Composers

Maricarmen Asenjo-Marrodán (1978), studied Composition at Rafael Orozco Superior Conservatory of Córdoba, completing with the Master’s studies in Musical Research at the University of Granada and in Electroacoustic Composition at the Higher Center of Musical Education “Katarina Gurska” of Madrid. As the same time, she attended master classes and courses with international composers such as Jorge E. López, Mauricio Sotelo, Alberto Posadas, José Manuel López López, César Camarero, Gabriel Erkoreka, Hilda Paredes and P. Billone among others. Her works have been performed at different music festivals and cycles. Her catalog of works encompasses different instrumental combinations, for solo and mixed electronics including: Fronteras del abismo (Elektronisk Musik, Copenhague, 2016, L’oreille concrète, Marseille, 2018), Beyond (Katarina Gurska, Madrid, 2019), Cómo mueren las estrellas, for piano and electronics (Contemporary Music Conference, Huelva, 2014 and Príncipe Felipe Auditorium, Oviedo, 2018), Questo tremito, questo vacillamento, for cello and electronics (CNDM and Spanish Music Festival, Cádiz, 2020, premiered by Kathleen Balfe), Elevación, for violin and piano (Sevilla, Taller Sonoro, 2013), Ruinas Circulares, for alto saxophone, percussion and piano (Córdoba, Nou Ensemble, 2016), Hijos del instante, for violin, bb clarinet / bass clarinet, percussion, piano (Taller Sonoro, at Spanish Music Festival, Cádiz, 2016), Ab ipso ferro, for tenor saxophone (Aalborg, Naomi Sato, 2018), Vórtices, for alto saxophone and piano, (Cosimo Colazzo and Emanuelle Dalmazzo at International Contemporary Music Cycle 19/20), Partículas de viento y luz, for guitar, (Copenhagen, 2020).Asenjo-Marrodán currently combines compositional activity with teaching, working since 2016 in different Superior Music Conservatories.In her sound imaginary, literature in general, and poetry in particular, often serve as a starting point for creation, inspiring textures that try to capture the essence of the unspeakable. In turn, she is especially interested in granular synthesis processes both in music with electronic and instrumental media, an aspect in which she has been investigating in recent years. Recently, she received the first Manuel de Falla International Composition Prize (2020).  https://soundcloud.com/maricarmenasenjo-marrodan

John Richard Durant (1960) graduated with first class honours (clarinet) from the Royal Academy of Music in 1987, winning the Leslie Martin Award for his interpretation of the works of Hans Werner Henze and Stockhausen (performing in the presence of both composers) for BBC 3 and Radio France. He was also awarded the Worshipful Company of Musicians Medal. John has enjoyed a long and successful career with numerous symphony orchestras. With the BBC, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, John has performed in many of the most prestigious theatres and concert halls worldwide including the Musikverein, Vienna, the Frankfurt Opera House and the Lincoln Center in New York. He has also recorded at Abbey Road and Maida Vale in London.He has lived in Seville since 1991 where he was a founding member of the Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra.More recently, John has become sought after as a composer, arranger and conductor.His arrangements have been recorded and produced by Warner Bros and his compositions are published by Kingfisher Music Publishing.Recently, he conducted the Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra at the Maestranza Theatre in Seville and the Málaga Symphony Orchestra in the Royal Theatre in Madrid.His work “Scapa!”, is to be premiered in 2022 by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. https://en.johnricharddurant.com

Pilar Miralles (1997), born in Almería, Spain, is a composer, sound artist and writer based in Helsinki, Finland. She completed her Master’s Degree in Electroacoustic Composition at the Higher Center of Musical Education (CSEM) “Katarina Gurska” of Madrid (Spain, 2020), and her Master of Music in Composition at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki (Finland, 2022), receiving the merit grant from the Martin Wegelius Foundation in 2022. She has attended composition masterclasses with Augusta Read Thomas, Kalevi Aho and Guillaumen Connesson, among others. Her instrumental work has been premiered by ensembles and orchestras from Europe and the US, such as the Île-de-France National Orchestra, the Helsinki Symphony Orchestra, the Orchester im Treppenhaus, Defunensemble, Trio Zodiac or Zagros Ensemble. On the other hand, her electroacoustic work has been developed at the Nordplus intensive course IMMEDIA 2021 in Vilnius (Lithuania), the MuteFest ’20 and ’22 (Festival of Musical Creation with Technology) at the Sibelius Academy (Finland), and the FACBA Festival of Contemporary Art of Granada’s University 2021 (Spain). She has been recently invited by the ULYSSES Network to join the “ULYSSES Journeys for Composers 2023”, and her first professional commission opportunity is to be premiered by Avanti! chamber orchestra in 2023 in Finland. Pilar’s current artistic and research work deals with the emotional and social constraints imposed by the fast-paced everyday life and immediacy era, expressing the necessity of personal space and time to free the perception and consciousness as basics of human dignity. Pilar is currently aiming for her future Doctoral studies in composition. https://www.pilar-miralles.com/

Luke Styles (1982), born in Australia, is a British composer performed regularly throughout the world. Luke was the first Glyndebourne Young Composer in Residence, the first composer in residence at the Foundling Museum since Handel and is the 2022 British Council Musician in Residence to Brazil. Luke’s latest opera Awakening Shadow premiered in 2021 at the Cheltenham Music Festival, Presteigne Festival and will receive a second production by Sydney Chamber Opera in 2022. Luke’s recent symphonic song cycle No Friend But The Mountains premiered at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne in March 2021 and has been turned into a 2-part ABC TV documentary.  In 2022/2023 Luke will compose two major vocal works, for Le Balcon (France) and La Nuova Musica (UK) as well as orchestra works for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and chamber music works. Luke is published by G.Schirmer and represented by Linda Marks.  https://www.lukestyles.com

Althea Talbot-Howard (1966) is a British composer/performer. She was born in Nigeria, raised in England & Australia; studied at Cambridge University, the Royal Academy of Music & the Banff Centre in Canada; then commenced her career in 1992, as an oboe soloist and orchestral guest principal. Career highlights include her CD From Leipzig to London; Third Prize in the Paris-Ville d’Avray International Oboe Competition in 2007; and an equal prize in the 2019 Ora Singers Christmas Gift composition competition. Gramophone magazine has called her ‘…a superb oboist’. Althea now specialises in composing professional & pedagogical recital music and chamber music. Multi-instrumental recital pieces include the popular Troparion (2018) & The Door of No Return (2020-21). In 2020, she began working with ABRSM, Britain’s international music exam board, on preparing the new woodwind & piano exam syllabuses. Ten pieces have now been published by ABRSM. These include original pedagogical works, a commission, and arrangements of music by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. In June 2022, Althea was the subject of a composer-feature concert given by the Saxophone Department at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London, in which four works received their British premieres. Three other pieces received their world premieres in the USA, in July, one of these being the IDRS chamber-music commission Byzantion I –Hagia Sophia for cor anglais, bassoon & piano. Hagia Sophia is thematically-linked to both her forthcoming work for Cuarteto Emispherio, Seville Cathedral – A Study in Memory; and to Rievaulx – A Study in Memory, in Arch Form for double-reed quartet (2021). https://www.althea-composer.com/about.html