The Picture Gallery Composer-in-Residence Scheme is a ground-breaking residency in which successful student composers from the Department of Music will have their musical responses to the Picture Gallery and some of its wonderful paintings performed by an invited ensemble each year.

This residency is a professional development programme for music creators of the Department of Music to receive specialist, industry-standard workshop sessions and tutorials, working collaboratively with invited artists, ensembles and tutors to create new works that are premiered as part of the International Concert Series. 

These new compositions are the result of a special collaboration between the College’s Art Curator Dr Laura MacCulloch and Nathan James Dearden, a College Composer, Conductor of the New Music Collective and Performance Manager at the Department of Music.

Project overview for 2017

In 2017 each successful applicant received the opportunity to work with acclaimed pianist, academic, composer and champion of new music, Zubin Kanga, and worked with Zubin through a collaborative and immersive rehearsal process. They also had the opportunity to meet with the College Art Curator, Laura MacCulloch, to discuss the Picture Gallery's art collection and to explore possible areas for artistic collaboration. Each successful applicant also received support and guidance from composer and conductor, Nathan James Dearden, through a mixture of one-to-one mentoring sessions and during practical workshop settings.