"John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 - August 12, 1992) was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher, and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century. He was also instrumental in the development of modern dance, mostly through his association with choreographer Merce Cunningham, who was also Cage's romantic partner for most of their lives.

Cage is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4′33″, which is performed in the absence of deliberate sound; musicians who present the work do nothing aside from being present for the duration specified by the title. The content of the composition is not "four minutes and 33 seconds of silence," as is often assumed, but rather the sounds of the environment heard by the audience during performance. The work's challenge to assumed definitions about musicianship and musical experience made it a popular and controversial topic both in musicology and the broader aesthetics of art and performance. Cage was also a pioneer of the prepared piano (a piano with its sound altered by objects placed between or on its strings or hammers), for which he wrote numerous dance-related works and a few concert pieces. The best known of these is Sonatas and Interludes (1946-48).

His teachers included Henry Cowell (1933) and Arnold Schoenberg (1933-35), both known for their radical innovations in music, but Cage's major influences lay in various East and South Asian cultures. Through his studies of Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism in the late 1940s, Cage came to the idea of aleatoric or chance-controlled music, which he started composing in 1951. The I Ching, an ancient Chinese classic text on changing events, became Cage's standard composition tool for the rest of his life. In a 1957 lecture, Experimental Music, he described music as "a purposeless play" which is "an affirmation of life - not an attempt to bring order out of chaos nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply a way of waking up to the very life we're living"."

"Cellist Anton Lukoszevieze (born 1965 in the UK) is one of the most diverse performers of his generation and is notable for his performances of avant-garde, experimental and improvised music. Anton has given many performances at numerous international festivals throughout Europe and the USA (Maerzmusik, Donaueschingen, Wien Modern, GAS, Transart, Ultima, etc.etc.). He has also made frequent programmes and broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, Danish Radio, SR2, Sweden, Deutschland Rundfunk, WDR, Germany and ORT, Austria. Deutschlandfunk, Berlin produced a radio portrait of him in September, 2003. Anton has also performed concerti with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at the 2001 Aldeburgh festival and the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has collaborated with many composers and performers including David Behrman, Alvin Lucier, Amnon Wolman, Pierre Strauch, Rytis Mazulis, Karlheinz Essl, Helmut Oehring, Christopher Fox, Philip Corner, Alvin Curran, Phill Niblock and Laurence Crane, He is unique in the UK through his use of the curved bow (BACH-Bogen), which he is using to develop new repertoire for the cello. From 2005-7 he was New Music Fellow at Kings College, Cambridge and Kettles Yard Gallery. Anton is the subject of four films (FoxFire Eins) by the renowned artist-filmmaker Jayne Parker. A new film Trilogy with compositions by Sylvano Bussotti, George Aperghis and Laurence Crane premieres at The London Film Festival, October 2008. In November will premiere a new hour long work by Christopher Fox for cello and the vocal ensemble Exaudi commissioned by the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and will also present new solo works for cello and live electronics. Anton is also active as an artist, his work has been shown in Holland (Lux Nijmegen), CAC, Vilnius, Duisburg (EarPort), Austria, (Sammlung Essl), Wien Modern, The Slade School of Art, Kettles Yard Gallery, Cambridge Film Festival and Rational Rec. London. His work has been published in Musiktexte, Cologne, design Magazine and the book SoundVisions (Pfau-Verlag, Saarbrucken, 2005). Anton Lukoszevieze is founder and director of the ensemble Apartment House, a member of the radical noise group Zeitkratzer and recently made his contemporary dance debut with the Vincent Dance Company in Broken Chords, Dusseldorf."

"Born in Canada, clarinetist Heather Roche trained in England, lived in Germany for 7 years and now lives in London.

She has performed at some of the major European festivals, including musikFest (Berlin), BachFest (Leipzig), Musica Nova (Helsinki), Acht Brücken (Cologne), the International Computer Music Conference (Huddersfield, Ljubljana), the Dias de Música Electroacústica (Seia, Portugal) and the Agora Festival (Ircam, Paris). She has also performed solo programmes at the Zagreb Music Biennale, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the New York Electroacoustic Symposium, at CIRMMT (Montreal), Unerhörte Musik (Berlin), Eavesdropping (London), and with the Birmingham Electroacoustic Sound Theatre (BEAST).

