Young Composers Concert – Royal College of Music

Programme

Upon joining the RCM, first year composers are paired up with a student chamber group, developing a collaborative relationship during their time here in which they can explore and workshop compositional ideas together. The concert also includes a group improvisation, reflecting how important it is that our composers practice developing experience in performing and responding to a variety of notational practices.

Music for Dizi Percussion and Cello – Leo McCormack
Astral Happenings (for clarinet, violin, cello and piano) – Alec Imamovic
Hitohana Gokoro (String Quartet 1) – Aiden Rose
Palimpsest (for String Quartet) – Constantin Raff

Artist Bio

Composers

Leo McCormack is a composer from the Midlands, based in London, studying at the Royal College of Music. Leo describes his compositions as being born of sound; fragments of recorded acoustic sonorities rearranged digitally to form textural edifices. Away from writing music, he is also an aspiring writer of words.

Constantin Raff is a composer whose work seeks to unite late 19th and early 20th century traditions with subtle innovation. His music preserves emotional immediacy while exploring new possibilities in texture, harmony, and timbre. He is currently in his first year studying composition at the Royal College of Music under Kenneth Hesketh.

Aiden Rose is a British composer and multi-instrumentalist who finds inspiration for his work in a range of literature, some he writes himself. He utilises a mix of jazz-inspired, contemporary and classical techniques and harmonic devices to encapsulate a moment, emotion or story in a vivid sonic description.

Alec Imamovic is a UK-based composer who seeks to create strong narratives through a blend of contemporary idioms and timeless traditional practices, in order to make contemporary music as accessible and relatable as possible to a wide audience.

Performers

The New Light Collective is a new music ensemble founded in 2025, comprised of performers and composers from London conservatoires. The ensemble is not restricted to a specific instrumentation but a mixture of voice, western instruments, and folk instruments such as dizi.

An expansion of the New Light Duo, which was founded in 2023, the New Light Collective aims to promote contemporary music and music from diverse cultural backgrounds, as well as commissioning and performing new works by promising young composers. The collective is on its mission to let modern and living composers be more accessible to the general public in varied ways, not limiting music only in concert halls.

Past performances include the collaboration with the Royal College of Music composition department, premiering six new works by six composers from the Royal College of Music written for dizi, harp, and cello at St James’s Piccadilly on 26th April, 2025, and another concert at St James’s Piccadily on 10th May, 2025, performing works by Claude Vivier, Luciano Berio, and two new compositions.

Experience inspiring performances by top emerging artists in our historic venue, renowned for its superb acoustics. Our recitals are programmed in collaboration with leading music colleges and charities, providing a platform for the stars of tomorrow. Discover exceptional talent in a unique settting.

Free admission | Donations welcome

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