Composer Of The Month
Alex Heffes
INTERNATIONAL
COMPOSERS
FESTIVAL
2022
COMPOSERS & PERFORMERS
Composers & Performers
Composers featured at the Festival are amongst the best in the world.
The music has been carefully selected from many hundreds of submissions received
for their quality, diversity, special beauty, excitement and emotional impact.
Debbie Wiseman OBE
Composer
One of the UK’s most successful female music ambassadors, Debbie is in demand as a composer and conductor. She has won two Ivor Novello Awards, a TRIC Award and the Gold Badge from BASCA and is a Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music. She was honoured with an OBE for services to the music and film industry.
Nigel Hess
Composer
Nigel works extensively as a composer for television, theatre, film and the concert hall. He has composed for over twenty Royal Shakespeare Company productions as well as numerous television scores, and is well-known to Classic FM listeners for his music to Ladies in Lavender performed by violinist Joshua Bell with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Nigel's Piano Concerto was commissioned by the Prince of Wales and recorded by Lang Lang.
Paul Lewis
Composer in Residence
(2022)
Born 1943, Paul is self-taught. Since the age of twenty, he has scored over 150 TV series and one-off dramas. He has conducted his own music in concert in England, France, Italy, Turkey, New Zealand and America and specialises in compositions for the harp.
Yerkesh Shakeyev
Composer
Yerkesh Shakeyev is a renowned composer from Kazakhstan. His musical journey took him from a hugely successful pop career to writing symphonic music. He recently had two acclaimed concerts in London and has released several albums, recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra among others, at Abbey Road and Air Studios.
Adrian Charlesworth
Violinist / Leader (2022)
Adrian has freelanced in many professional orchestras such as the RPO, LCO and English National Ballet. He is involved with many educational charities, coaches inspiring young violinists working with the National Children’s Orchestra, London Schools Symphony Orchestra and others. With appearances as diverse as with Kylie Minogue, Katherine Jenkins, Burt Bacharach and Sir Simon Rattle as well as many others. Adrian also obtained a masters degree in Medical Immunology
Daniel W. Boothe Conductor & Composer
Internationally and multi award winning Daniel is held in very high regard as a conductor and musician earning tremendous respect across many genres. He currently serves as Music Director & Conductor of the Symphonicity Orchestra and Chorus in America and Commander and conductor for the Untied States Air National Guard Band of the Southwest. An incredibly diverse musician Daniel is also a composer, music producer, performing not only as a conductor but a drummer for numerous jazz ensembles and percussionist as well as being in high demand as a music adjudicator across America.
Chris Nicolaides
Composer
Chris is a composer and producer who comfortably works in many genres from recording with the LSO to No1 selling pop stars Mika and Chesney Hawkes. He is best known for his scores to Landmark BBC TV series with Jeremy Paxman, David Dimbleby, Francesco da Mosto and Fiona Bruce. Chris has released many successful albums and is a popular composer at the ICF. Hastings Sinfonia will be performing his beautiful work Aegean Dusk July 2022 at St Mary in the Castle, Hastings.
Olajide Paris
Composer
Olajide Paris is an American composer based in Tbilisi, Georgia since 2012 where he composes music and produces soundtracks for clients around the world. He has created music for over 100 films, games and corporate projects including providing orchestrations for the 2016 Capcom XBOX release, Dead Rising 4. He has given lectures on the subject of film music at Los Angeles City College, Tbilisi Conservatory and the Georgian National Film Center.
Simon Proctor
Composer
Simon Proctor
Composer
in Residence 2012
Simon is a British composer and pianist who graduated from The Royal Academy of Music with several prizes for composition, orchestration and piano.
He is known for his works for unusual instruments, probably the best known being Concerto for Serpent and Orchestra and arranging works from Queen to Andrew Lloyd Weber, his arrangement of the music of Queen becoming a Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. He has played principle keyboard for shows such as Les Miserables and acted as musical director for other productions.
Justin Pearson
Cellist
In 1985 Justin formed the Locrian Ensemble organising tours, recordings, broadcasts and establishing a long-running concert series at St. Martin-In-The-Fields. In 1994 he was appointed Principal cellist in the National Symphony Orchestra, a position he still holds along with artistic director and managing the orchestra. Justin has performed as a soloist and in many ensembles nationally and internationally in varied musical genres ranging from the BBC Proms to performing with Eric Clapton.
