time Grammy-winning composer of concert and media music, Christopher Tin entered the Royal College of Music in 1999, attaining an MMus in Composition for Screen. Christopher’s music has been performed in the Royal Albert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Hollywood Bowl, the United Nations and Carnegie Hall. His song ‘Baba Yetu’, is the first video game music ever to win a Grammy Award, and his debut album Calling All Dawns won him a second Grammy in 2011. He recently composed a new ending for Puccini’s Turandot at Washington National Opera, to critical acclaim.
Press
‘a broad spectrum of electro elegance. The sheer complexity of some of the tracks is mind-boggling’ Higher Plain Music
‘one of today’s most innovative and influential composers’ Classic107
‘Tin’s passion for the voice and sensitivity with an orchestra shines brightly... It’s fantastic music’ Minnesota Public Radio
Listen: RCM Junior Choir – Hope is the Thing with Feathers
Find out more: Christopher Tin website