She has performed with ensembles and orchestras including Musik Fabrik (Cologne), the WDR Orchestra (Cologne), mimitabu (Gothenburg), the London Symphony Orchestra (London), ensemble Garage (Cologne), ensemble interface (Berlin), the Riot Ensemble (London), the Alisios Camerata (Zagreb), and ensemble proton (Bern). She also plays across the UK in a trio with Carla Rees (flutes) and Xenia Pestova (piano) and in 2015 formed an duo with the accordionist Eva Zöllner, with whom she has played across Germany, the UK and in Portugal. She is a founding member of hand werk, a 6-person chamber music ensemble based in Cologne, and worked with the group from 2010-2017.

She has solo CDs out on the HCR/NMC and Métier labels. Please see the Discography for further details.

In 2014 she was awarded a DIVA (Danish International Visiting Artists Fellowship), and lived in Copenhagen for two months.

Since 2016 she has acted as the Reviews Editor for TEMPO, a quarterly journal for contemporary music published by Cambridge University Press.

Her website is host to one of the most widely read new music blogs on the Internet. In 2017 it had 75,000 hits from around the world. She successfully crowdfunded in 2014 in order to host her first composition competition. Six young composers were chosen out of 270 applicants to write new pieces, which were premiered in 2016.

She is a fervent advocate of collaboration, and her PhD research at the University of Huddersfield (under the supervision of Dr. Philip Thomas) explored the nature of dialogue within performer-composer relationships. She has given workshops in instrumental technique and/or iPad use in performance all over Europe, for example in London, Munich and Copenhagen.

Heather completed her Masters of Music (Orchestral Training) in 2006 at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, studying under Joy Farrall and Laurent Ben Slimane, in addition to conducting with Sian Edwards. Following her degree she completed residencies with the International Ensemble Modern Academy, at IMPULS in Graz and with ensemble recherche in Freiburg, the Darmstadt Summer Courses 2008 and 2010 and the International Ensemble Modern Academy in Innsbruck, Austria. She has performed in masterclasses with Michael Collins, Ernesto Molinari and Shizuyo Oka, to name a few. She completed her BMus in 2005 at the University of Victoria, Canada, studying under Patricia Kostek."

"Chloë Abbott is a British trumpet player, musician and curator. She is the first ever female trumpeter to be cast as 'Michael' in Stockhausen's Licht, for performances of Luzifer's Tanz in The Holland Festival 2019.

Chloë has recorded a CD for the label Another Timbre with the UK-based group, Apartment House; recorded for the BBC with Music We'd Like to Hear and An Assembly, performed the solo part in Richard Ayres' 'Noncerto 31; played in a musical pilgrimage with the 'Trumpets aus Licht' at Klangspuren; collaborated closely with contemporary choreographer Sze Chan as part of a movement and sound exploration called WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), performed with Ensemble Modelo62, and worked with various London-based new music collectives. Recent performances in 2017/18 include being selected to join the Ulysses Ensemble at Ircam's Manifeste Academy, Aldeburgh Music, Voix Nouvelles Academy at the Royaumont Foundation and collaboration with IEMA as well as workshops and open spaces at Darmstadt Ferienkurse 2018. In these projects she has worked with conductors and composers such as Beat Furrer, Helmut Lachenmann, Lucas Vis, Peter Rundel, Heinz Holliger, Jean-Philippe Wurtz, Rebecca Saunders and Milica Djorjevic.

She also both performed in and curated a contemporary concert day at the Musique Cordiale Festival in southern France in August 2017.

She graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2015, she completed both an MMus and BMus Hons. She studied under John Kenny, Noel Langley, Paul Cosh, Paul Beniston, Steve Keavy and Will O'Sullivan. Whilst at Guildhall Chloë was also a Britten-Pears Young Artist during 2014 and 2017. She has begun further studies at Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag, on the unique new music course - Master Aus Licht - studying intensely with Marco Blauuw, focusing primarily on Stockhausen repertoire, but also covering a wide range of new and recent repertoire for the trumpet.

Chloë has performed in masterclasses with Hakan Hardenberger, Thierry Caens, Tine

Thing Helseth, David Blackadder, Alison Balsom, Patrick Harrild and Philip Cobb. She has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, The Tallis Society, London Handel Society, London Arts Orchestra and Jersey Chamber Orchestra in venues such as Dutch National Opera House, Centquatre, TivoliVredenburg, Cafe Oto, Centre Pompidou, Barbican Hall, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, The Place and LSO St Lukes, playing both baroque, classical and new contemporary repertoire for trumpet."

"George Barton is a solo, chamber and orchestral percussionist and timpanist based in London.

He is a member of the Colin Currie Group and has also worked with the London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Nash Ensemble, Britten Sinfonia, Aurora Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Endymion, Music Theatre Wales, BBC Singers, Mahogany Opera Group, Notes Inégales, Riot Ensemble, London Contemporary Orchestra, the Royal Opera House, and the Multi-Story Orchestra, among many other ensembles and orchestras.

As a solo artist George has performed at the Southbank Centre's "The Rest is Noise" festival, the "Occupy the Pianos" festival at St John's Smith Square, and at a number of Nonclassical events across London, among other venues across the UK. His collaboration with Turner Prize -winning artist Jeremy Deller at the Barbican's Station to Station festival was featured on BBC2's Artsnight, and his playing has been recorded and broadcast many times for BBC Radio 3 and NMC. He was featured soloist at Filthy Lucre's The Sounding Body concerts and clubnight - footage available on the media page.

As an ensemble and orchestral player he has performed at all the major London concert halls, including at the BBC Proms every year since 2014, as well as such venues as the Cologne Philharmonie, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Tokyo Opera City, and many others.

He has performed chamber music at various venues around the UK and abroad, including the Concertgebouw Grote Zaal, Amsterdam, Cité de la Musique, Paris, Delft Chamber Music Festival, Royal Festival Hall, and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

With duo partner Siwan Rhys he has performed at St John's Smith Square, Barbican Hall, the City of London Festival, XOYO, Scala and The Forge, among other venues. Committed to commissioning new music, the duo became New Dots artists in 2014; in 2017 they took part in the Stockhausen biennial at Kürten, performing Kontakte and solo works. The duo was selected to become one of three St John's Smith Square Young Artists for the 2017-18 season. Their programme for the season included the premiere of a 40-minute work from Oliver Leit and the UK premiere of Eric Wubbels' doxa, alongside music by Stockhausen, Kagel, Cage, Fran le Lohé and John Luther Adams, as well as unpublished music by Morton Feldman."

"Mira Benjamin is a Canadian violinist, researcher and new-music instigator.

She performs new and experimental music, with a special interest in microtonality & tuning practice. She actively commissions music from composers at all stages of their careers, and develops each new work through multiple performances. Current collaborations include new works by Anna Höstman, Scott McLaughlin, Amber Priestley, Taylor Brook and James Weeks.

Since 2011, Mira has co-directed NU:NORD - a project-based music and performance network which instigates artistic exchanges and encourages community building between music creators from Canada, Norway & the UK. To date NU:NORD has engaged 79 artists and commissioned 62 new works. Through this initiative, Mira hopes to offer a foundation from which Canadian artists can reach out to artistic communities overseas, and provide a conduit through which UK & Norwegian artists can access Canada's rich art culture.

Originally from Vancouver, British Columbia, Mira lived for ten years in Montréal, where she was a member of Quatuor Bozzini. Since 2014 she has resided in London (UK), where she regularly performs with ensembles such as Apartment House, Decibel, and the London Contemporary Orchestra Soloists, and is currently the Duncan Druce Scholar in Music Performance at the University of Huddersfield.

