Quinta: The Composers’ Fund

Quinta is a London-based multi-instrumentalist music-maker. Part of a new movement of independentlyminded experimental cross-over artists making work at the intersection of art/new music, electronics, the DIY, visual/video art, and pop, Quinta is particularly interested in improvisation, electronic interfacing and new instruments. She works to present musical material in visually imaginative ways, using movement, dance, light, and homemade instruments and sample sets. She has a richly diverse biography of collaborations across dance, circus and film, including with flagship contemporary dance company Rambert, where she was 2015/16 Music Fellow. She has collaborated on award-winning projects with Ockham’s Razor, The Paper Cinema, and Mimbre, and was PRSF/British Council’s Musician-In-Residence China 2016/17. With a background in third sector activism, Quinta is co-founder of Music in Detention and spent formative years working with Music in Prisons.
The demands of making a living, writing to someone else’s brief, worrying about collaborative relationships or audience response can squeeze out chances to learn and experiment. Quinta will use her award to create some elbow-room to deepen her own compositional practice, attending international residencies, developing her work in electronic interfacing, and broadening her creative relationships throughout the experimental music community.

Quinta said,

“I’m not embarrassed to say I danced around the house when my successful grant letter arrived! Enormous thanks to PRSF for recognising what we music-makers actually want and need to do, and supporting us to do it! I feel honoured and lucky to have been given an award from The Composer’s Fund and can’t wait to get adventuring!”