Composers’ Academy

Soosan Lolovar is a British Iranian composer whose music ‘sounds like nothing else on earth’ (Gramophone).

Her work moves far beyond metaphors of “fusion” or assumptions of a binary opposition between east and west, instead aiming for a deeper, lifelong conversation between these musical traditions wherein her personal experience and creative work intertwine to produce something uniquely diasporic.

Her work is concerned with deep attendance to the texture, transformation and layering of sound. Through these means, she creates music which continues to resonate in the world long after we have stopped listening.

Sarah Lianne Lewis is a Welsh composer of bold and imaginative classical music, described as ‘vivid’, ‘charming’, and ‘poignant’. Her music is often about connection, climate change and the natural world, informed by a female disabled perspective, and her work seeks to promote and provoke discussions about challenging topics with openness and thoughtfulness.

Sarah’s music has been performed worldwide, and she has worked with a variety of performers, audiences and spaces; from textual orchestral works in concert halls, to contemplative chamber ensemble works in a late-night gin bar, to creating expansive storytelling soundscapes through silent disco headphones under the stars.

She was Composer Affiliate with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (2020-24), and has previously worked with organisations such as the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Chorus of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Quatuor Bozzini, UPROAR, the Royal Opera and Ballet, and the Nevis Ensemble. Recordings of Sarah’s music are available through the Birmingham Record Company, NMC Recordings and Ty Cerdd Records.

Elif Karlidağ is a Turkish/British composer whose work spans multidisciplinary projects, community engagement, and stage productions.

She has collaborated with ensembles such as the Scratch Orchestra and Ligeti Quartet and co-founded the East London Sound Ensemble (ELSE), an electro-acoustic group amplifying underrepresented voices in contemporary classical music.

Her work includes creating sonic elements for Marguerite Humeau’s Oscillations and composing music for films like Hamlet Within, starring Sir Ian McKellen. Elif has received commissions from English National Opera and the Three Choirs Festival. Her performances have graced venues such as the Royal Festival Hall and Barbican Centre.

Elif began her musical journey in Bucharest, Romania, earning a Master’s in composition from Izmir DEU State Conservatoire, where she studied under Istemihan Taviloglu. She later refined her skills at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Elif is the current holder of the John Clementi Collard Fellowship from the Worshipful Company of Musicians.

James Murray is a conductor, composer and pianist based in London. He studied piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music, and conducting at the Royal College of Music, where he graduated with Distinction.

He has conducted a wide variety of music with musicians of all ages and abilities, including concerts at King’s Place, the Purcell Room, the Royal Festival Hall, and recordings at Abbey Road and Air Studios. He has worked with a wide variety of soloists, including Simon Standage, Tom Poster and Guy Johnston. As a conductor of contemporary music he has given numerous premieres of new works, including concerts with the London Sinfonietta, and the Non-classical series at King’s Place. More recently he conducted the China Youth Philharmonic on their visit to London as part of a Philharmonia education project.

Also active as a choral conductor, James has worked with London Voices, London Contemporary Voices and regularly conducts and performs with community choir Vox Holloway, collaborating with artists including Harvey Brough, David LePaige and Sir Ray Davies.

He has also appeared on the BBC4 documentary How to be a Composer and Radio 3’s In Tune.

Christian Mason’s music is characterised by interweaving and subtle metamorphoses of sounds that often create dreamlike atmospheres. Winner of the 2025 Grawemeyer Award for Invisible Threads, Mason’s work spans orchestral, chamber, and installation formats, and has been described as “astonishingly inventive and powerful” (The Strad).

He has received major commissions from leading ensembles and orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Philharmonia Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, Arditti Quartet, and the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra. His compositions have been performed at top international festivals such as Wittener Tage, Eclat, and the BBC Proms.

A founding Artistic Director of Octandre Ensemble, Mason’s recent highlights include Sympathetic Resonance with the hr-Sinfonieorchester, The Oddity Effect for Ensemble Modern and SWR Vokalensemble, and the environmental cantata The Singing Tree.

Past accolades include the Ernst von Siemens Composer Prize (2015), British Composer Award, and Mendelssohn Scholarship. He holds a PhD from King’s College London, where he studied with George Benjamin, and has worked as assistant to Sir Harrison Birtwistle. Mason is a mentor for young composers and his works are published by Breitkopf & Härtel.