Announcing the latest round of Composers’ Fund recipients
Twelve of the UK’s most talented composers will be supported through the ground breaking Composers’ Fund to develop their work in the UK and overseas.
In this second round of funding since The Composers’ Fund launch in 2016, the latest 12 composers receiving support are:
- Ed Bennett – Researching and composing music around early phonograph field recordings of Irish traditional song, working with the Crash and Decibel ensembles.
- Gary Carpenter – Recording and releasing a CD of four orchestral works with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
- Jessica Curry – Composing new music for her unaccompanied choral music and creating a specialised keyboard.
- Shiva Feshareki – Composing an orchestral commission for the London Contemporary Orchestra and curations with Eliane Radigue, Lee Gamble, Kit Downes, and Laura Marling.
- Stuart MacRae – Developing a dramaturgy and libretto to be premiered at the Lammermuir Festival, East Lothian in 2019.
- John McLeod – Recording four orchestral works, with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra including one featuring Dame Evelyn Glennie.
- Hilda Paredes – Researching a monodrama on the life of Harriet Tubman.
- Lynne Plowman – International promotion for four operas and other key pieces.
- Gwyn Pritchard – Researching and composing an orchestral work for the German orchestra: Jenaer Philharmonie,
- Philip Venables – Developing techniques to combine spoken word, visual text, song and music for a theatre project.
- James Weeks – Researching and composing a substantial piece for solo violin with the violinist Mira Benjamin
- Elizabeth Winters – Composing a number of chamber works, working with Rarescale chamber ensemble, Estrilda Trio, and violinist Marie Schreer.
The Composers’ Fund was created following PRS Foundation’s research in 2014 exploring the challenges composers meet when striving to steer the next stages of their careers. The research highlighted that composers faced limited access to funding, low commission fees, lack of any support structure, pressurised working conditions and for established and mid-career composers in particular, a decrease in commissioning opportunities.
The fund, was launched by PRS Foundation at City Hall, London in April 2016 with additional support from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. It aims to support the creative and professional development of talented composers by offering direct access to funding at pivotal stages in their careers. The fund offers £150,000 annually to support composers and enable them to realise projects and ambitions that may not be possible through traditional commissioning models.
The next deadline for applications is Monday 6th March 2017 at 6pm.
Vanessa Reed, Chief Executive for PRS Foundation said, “Huge congratulations to the latest round of talented composers being supported and given this opportunity to steer the next steps of their creative and professional development. I look forward to seeing the difference this direct support makes as they explore ideas, projects and collaborations which are particularly important to them.”
Supported composer James Weeks said, “It’s a brilliant, desperately-needed scheme for composers who are no longer ‘emerging’ to kickstart the next phase of their careers, or just to experiment and create with a bit more breathing space than usual. I feel very lucky to have been selected and can’t recommend it highly enough.”
PRS Foundation gratefully acknowledges Esmée Fairbairn Foundation for supporting The Composers’ Fund.