Tim Posner
Cellist
Tim is the first-ever British prizewinner at the International Karl Davidov Competition in Latvia. Born in 1995, Tim began playing the cello at the age of eight, studying with his mother, Julia Desbruslais, and is currently studying in the ‘Solo Class’ of Leonid Gorokhov at the Hochschule für Musik in Hanover. Tim made his debut concerto performance at the age of 14. Since then he has performed as soloist with renowned orchestras including the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and London Mozart Players.
Eleni Lomvardou
Composer
Eleni is an Award - winning Film and Media Composer and Music Producer from Athens, Greece. Three times nominee and one time winner of Best Original Music in A Play Award in Greece and Cyprus. Eleni has composed music for numerous international theatre productions, TV, short films, and feature documentaries awarded in American and International Film Festivals. Her music is regularly aired on prominent Classical radio stations such as the National Greek Radio, WQXR FM, and WPRB FM in New York. Her music has been performed in various Jazz and Classical venues all over the World
Daisy Noton
Solo Flautist
Award-winning British flautist Daisy Noton at the Royal Academy of Music Junior Department. She was a woodwind finalist in BBC Young Musician 2020 and a winner many international competitions. Daisy has performed as soloist with the London Mozart Players and in prestigious venues from Venice to Glyndebourne, St John Smiths Square to Duke’s hall London and locally at White Rock and Opus Theatre, etc. and will be principal flute at the BBC proms this summer.
Oliver Poole
Composer & Pianist
An incredibly talented and charismatic British pianist and composer. He gave his first solo performance with the National Youth Orchestra at the age of 8 and has since performed all over the world in many prestigious venues and with many renowned orchestras, as well as with many leading artists. His mantra is to make the world a better place through music.
Ian Livingstone
Composer
Ian Livingstone is a British Ivor Novello award-winning composer, musician andpro ducer. He has composed over 100 scores for multi-million selling titles and franchises such as Formula1, Battlefield, Warhammer, Total War, Lego, Batman, Forza, StarTrek, Harry Potter & Marvel. He has also written music for numerous television series such as Channel 4’s Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and the BBC’s The Great British Sewing Bee & The Repair Shop
Garry D W Judd
Composer
Garry is a British contemporary classical composer, known also for composing music for film and television. His music has been performed and broadcast by the likes of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, John Etheridge, Christopher Courtney Pine and is regularly played on film and TV throughout the world. Garry' classical music has been featured on Scala Radio, Classic FM, BBC Radio 3 and others worldwide.
Aliki
Soprano
Aliki Chrysochou is a classically trained Greek-British Soprano and Classical Crossover Artist mixing styles together and performing in over five languages. Aliki has recorded two albums with The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, “Reflections” and “My Kind of Christmas” To date, Aliki has gone on to perform around the world, both, solo concerts and also in collaborations with other artists including Mario Frangoulis, Il Divo, Nathan Pacheco, Jonathan Antoine, Oliver Poole and many others. We are very proud to welcome Aliki to the Composers Festival!
Antonio D'Anto
Composer
Antonio D’Antò is a pianist, composer and conductor, a Professor of Harmony, Composition, Instrumentation, and Orchestration in the upper courses of the "L. Refice" of Frosinone near Rome and also Professor of Sound Art at the Academy of Fine Arts of Frosinone. His works have been performed in Italy and abroad by prestigious interpreters and orchestras including Symphony Orchestra of the Slovenian RTV of Ljubljana; Cali Symphony Orchestra in Colombia; Orchestra of Rome and Lazio, etc.
Nobuya Monta
Composer in Residence
(2013 & 2015)
Nobuya Monta was born in Osaka, Japan. He studied oboe at Kyoto City University of Arts and then received a master’s degree specializing in composition from Osaka Kyoiku University. He completed his studies in composition at Goldsmiths’ College in London. Maestro Monta is a Guest Professor at the Otemon Gakuin University and has many major works to his name including concerti, ballets as well as several operas.
