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The
spnm guide to
Composer Associations
This guide includes information on the following groups
(click on the name of the group for more information):
- Anglia Contemporary & Experimental
Music Society
- Central Composers' Alliance
- Colchester New Music
- Cyfansoddwyr Cymru / Composers of Wales
- The Devon Composer Group
- Forum London Composers' Group
- Lakeland Composers
- New Music Brighton
- North West Composers Association
- Original Signature
- Portsmouth District Composers Alliance
- Severnside Composers Alliance
If you run a similar organisation and you would like to
see your details included here then we'd love to hear from you! Contact
John Fosbrook on 020 7407 1640, [email protected]
And if there's no organisation listed for your area, but
if you'd like to get together with local composers, then let us know.
Send us your name, address and contact details, and we'll publish them
on this page.
Name of Organisation:
Anglia Contemporary & Experimental Music Society
Geographical Area covered:
Although the administration is based in Cambridge, we are currently establishing
networks with composers and performers in London, West Sussex and East
Anglia.
Aims of the Organisation:
ACEMS is a newly-formed society looking to unite composers and performers
in the production, rehearsal and performance of original contemporary
and experimental scores. The society is based in Cambridge, with a core
of its members affiliated to the music departments of Cambridge University
and Anglia Polytechnic University. We are still in the process of grouping
but, as soon as we are ready, which should be in 2002, we will launch
the first project.
Activities:
The society events will include:
* Regular general meetings
* Rehearals and performance of original works by new composers
* Regular experimental music evenings
* Workshops
* Visiting speakers
* Collaborative projects
Web site:
http://acems.20m.com
Membership Criteria:
WE ARE RECRUITING NOW!
We are looking for:
(i): Composers who are interested in having new works performed at society
events.
(ii): Singers and players of ANY INSTRUMENT to join a database for the
season. Members can participate as seldom or as often as they wish.
(iii): Conductors (limited) for the rehearsal and performance of works
where not given by the composer.
(iv): ENSEMBLES: particularly amateur orchestras/ensembles interested
in performing new music.
Membership for one year will cost £1. For this, members
are entitled to a variety of services and are protected by the society
constituion. Membership fees will be put towards society events and details
of monies spent will be made available to the members committee on request.
Contact Details:
If you are at all interested then contact us at: [email protected]
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Name of Organisation:
Central Composers' Alliance
Geographical Area covered:
Central England
Aims of the Organisation:
Founded in 1995, the Central Composers' Alliance, whose Patron is Sir
Richard Rodney Bennett, was formed to promote the works of members of
the Composers' Guild of Great Britain who are resident in, or have close
connections with, Central England.
Activities:
* Promotes member composers
* Produces publicity
* Runs a web site.
* We have just produced our own CD (details out shortly)
Web site:
www.composersalliance.com
Membership Criteria:
Any bona fide composer resident or working in Midlands or adjacent counties
may join. Approach the Secretary (details below) if you want to join with
details of experience, qualifications etc. We also have student members.
Our annual subscription is £10; £15 next year (approved by
AGM). This is to cover admin costs.
Contact Details:
Peter Crump: [email protected]
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Name of Organisation:
Colchester New Music
Geographical Area covered:
East Anglia, London and S. E. England
Aims of the Organisation:
Performance of members' music
Activities:
* Promotes concerts and workshops
* Produces a newsletter
Membership Criteria:
Anyone can join the society.
Contact Details:
Alan Parsons, Honorary Director, Colchester New Music
32c Military Road, Colchester, Essex CO1 2AJ
Tel 01206 510784
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Name of Organisation:
Cyfansoddwyr Cymru / Composers of Wales
Geographical Area covered:
The whole of Wales (also including composers born in Wales now working
elsewhere, and those not necessarily of Welsh descent now living and working
in Wales.
Aims of the Organisation:
We aim above all to support professional composers and to respond to their
needs.
Activities:
* Prints a quarterly Newsletter
* Answers professional queries from and offers advice to members
* Answers any queries directed to us from any source to the best of our
ability.
* Acts in co-operation with other bodies in the interests of composers;
this includes studies (seminars, workshops), providing a speaker, etc.
* Has just published a bilingual booklet of advice to first-time commissioners,
"So you want to commission a composer?", which will distributed
free of charge. This is aimed primarily at amateur groups and music societies.
Web site:
We shall be part of the Welsh music umbrella web site www.tycerdd.org,
currently under construction.
Membership Criteria:
Full membership is restricted to professional composers who fulfil certain
criteria of professional competence and achievement. Final decisions on
eligibility for membership are in the hands of the Executive Committee.