Mira is the recipient of the 2016 Virginia Parker Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts. The prize is awarded annually to a Canadian musician in recognition of their contribution to the artistic life in Canada and internationally."

Raymond Brien is a clarinetist, Composer and Artistic Director of the Thinking Minds Project.

"Bridget Carey studied jointly at the Royal Academy of Music and London University and has pursued a varied freelance career based in London, and has developed a particular reputation in the field of new music.

For 15 years she premiered new chamber opera for the Almeida, whilst working in dance scores with Siobhan Davies and Rambert companies, classical contemporary with Opus 20 and Music Projects/London and new complexity with Ensemble Expose. From 1995-2005 she was viola player with the Kreutzer string quartet. More recently, her chamber music interests include Okeanos and the RPS award-winning experimental music group Apartment House, with whom she continues to add to her chamber music discography. She has been a member of Britten Sinfonia for the last 20 years, and is a regular guest with London Sinfonietta and BCMG, among others."

"Pete Furniss has performed internationally across a variety of genres, including orchestral and chamber music, a wide variety of contemporary and electronic musics, free improvisation and improvised theatre.

His PhD in Creative Practice focused on bringing electronics and digital technology alongside the practice of traditional instruments, and was supported by an award from the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). He's presented related performances and papers at conferences in Lisbon, Athens, Seoul, Amsterdam (STEIM), the Edinburgh Jazz Festival, the Universities of Sussex, Sheffield, and Manchester, Trinity Laban Conservatoire, and the Barbican Centre.

Solo recordings include Time Pieces (2007, Clarinet Classics) and Mendelssohn's pieces for clarinet and basset horn with Dimitri Ashkenazy (1994, Pan Classics). In 2015 he released Bitter Together (Fabrikant Records) with guitarist Haftor Medbøe, a set of improvisations using analogue and digital electronics. A forthcoming CD Clarinetronics (Clarinet Classics) is set for release in 2019, as well as more collaborations, and an album dedicated to Martin Parker's immersive software environment gruntCount."

"London based pianist and conductor Mark Knoop is known for his fearless performances and individual interpretations. He has commissioned and premièred countless new works and worked with many respected composers including Michael Finnissy, Joanna Bailie, Bryn Harrison, Bernhard Lang, Matthew Shlomowitz, Jennifer Walshe and Steven Kazuo Takasugi. His versatile technique and virtuosity also brings fresh approaches to the standard and 20th-century repertoire.

Mark performs regularly throughout Europe, the United Kingdom and Australia and in New Zealand, South Korea, Mongolia, United States of America, Canada and at festivals including Transit (Leuven), Ultima (Oslo), Huddersfield, London Contemporary Music Festival, Borealis (Bergen), Spor (Århus), Athelas (Copenhagen), and MaerzMusik (Berlin).

He performs with various ensembles including Plus-Minus (London/Brussels) and Apartment House (London), and has conducted EXAUDI (London), Scenatet (Denmark), and London Sinfonietta. His recordings of music by John Cage, Richard Beaudoin, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Peter Ablinger, and David Lumsdaine have been critically acclaimed."

"Simon Limbrick's involvement in music embraces performance, composing and education.

He was a member of the cult systems orchestra The Lost Jockey and Man Jumping, recording for EG Editions and creating scores for leading dance companies, Second Stride, London Contemporary Dance, Rosemary Lee and Sue MacLennan. He has been in demand as a percussionist performing all over the world with the Nash Ensemble, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Endymion Ensemble, Composers' Ensemble and Fibonacci Sequence as well as recording with artists such as Alabama3, Gavin Bryars Pete Lockett and for Blue Note Records. He has been guest principal with the LSO and worked under conductors, Leonard Bernstein, Oliver Knussen, Simon Rattle and Tom Ades. He has featured on film and television including documentaries about Steve Reich and Kenneth MacMillan's award winning Judas Tree.Compositions created for him include works by Javier Alvarez, Brian Elias (Kenneth MacMillan's last ballet The Judas Tree), Vic Hoyland and Andrew Poppy. He has performed the world-premieres of solo pieces by James Dillon, Frederic Rzewski , Claude Vivier, Philip Cashian, Thea Musgrave, Harry de Wit, Howard Skempton, Michael Wolters and Ed Kelly. His solo performances have been broadcast by the BBC, RAI, Radio France, Dutch TV and radio.

