We invite music creators and creative writers who are currently Final-Year Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught students at Royal Holloway to submit an application for this special, collaborative opportunity.

What is it?

This 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 premiered as part of the Choir of Royal Holloway's Midweek Music Series. 

These new compositions are the result of a special collaboration between the College’s Arts Collection Team and Dr Nathan James Dearden, Lecturer in Music Composition at the Department of Music.

Our 2024-25 Project

Now in its eighth year, we are setting the task for six sound artists/composers/music creators from across a range of genres to create music through a collaborative and immersive professional development programme exploring the relationship between live, recorded sound, DAW-produced music, and Royal Holloway's art collection. 

This year, the selected music creators will be tasked to create a short work for choir and electronics (maximum 5 minutes in length) inspired by our Picture Gallery and its collection. These new works will be workshopped and performed by the Choir of Royal Holloway and their Director Rupert Gough. 

Each successful applicant also receives support and guidance from Lecturer in Music Composition, Nathan James Dearden, through a mixture of one-to-one mentoring sessions and catered professional development sessions. Each selected music creator will also receive two mentoring sessions from composer, sound designer, and Research Scholar, Thomas Baynes.

Each music creator will have the opportunity to meet with the College Art Curator and Arts Collection team to discuss the Picture Gallery's art collection and to explore possible areas for artistic collaboration.

This opportunity is open to final-year Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught students at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Project Timeline

Monday, 2 September 2024 Applications open
Monday, 30 September 2024 Applications close
Monday, 7 October 2024 Applicants notified of outcome and full information sent to successful applicants 
Monday, 7 October 2024 Research and development begins
Monday, 20 January 2025 Draft deadline for music creators
W/C Monday, 17 February 2024 Final deadline for music creators
16 March 2024 Premiere performances will take place 

Apply now

To apply, please complete this application form below. Any follow-up questions should be directed to nathanjames.dearden@rhul.ac.uk.