Sasha Siem: Women Make Music

The Royal Opera House is committed to creating an environment for new music of the highest quality to flourish. Over recent years they have commissioned and presented the premieres of new works including Birtwistle’s ‘The Minotaur’ and Weir’s ‘Miss Fortune’ on their main stage,m= as well smaller scale chamber works in the Linbury including ‘Clemency’ by James MacMillan and the upcoming production of ‘SUM’ by Max Richter.

A key pillar of their work is the nurturing of young composers. Through giving artists the space and time to experiment with musical ideas they help them to develop their skills and their musical voice.

They have been nurturing Sasha Siem for over two years; Sasha participated in the first year of their VOX course (an artist development course aimed specifically at young composers) and her resulting work was performed in their showcase Exposure evenings.

Sasha has been commissioned to write a song-cycle titled ‘Knots and do nots’. She will be mentored through the process by John Fulljames, Associate Director of The Royal Opera, who has significant experience of working with emerging artists and incubating new work. This commission will be a fantastic opportunity for Sasha to gain an in-depth insight into writing for the stage and to bring her work to a wider audience than before.