Polo Piatti
Composer & Pianist
Polo Piatti is an award-winning British-Argentine neo-romantic composer, concert pianist and conductor. He is one of the very few high-profile international musicians concentrating exclusively on the creation, performance, and promotion of melodic classical music. He founded and remains the artistic director of the Hastings Sinfonia Orchestra, the International Composers Festival, ClassicUs Salons, and more recently the Opus Theatre. Piatti is a member of the Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain, the Ivor's Academy and the British Music Writers Council.
Jack Wong
Associate Conductor (2022)
Jack Wong
Associate Conductor 2022
Born in Hong Kong, Jack began his piano studies at the age of five and violin studies at the age of eight. He later graduated with honours at Royal Academy of Music and at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Jack founded the Hornton Chamber Orchestra and appeared as conductor and soloist on piano and violin. He has won several notable prizes for conducting and has also taken part in the Verbier Festival as one of the four young conductors in the Conducting Mentorship Program, where he assisted Valery Gergiev, Andras Schiff and Pinchas Zukerman.
Eleanor Grant
Singer
Hailed as one of Britain's greatest talents (Hollywood Vienna 2019) Eleanor was educated at Queenswood School on both music and drama scholarships. Now a student at the Royal Academy of Music, she is an accomplished singer, actress, double bassist, and bass guitarist. She has performed double bass under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, Sakari Oramo, Sir Mark Elder, and Edward Gardiner. Eleanor recently made her vocal debut with the BBC Concert Orchestra recording The Way of Light by Nigel Hess which she will be performing at the International Composers Festival 2022.
Bruno Coulais
Composer
Bruno Coulais is a well-renowned French composer, most widely known for his music on film soundtracks. In the UK, he is mostly known for scoring the music for the film The Chorus by Christophe Barratier, nominated at the 77th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Song. Coulais has written the music for hundreds of films and stage productions, winning him numerous prestigions prizes from around the world.
Alexei Knupffer
Composer & Pianist
Alexei Knupffer of Russian born parents studied piano at the Vienna Conservatoire and composition at the Guildhall School of Music in London. Commissions include Vauxhall Motors, Reuters, PLM, Gulf Air, London Transport and music for horse dressage. Classical compositions include piano albums, pieces for string orchestra, sonatas for violin, cello and piano trio and many songs. Alexei was soloist in his Five Lyric Pieces for Piano and Orchestra and 2nd Piano Concerto in Bulgaria on two occasions. His philosophy is melody will triumph.
Alex Heffes
Composer
Alex is a Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated composer and has won the Ivor Novello award for Best Film Score of The Year for The First Grader. He has composed scores to over 60 movies and TV series including Black Mirror, Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd and Nelson Mandela - long walk to freedom. He has a unique ability to collaborate with artists from different countries and cultures.
Thomas Hewitt Jones
Composer
Thomas is a British composer and music producer predominantly working in contemporary classical and commercial music. In 2003 Thomas won BBC Young Composer of the Year and in 2009 he received a BBC Music Magazine Premiere Album award. Thomas released a new single Can You Hear Me in order to raise awareness of mental health and encourage those in need to speak up in May 2020 during Covid lockdown.
Michael Doherty
Composer
Michael graduated with first class honours (BMus) in composition from the Royal Northern College of Music in 2008. His concert music has earned him a place on the Sound and Music Shortlist and performers of his work include the RTE Vanbrugh Quartet, Ensemble 10/10, pianist Artur Pereira and classical guitarist Laura Young.
Having worked as an orchestrator for the Oscar-winning Gabriel Yared in 2008, he now writes music for TV, film and video games, as well as for the concert hall.
Lisa Cullum
Composer
Lisa Cullum is a London based composer and classically trained pianist who has practised as a Music Specialist in different countries. In the last two years, she has devoted her time solely to mastering her skills in composition and in 2020 released her debut album ELLE which is where 'Liberty' can be found. ELLE was also nominated for best neo-classical album 2020. She is currently working on her second album Melody Diaries with Yellow Rose Record Company.
Diane Wilks
Composer
Diane studied piano from the age of five entering the Brighton Musical Festival every year as a child. "I was composing music from a very young age and accompanied a soprano and violinist in my teens”. After having her family, Diane turned to fine art however, was given the opportunity to write for a Community Choir and then became Composer in Residence to St Laurence in Hawkhurst. She continues to record and give recitals as venues open after the pandemic.
