Composition and contemporary performance

Royal Holloway encourages creativity in contemporary music of all kinds. The Music Department is dedicated to practice-led research and is committed to supporting staff and students in the creation of new music through composition and performance.

Our composers and performers work across a wide range of styles and approaches including: music for the concert hall, opera, music for dance, electronic and electroacoustic music, installations, virtual reality, music for education, and interdisciplinary projects connecting music and sound with other art forms.

Our composers (Thomas Baynes, Nathan James Dearden, Tonia Ko, Tom Parkinson and Nina Whiteman) are commissioned by ensembles and organisations including: all of the BBC orchestras and choirs, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, London Symphony Orchestra, National Theatre, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Ballet and Opera, and Music Theatre Wales. Our expertise in sound design, electroacoustic music, and site-specific musical creativity includes collaborations with choreographers, theatre and film directors, writers, and visual artists.

Our performers (Mary Dullea, Zubin Kanga, Nina Whiteman) specialise in contemporary music for keyboard, piano trio, chamber music, and music for voice, including projects which break down the boundaries between performer, composer and audience, and projects exploring the connection between technology, gesture and notation. Our work in improvisation crosses between disciplines and genres, connecting experiments in new instruments and performance techniques with digital technologies.

Royal Holloway is committed to increasing access to contemporary music. Our staff work regularly as animateurs, mentors, and workshop leaders with organisations including: Royal Ballet and Opera, Ivor's Academy, Help Musicians, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, and National Youth Arts Wales. We curate festivals and events which bring contemporary music to new audiences and participants through leading organisations such as the Chamber Music on Valentia Festival and Manchester Contemporary Youth Opera.

Royal Holloway offers an outstanding environment in which students’ creative ideas can be realised. We support PhD researchers from all over the world as they develop their distinctive practice as composers and performers. Our postgraduate researchers work across a range of areas including: orchestral and chamber music, spatial audio, opera, choral and vocal music, microtonal composition, museum audio, music for film and theatre, sound installations, music theatre, multimedia composition, and generative music apps.