Following a welcome from Katalin Koltai, the day began with a session exploring interconnections between composers and the community, in which speakers addressed questions of agency and co-creativity in diverse settings. Composer Electra Perivolaris (University of Oxford and Academy alum) discussed her partnerships with cultural organisations and schools, including Streetwise Opera in East London, the London Sinfonietta’s Sound Out project and a Live Music Now/London Sinfonietta/Theatre of Sound co-commission in collaboration with Rare Dementia Support UK. This was followed by a presentation from Leanne Fitzgerald (Technological University Dublin Conservatoire) on the part played by local communities and audiences in co-creating community opera in Ireland. The session concluded with a presentation by Megan Steinberg (Royal Northern College of Music), who shared her research as an experimental composer working to extend the social model of disability into the creative musical process.
The next session focused on the blurring of boundaries between composer and performer during the collaborative processes of devising and developing technologies and techniques. Colin Frank (Leeds Conservatoire) and Pablo Galaz (University of Southampton) gave a mini-recital, combining percussion performance with modular synthesizer and live electronics. Adrian Hull (University of Portsmouth) and cellist Gabi Swallow spoke about the creative process and ethos behind Hull’s multi-movement work Venenum Hominum for solo cello and digital orchestra. Gabi Swallow performed an excerpt from the work, showing how it interrogates the boundaries between acoustic improvisation and electronic sound. Composer Scott McLaughlin (University of Leeds) discussed composer-performer collaboration as a ‘coalitional balancing act’ in his trio for violin, piano and electronics, while Academy doctoral student and natural horn specialist Isaac Shieh presented his work with composer James B Wilson in the virtuosic solo piece Chroma-Maxima.
The keynote lecture was given by flutist Camilla Hoitenga, who reflected on her friendship and work with Kaija Saariaho, a relationship that began in 1982 and lasted until the composer’s recent death in 2023. In the final session – on heritage and language – flutist Noemi Gyori (Royal Northern College of Music and Academy alum) and composer Christian Mason discussed their collaboration on the creation of Thaleia, a concerto for piccolo and flute. The Academy’s Head of Postgraduate Programmes, Neil Heyde, then spoke about the nature of his collaboration with composer Justin Connolly during the creation of Collana for solo cello. The day concluded with presentations from Marco Fusi (HEMU Lausanne) on the process of interpreting contemporary works for violin, viola and viola d’amore; and from composer David John Roche on developing new pieces of music influenced by Welsh musical heritage and archives.
Read more about the Royal Musical Association Composer-Performer Collaboration Study Group here.