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Young Composers
The LPO Young Composers programme aims to support the progression of talented orchestral composers.
Mentored by the LPO’s Composer-in-Residence, the Young Composers spend a season with the LPO, each creating a new work for chamber orchestra that is performed by Foyle Future First musicians and LPO players at the Debut Sounds public showcase concert at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Creating a new work for the LPO
The LPO’s Composer-in-Residence – award-winning Cuban-American composer, Tania León, provides expertise and guidance in a series of seminars and workshops, guiding the compositional process. Over the season, Young Composers create a new work of around eight minutes for a chamber orchestra of LPO players and Foyle Future Firsts (the Orchestra’s graduate scheme for aspiring orchestral players).
Structure of the year
As well as several composer seminars, there is a three-hour workshop in the spring – a chance for composers to experiment with new ideas, talk to players and receive feedback in a constructive and inquisitive environment. This is followed by further workshop-rehearsals leading to the final concert performance in the summer.
During the year, composers also have the chance to attend concerts, observe rehearsals, meet guest composers and get involved with the LPO’s wider education work.
How do I apply?
Applications for the LPO Young Composers Programme 2024/25 are now closed.
LPO Young Composers 2024/25
Meet the composers
Joy Nkoyo is a composer, vocalist, songwriter, and pianist from the UK. A fifth generation Londoner with Nigerian heritage, her work bridges across Classical and Popular genres, creating a unique intersection between worlds.
After attending the BRIT School, Joy studied composition and Classical Piano at Trinity Laban. She has been commissioned by the British Music Collection, Spitalfields Music Festival, and Sound and Music, with her music being performed in prestigious UK venues such as King’s Place, and Lyric Hammersmith.
Joy has also received acclaim for her songwriting and music production, with nominations for the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition and Youth Music Awards, as well as a residency at The Roundhouse.
Alongside her music, Joy hosts a podcast ‘Noise in the Gallery,’ interviewing cross-genre and multi-disciplinary artists. She has also appeared numerous times as a TV guest on the BBC Proms.
Niamh J. O’Donnell is a Welsh/Australian artist from Aberystwyth and composition graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. Inspired by literature, artwork and moving picture, she creates notational and electronic compositions for the concert hall, film, stage and immersive audio installation.
Niamh has enjoyed composing for ensembles such as the National Youth Orchestra of Wales, The Hermes Experiment, the Berkeley Ensemble and UPROAR. In 2022, Niamh took part in Psappha Ensemble’s ‘Composing For’ scheme for percussion and cello. She was later commissioned by St David’s Hall NightMusic concert series to write Dealt a Hand for Anne Denholm and Héloïse Werner. She wrote Five Windows for BBC National Orchestra of Wales’s Composition: Wales scheme which was premiered at BBC Hoddinott Hall and subsequently broadcast on BBC Radio Cymru.
Her most recent accomplishments include working on Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s Film Composers Lab 2024, with guidance from film music mentors Patrick Doyle and Danai Kokogia; and receiving the 2024 Paul Mealor Award for composers.
Jorge Ramos is a Portuguese composer, sound artist, and researcher based in London. He has written music for festivals, ensembles, and soloists across Asia, North America, Central America, South America, and Europe, while also collaborating with other artists and/or institutions on artistic contributions and computer music design.
He is the recipient of some prominant fellowships, grants, and prizes awarded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, Fundação de Juventude, Miso Music Portugal, Banda Sinfónica Portuguesa, Royal College of Music London, Royal Music Association, RTP/Antena 2, Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores, The National Flute Association and Portuguese Republic – Ministry of Culture.
Jorge Ramos holds a Doctorate in Music Composition granted by the Royal College of Music, London. He currently serves as a collaborator at The ACTOR Project – Orchestration practice in the 21st century (CAN) and at CESEM ESML (PT).
Zach is a British composer who grew up in Buckinghamshire and has recently completed his PhD in composition with Guto Puw and Pwyll ap Siôn at Bangor University. His studies focussed on compositional techniques for enhancing personal reception in concert repertoire and creating atmospheres built upon a sense of melodic and harmonic unity, enhanced by intriguing rhythmic designs.
Zach currently lives in Somerset where he teaches music and composition at Taunton School. Of his influences, the greatest have been late romanticism, post-minimalism, progressive rock and metal. Zach was awarded the William Mathias Prize at the Bangor Music Festival in February 2024 where his piece BLOCK was performed by Ensemble CGWM. His compositions have also been recently performed at the Penarth Chamber Music Festival, and he has previously worked with the Allegri Quartet, Idesta Saxophone Duo, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and directed the Bangor New Music Ensemble.
Worcestershire-born composer, sound artist and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Soley graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2017. His eclectic versatility continues to bring his music to wider audiences within the UK and internationally: from Aberystwyth, where Daniel presented electro-acoustic music with the National Youth Orchestra of Wales; to London, where Ryan Corbett and Britten Sinfonia performed his Accordian Concerto; and out to Ryadh, where he’s co-produced mixed-media installations for two attractions. Supported by Wales Arts International, Daniel represented the country at the ISCM World Music Days Festival in Tallinn, Estonia with his audio-visual project Socialite. He is also a BBC Horizons Launchpad awardee, a Welsh Music Guild Young Composer Award winner, and an RWCMD Honorary Associate.
Contact us
If you have any questions about our Young Composers programme please contact Lowri Davies, Education & Community Project Manager on 020 7840 4203 or [email protected]
[email protected]
The LPO Young Composers programme 2024/25 is generously supported by Jerwood Foundation, Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne, Sally Groves MBE.
LPO Young Composer Alumni
Jasper Dommett
Eliana Echeverry
Zhenyan Li
Phoenix Rousiamanis
Crystalla Serghiou
Jakob Bragg
Philip Dutton
Zakiya Leeming
Matt London
Tayla-Leigh Payne
Conrad Asman
Alex Ho
Yunho Jeong
Rafael Marino Arcaro
Angela Elizabeth Slater
Robin Haigh
Sun Keting
Geoffrey King
Paweł Malinowski
Alexander Tay
Maciej Bałenkowski
Joshua Brown
Daniel Davis
Sylvia Lim
Aileen Sweeney
Clare Elton
Andrzej Karalow
Ashley John Long
Barnaby C Martin
Carlijn Metselaar
Lillie Harris
Laurence Osborn
Ailie Robertson
Neil Tòmas Smith
Karol Nepelski
Stef Conner
Nathan James Dearden
Yvonne Eccles
Alex Paxton
Hunter Coblenz
Michael Cryne
Lisa Illean
Katarzyna Krzewińska
Robert Peate
Jonathan Brigg
Sergio Cote
Peter Longworth
Paulina Załubska
Eugene Birman
Aleksandr Brusentsev
Arne Gieshoff
Edmund Hunt
Hannah Kendall
Daniel Kidane
Peter Yarde Martin
Stephen Willey
Mark David Boden
Laura Jayne Bowler
David Curington
Hollie Harding
Erick Flores
Blai Soler
Emily Wright
Mihyun Woo
Tristan Brookes
Isa Khan
Aaron Parker
Sasha Siem
Colin Alexander
George Lyle
Vlad Maistorovici
Oliver Weeks
Mica Levi
Jason Noghani
Steven Daverson
Gavin Higgins
Emma-Marie Lee
Caroline Rawlinson
Mark Simpson