Dawn Walters
Composer & Singer
Dawn Walters has set all the songs from Shakespeare’s plays and 26 sonnets for ithe nternet company, ‘The Bardcode’. ‘Pro Dolorosa’, a lament, for those affected by Covid, which was premiered by the Swan Consort. Elaine Dave, Soprano, and Graziana Presicce, Pianist, perform with Dawn as Allegoria.
Huw Boucher
Harpist
Huw is 18 years old and studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He also studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama department for nine years under the tuition of Kathryn Rees. Huw is the winner of the Rotary Young Musician of Great Britain and Ireland 2017, he was also a strings finalist of the BBC Young Musician 2020. Huw enjoys playing orchestrally and was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Huw also plays plays flute and piano which he has also achieved grade 8 distinction in.
Tom Kelly
Singer
A well-known voice in the shanty world, for many years a member of the ‘Shanty Crew’ and a founding member of the 'RX Shantymen', Tom has sung throughout the UK and Europe. He has sailed and sung on several of the great square-rigged sailing ships. This will be Tom's first apperance at the festival and one that promises to be a very unique one!
Véronique Bracco
Composer & Pianist
A prize-winning French pianist and composer, Véronique began composing at the age of 10. Published at Editions H. Lemoine at 13, she wrote her 1st piano Concerto at 14. Her multifaceted compositions have been performed internationally, her pieces are frequently programmed as compulsory works in competitions such as L.Bellan, Les Clés d’Or, Concours Steinway-Prodige Art. Her own Piano Method will be published in 2022 and 2023 by F2M Editions". Passionate and creatively curious, she's always eager to explore and compose for various instruments and in miscellaneous styles and genres.
Tom Howe
Composer
Tom Howe is a British musician who has composed music for over 100 films and tv series. His work includes music for the much loved 'Great British Bake Off' as well as 'Farmageddon', 'Early Man' (Annie nominated), 'Upside-Down Magic', etc. In 2020, Tom collaborated with Marcus Mumford on the theme-song and soundtrack for the Apple TV+ production Ted Lasso, for which he received an Emmy nomination. Tom's music for blockbusters films include 'Wonder Woman', 'Legend of Tarzan' and 'Disney’s Mulan'. In June 2020, Tom was made a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars).
Matthew Curtis
Composer
Matthew is a composer and orchestrator whose music began to receive public performances while he was at Oxford but studying classics. Essentially self-taught his music has received performances by the BBC Concert Orchestra, the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain and many more. He is best known for his short orchestral pieces written in the British light music tradition.
Vlada Kupriyanova
Composer
Vlada Kupriyanova is a Ukrainian composer and pianist. She graduated from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where she studied with A. Mnacakanian, who was a student of Shostakovich. She began her career as a classical composer, developing a passion for cinematic music and started to experiment with different sounds by mixing orchestral and synthetic sounds. She likes music that is melodic and simple. Since many of her melodies are coming from Slavic tradition, it embodies a unique style of composition.
Jennifer Maslin
Singer
Jennifer Maslin is an extremely versatile singer. Having gone through formal training and since forged a career as a performer and singing teacher, she has found her own unique style - regarding her voice as an instrument to be wielded according to each genre, be it as a classical or jazz soloist, or a cathedral chorister.
Bob Good
Composer
Grounded in classical music, Bob’s formative years were also spent writing for and performing in an a cappella group, writing for musical theatre and playing keyboards. Now his love of harmony and entertainment are put to use as a production music composer. Visit his official website to find out more.
Amy Fairchild
Composer & Pianist
Amy Fairchild is a composer, classically trained pianist, and music instructor from Oregon, USA. She holds a degree in Music Theory and Composition from Linfield College. Amy’s recent album of her piano compositions, “Serendipities”, displays her melodic and haunting style and draws on her love of the natural world. Amy’s passion is writing for students of the piano, from beginners to more advanced learners. Her pieces provide students with contemporary and beautiful options that are a joy to play and build technique.
Judith Markovich
Composer
Markovich earned a Master's from The Juilliard School in performance, not composition. After years of performance, this award-winning clarinetist took her first composition lesson at 65...for fun. Five years later, she witnessed the world premiere of her symphonic tone poem and was recently featured on ASCAP's New Music Friday.
