Composers 2005
Tom Evans is fast establishing himself as one of Britain's most interesting young composers. He is currently studying composition with George Benjamin and Silvina Milstein as a PhD student at King's College, London. He has participated in contemporary music and composition courses at the Britten-Pears school and his Fragments II was performed at the 2002 Aldeburgh Festival.
From 2002-2003 Tom was a violinist in Southbank Sinfonia, Britain's newest professional chamber orchestra. The orchestra has commissioned two pieces from Tom: Cantilena, in which Tom performed as soloist in a concert last summer, and Always an Explorer, first performed at the American School, London, on 29th April 2004. Current commissions include a horn trio for the Exuberant Trust, to be performed in the Jacqueline du Pre Room, Oxford, in 2005
Cheryl Frances-Hoad graduated from Cambridge with a triple first in 2001 and an MPhil (Distinction) in Composition. She began composing at the age of eight while studying 'cello and piano at the Menuhin School, and since then has won several prizes, including the Purcell Composition Prize, the Bach Carol Competition, the BBC Young Composers Workshop 1996 and the Cambridge Composer's Competition. She has had two ballets choreographed by Lynn Seymour and Geoffrey Cauley; the second was performed by Scottish Ballet in the Britten Theatre, London. Her commissions include works for the BBC, the Surrey Philharmonic, the Manchester International 'Cello Festival and the Almeida Festival, among others. Future projects include the wishing box, a piano trio for the Fugita Trio, to be premiered in the Wigmore Hall, March 2005.
Dylan Pugh is an enormously vital presence on the new music scene, equally at home collaborating with visual artists, writing for contemporary ensembles or for film. He has recently completed original scores for Film Council funded shorts.Commissions include 'Golden Ratios' (for Queen's College, Cambridge), Water Circles, A Prayer for String Quartet (performed at the Aldwych Tube station during the exhibition Alight here), The Other Trout (for the Sophie's Silver Lining Fund Festival 2003) and A Quartet for Love (for Gray’s Inn).
Dylan collaborated with the composer Kenneth Tharpe to create a piece for dance performed in March 2005. Other projects for 2005 include a month long residency with the artist Simone Kletzer at the Zentralverband der Hauptverbände, Vienna; participating in a live performance with the portrait artist Gianni Lattanzi in Florence, and a ninety minute documentary on the life of the Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. He is studying privately with Edwin Roxburgh
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Growing up in London, Dobrinka Tabakova attended Alleyn’s School and the Royal Academy of Music Junior Department, specialising in piano and composition. At age 14 she won the Jean-Frederic Perrenoud Prize and Medal at the 4th Vienna International Music Competition with Priere for violin and piano. Dobrinka continued her studies for BMus and MMus (composition and conducting) at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Simon Bainbridge, Robert Saxton, Andrew Schultz, Diana Burrell and Alan Hazeldine. There she won the coveted Lutoslawski Composition Prize and graduated with distinction. She was then appointed Composition Fellow at the conservatoire. Currently Dobrinka is working towards a PhD in composition, under Robert Keeley’s supervision, at King’s College London.
Concerts in the UK include performance of her orchestral work Thrace at the Barbican, performances at the Cheltenham International Festival of Music, Bath Festival and The South Bank Centre.
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Bethany Weimers is in the early stages of a career as a composer/sound designer and as a singer. She completed her Masters degree in composition at the GSMD, London in September 2003 where she studied with Malcolm Singer. She has had pieces performed at venues such as the Robin Howard Dance Theatre, The Pumphouse at the Aldeburgh Festival and the Wigmore Hall, as well as local music festivals. Current and future projects include composing for the vocal trio 'juice' and a series of children's songs. Since July 2004 she has been working as an assistant composer for spnm's Sound Inventors scheme and at the BBC Radio Archives as a Programme Transfer Assistant. She plays the guitar and regularly performs her own songs in Oxford and surrounding areas. She does occasional work as a session singer. She is based near Oxford