Recently, he performed his own concerto Bulls Yard and Stockhausen's Zyklus at the Sage, Gateshead,(see review) solo steel-pan in Brian Elias' Judas Tree at Royal Opera House, London, in 2010 and directed his mixed-media project, dot-machine, a web-based musical construction accessible on www.marimbo.com. He created a 24 hour long piece surfaces with the composer James Saunders, with financial assistance from the Arts Council of Great Britain and premiered at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in 2011.

In education, Simon has led workshops since 1982, and been a returning resident artist in festivals and organisations, including Blackheath Concert Halls, Aldeburgh Music, Sound It Out , Spitalfields Festival. Workshop projects have been led by him throughout Europe. As a fully-qualified teacher, he has led Music and Performing Arts in Secondary Schools for five years. He has led school and community projects for Aldeburgh Music. As Artistic Director, he helped establish In Harmony Norwich, creating mixed-ability orchestral pieces for professional and young student players. Until the School of Music closed in June 2014, he was Director of 'Musician in the Community' and 'Creative Leadership' courses at University of East Anglia.



As a composer, Simon has gained an MA in Electroacoustic Composition from City University and collaborated as a composer on a number of large scale works, including a project at Fort Dunlop, Birmingham, with Rosemary Lee and site-specific work with Dutch composer/sound sculptor Harry de Wit in Holland and Brussels.He has produced film scores for TV and film festivals and composed music for theatre productions at the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Companies. Groups he has created pieces for include Mary Wiegold's Songbook, Roger Heaton Group, Ensemble Bash, Network of Sparks, Endymion Ensemble, Richard Durrant, Ritmatic, Hooloo. The Brighton Youth Orchestra performed machina lumina , for string ensemble and vibraphone throughout 2009. His composition Machine for Living for Landesmusikrat/Splash was recorded at Deutschlandradio. He has produced recordings for wergo and others.Currently composing a large piece for jazz brass and marimba.

He has created the CDs, Steam, Hooloo, Clean, Ritmatik, Dot-Machine, Hammer, Rise and Fall, , between and Relay, which are frequently broadcast and available on well-known download sites. NEW RELEASE of a double CD RELAY, of contemporary steel-pan music in Sept 2014. Sound Composer for the film 3 Church Walk by the director Emily Richardson premiered on 18th Oct 2014 at The London Festival, BFI, London."

"Japanese-born violinist Chihiro Ono use music as a tool to explore human abilities, link people and places, and open human beings' minds."

"James Opstad is a United Kingdom bassist, composer and one third of duck-rabbit music."

"Joe Qiu - Bassoon

As well as La Nuova Musica, Joe works regularly as a principal bassoon with period instrument orchestras including the Orchestra of the Age of Englightenment, Dunedin Consort, Arcangelo, Academy of Ancient Music, The English Concert, the Irish Baroque Orchestra and La Serenissima.

Projects with the London Symphony, Scottish Chamber, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Concert, Netherlands Symphony and The Hague Philharmonic orchestras, and the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, have included performances as principal bassoon televised at the BBC Proms, as well as live radio broadcasts in the UK and in Europe.

Joe appears as principal on a number of recent recordings, including La Nuova Musica's Orfeo, Arcangelo's Brockes Passion, Academy of Ancient Music's Immortal Beloved, Favourite Adagios with the RPO, and Irish Baroque Orchestra's Trials of Tenducci.

Joe collaborated with the 840 concert series to commission and perform six pieces for bassoon and double bass, and has worked with Multi-Story Orchestra since their first performance in 2011, including curating a chamber concert for them.

