Glyndebourne's new Young Composer in Residence

The Scottish composer Lewis Murphy has just been appointed Glyndebourne's Young Composer in Residence. Murphy, aged 22, recently graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and is now studying at the Royal College of Music with Mark Antony Turnage. His first opera, Now, written in collaboration with Laura Attridge was premiered at the Royal College of Music in May 2014 as part of their Hogarth's Stages project (see Hilary's review on this blog). As an arranger, Murphy has worked with pop groups Fatherson and Brown Bear and the Bandits, as well as making string and brass arrangements for his own band, Scarlet Shift (you can hear a sample of Scarlet Shift on Murphy's own website and further examples of his work on his SoundCloud page).

Murphy will now spend three years immersed in the work of Glyndebourne, observing the creation of opera and involving himself in the wider artistic, learning and audience development activities as well as creating their own work. Murphy's predecessor as Young Composer in Residence was Luke Styles (from 2011 to 2014) and Styles final composition for Glyndebourne, based on Shakespeare's Macbeth will be performed at the 2015 Glyndebourne Festival.

A new song cycle by Lewis Murphy will be premiered at the Royal College of Music on 28 January 2015 by the New Zealand baritone Julien van Mellaerts. The songs, based on the words of Brian Turner, Robert Louis Stevenson and Captain James Cook, celebrate the connection that southern New Zealand and Scotland share to this day, and follow the physical and emotional voyage of those who travelled across the world in pursuit of a new beginning in the 19th century.