Joe teaches for Wandsworth's Music Service and has been involved in a wide range of other education and outreach projects, including the OAE's "Our Band" SEND school project."

"Christopher Redgate is the Evelyn Barbirolli Research Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music, London. He has recently been active in redesigning the key-work of the oboe and, in collaboration with Howarth of London, has developed the Howarth-Redgate system oboe for contemporary music performance.

He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and has for 35 years specialised in the performance of contemporary oboe music. He has been described as having 'extraordinary exploratory technical brilliance' (Music Web) and of being a 'tireless champion' of extended techniques (Double Reed Magazine). This specialisation has inspired many composers to write for him (examples include Brian Ferneyhough, Michael Finnissy, Roger Redgate, Richard Barrett, Edwin Roxburgh, Christopher Fox, James Clarke, Sam Hayden, Paul Archbold, Michael Young, Fabrice Fitch and David Gorton and Joe Cutler) and as a result he has given premiere performances of a great number of works.

His performing career has taken him all over the world and as a soloist, or in ensembles; he has performed in most European countries, Scandinavia, Australia, America, Canada, Mexico and China. He has worked with many ensembles and orchestras includingThe Arditti Quartet, Quatour Diotima, The London Symphony Orchestra, Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra 10:10 Ensemble, The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Exposé, Cikada Ensemble, Coull Quartet, Suoraan, Trio Krosta, Kreutzer Quartet, Firebird Ensemble, Music Projects/London, Lontano, Ensemble Modern, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Ixion, Apartment House and Topologies.

He is active as a teacher both of oboe and in workshops for composers. From 1986 to 1992 he was the oboe teacher at the International New Music Course in Darmstadt. Recent teaching events have included oboe classes at the Royal Academy of Music (oboe class and research presentations), Royal Scottish Academy of Music, Royal Northern College of Music, Birmingham Conservatoire, The Royal Welsh College of Music, Kingston University and Trinity College of Music.Composition workshops (writing for oboe) have been presented at Kings College London, Huddersfield University, Goldsmith's College, Kingston University, and Birmingham Conservatoire and in workshops run by the SPNM and the BMIC.

He broadcasts regularly for BBC Radio Three and has several solo CDs. The most recent being New Music for a New Oboe (vol.1) with music by Michael Finnissy and Edwin Roxburgh. These works were written for the new Howarth-Redgate oboe and this CD is the first recording of the new instrument.He has recently contributed three articles to an edition of Contemporary Music Review, many articles for The IDRS and BDRS journals and a number of chapters in multi-authored books. He is currently working on a book on the interpretation of contemporary oboe music.

His performances frequently include the use of electronics and especially of the lap top computer and for many years now he has been including improvisation as a significant part of his recitals.

Chris studied at Chethams' School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music where Richard Morgan and Evelyn Barbirolli taught him. During his time at the Royal Academy he won a several prizes and represented the Academy in a number of concerto performances. A number of prizes in international competitions marked the beginning of his professional performing career."

"Welsh pianist Siwan Rhys enjoys a varied career of solo, chamber, and ensemble playing, with a strong focus on contemporary music and collaboration with composers.

She has played at prestigious British venues such as the Barbican Hall, Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, St David's Hall, Symphony Hall, and abroad at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Le Tambour Rennes, and Shanghai Symphony Hall amongst others. She has also appeared at the Aldeburgh Festival, BBC Proms, Principal Sound, Occupy the Pianos, Lille Piano(s) Festival, and has recorded many times for television, radio, and labels such as NMC, all that dust, and Prima Facie. Her recent recording of Stockhausen's KONTAKTE (with percussionist George Barton) was released in October 2019 on the all that dust label.

Recent concert engagements include performances of Charles Ives' 'Concord Sonata' in France as part of the Oeuvres Monstres series, Nono's ...sofferte onde serene... at the Principal Sound festival, Feldman's For Philip Guston and Why Patterns?, Stockhausen's KONTAKTE, and appearances at Occupy the Pianos and Lille Piano(s) Festival playing music by Vivier and Eastman.

Also a regular ensemble and orchestral pianist, Siwan has worked with the London Sinfonietta, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Colin Currie Group, Aldeburgh Festival Ensemble, Mahogany Opera Group, Music Theatre Wales, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, with conductors Oliver Knussen, François-Xavier Roth, and George Benjamin among others.

Siwan works regularly with mezzo-soprano Lucy Goddard, and is a member of GBSR piano-percussion duo with whom she was a 2017-18 St John's Smith Square Young Artist.

She is an honorary member of the Welsh Gorsedd of Bards and an Entente Cordiale alumna. She teaches at the London Contemporary School of Piano."

"Nancy Ruffer was born in Detroit and received a Master of Music degree from The University of Michigan. She received a Fullbright-Kays Scolarship in 1976 to study at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and she has remained in London working as a freelance flautist specialising in contemporary music. Composers who have written for her include Michael Finnissy, Chris Dench, John White, Christopher Fox, Ian Wilson and Graham Fitkin. In 1984 she was awarded the Kranichsteiner Prize for Performance at Darmstadt and she was elected an Associate of the R.A.M. Nancy Ruffer is principal flute of the ensembles MusicProjects/London, Matrix, Almeida Ensemble and Topologies as well as performing with ensembles of the Royal National Theatre.

In addition she records regularly for the BBC and performs in festivals and concert halls throughout Britain and abroad. In 1999 she toured Canada performing works by, among others, Ferneyhough and Dillon, and in 2002 she toured Georgia and Tennessee with pianist Helen Crayford, performing works by British and American composers.

Ms Ruffer was awarded the Kranichsteiner Prize for Performance at Darmstadt in 1984 and was appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music."

"Laetitia Stott is a French horn player and teacher based in North London. She is currently working on the National Theatre productions of Amadeus and Macbeth. She has also recently worked on the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Julius Caesar, as part of their Rome season.

Since completing her training, Laetitia has been in demand as a freelance performer with orchestras including English National Ballet, Britten Sinfonia, BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the City of London Sinfonia, amongst others. She works frequently for film and television and has performed on shows including Strictly Come Dancing, Sunday Night at the Palladium and the Graham Norton Show as well as touring with artists including Spandau Ballet, ABC, Shirley Bassey, Alfie Boe, Kate Tempest and Mica Levi.

Laetitia is passionate about music education and is Head of Brass at Highgate School as well as tutoring for the National Children's Orchestra. She is involved with Bold As, a pioneering initiative based around the Deal festival and has worked to inspire children across the UK to learn brass instruments. Laetitia is also a busy workshop leader and concert presenter and has worked recently with Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival, Britten Sinfonia Academy, English Touring Opera, the Royal Opera House and Aldeburgh Young Musicians.

Laetitia holds degrees from the University of Oxford, where she was a music scholar at Worcester College, the University of Cambridge, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she held a Junior Fellowship."

"Barrie Webb studied trombone with Vinko Globokar and conducting with Constantin Bugeanu. His performances include numerous international broadcasts and venues such as Suntory Hall, Tokyo and Carnegie Recital Hall, New York.

His repertoire for solo trombone includes several concertos and a variety of international performance projects, beginning with The Japan Project (published on CD in 2002). He gained a Leverhulme Fellowship 2012-14 to fund four new recording projects, including Cain Katsumi Yokoyama's Requiem... ad Vitam Aeternam for solo trombone and Contemporary Trombone Classics, a retrospective of fifty years of contemporary trombone music (published in 2016).

He enjoys parallel activity as conductor, working with professional orchestras, contemporary ensembles and with young musicians.

In 2007 he was Guest Editor for the Contemporary Music Review, Vol.26, No.2: Contemporary Performance, contributing three articles: 'Performing Berio's Sequenza V', 'Richard Barrett's 'Imaginary' Trombone' and the autobiographical 'Partners in Creation'. He also completed a book chapter about the conducting methods of Constantin Bugeanu, published in 2014."