We also have a Student category of membership, and one for Associate members,
who can be any person or body who supports our work.
Contact Details:
Enid Luff, 12, Heol Tyn y Cae, Cardiff CF14 6DJ
Tel: 029 2061 6023, e-mail; [email protected]
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Name of Organisation:
The Devon Composer Group
Geographical Area covered:
Devon
Aims of the Organisation:
To provide a meeting ground for new and established composers based in
the Southwest and to create & foster compositional opportunities in
Devon.
Activities:
* Holds monthly composers' meetings.
* Organises new music concerts.
* Provides links with other composers, composer organisations, new music
ensembles & educational groups.
Membership Criteria:
Anyone can join (interested parties can contact the group at the address
below). At present there is no fee.
Contact Details:
Julie Yount Morgan, The Devon Composer Group, Marsh Court Studio, 27 Bartholomew
Street West, Exeter, Devon EX4 3BN
Tel: 01392 499035
E-mail 1: [email protected]
E-mail 2: [email protected]
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Name of Organisation:
Forum London Composers' Group
Geographical Area covered:
We are a group of contemporary music composers in London, UK, and have
over 60 members.
Aims of the Organisation:
* To provide opportunities for the discussion, playing, and performance
of works by composers in the London region.
* To facilitate the discussion of questions concerning composition and
the development of music amongst the members of the group.
* To provide opportunities for teaching, and feedback on pieces work in
progress, to members of the Group.
* To stimulate people to create and perform contemporary music.
* To promote the writing of contemporary music, in particular for amateur
performers by amateur composers.
Activities:
* Holds members' meetings Open house for new music, playing compositions
in progress.
* Organises workshops at which compositions by our members are played
and discussed
* Organises concerts of our members' music.
* Is working on a jointly written Opera, and works for Dance and linked
to the visual arts.
* Has published a pack of Postcard Music, and a set of contemporary pieces
for Electronic Keyboard Music
* Recently published "re:sound!" - New Music for the New Millennium
- a pack of flexible contemporary music for music groups. This was produced
with the help of a grant from the Millennium Commission.
Web site:
www.argonet.co.uk/users/ataylor/forum
Membership Criteria:
Anyone can join.
Contact Details:
Kerry Andrews, Secretary. Tel: 020 7790 8064, email: [email protected]
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Name of Organisation:
Lakeland Composers
Geographical Area covered:
Originally we only intended to cover Cumbria, but when Arthur Butterworth
(who is from Skipton in Yorkshire) joined, we saw no reason to preclude
others from Lancashire, and even one member from Merseyside. Apart from
our common musical aims though, all of us have a love of the Lakeland
Fells, so there is a unity there.
Aims of the Organisation:
The group was formed in 1999, springing from a held conviction that individual
composers would be stronger and more able to promote their work as a group,
and also the desire to bring a fresh approach to contemporary composition.
During the past 40 years a great deal of music has been promoted which
has alienated many classical music listeners and made them wary of anything
new. Lakeland Composers redress the balance by making their music accessible
and enjoyable within a modern idiom. Much of their music is inspired by
the beauty of the northern hills, dales and lakes.
Activities:
* Promotes concerts
* Produces publicity
* Runs a web site
* Hold regular composers' meetings (about every 4-6 weeks)
* Liases with local arts groups (such as the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal
where we helped to organise a Forum on "Whither Contemporary Music?").
* Individually several of us have given workshops, and intend in future
to do one which we will give as a group, either at the Brewery or under
the aegis of one of the local festivals (Mary Wakefield Festival, South
Cumbria Festival, Lake District Summer Music etc.).
Web site:
http://listen.to/lakeland.composers
Membership Criteria:
Anyone can join, regardless of background etc. However we do like to look
at the work of prospective members before acceptance, and also to ascertain
that they are in sympathy with our aims and ethos. To join, people either
approach me (chair) or our Treasurer Peter E. Wood. Current membership
fee is a nominal £5 annually. This primarily to cover admin. costs.
Contact Details:
Chris Gibbs, Tel: 015395 34354
2 East Bank, Edenmount Road, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria LA11 6BN
Fax: 0870-138 6821
Email: [email protected]
or [email protected]
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Name of Organisation:
New Music Brighton
Geographical Area covered:
Sussex (East and West as well as Brighton & Hove)
Aims of the Organisation:
Our objectives are stated to be: To provide concerts to perform and promote
works of NMB members and such others as concert co-ordinators may determine.
In practice, these objectives are currently interpreted fairly broadly,
so that we are exploring various ways to promote interest in new music
and ours in particular.
Activities:
* Promotes concerts
* Runs workshops (in conjunction with concerts)
* Holds composer meetings (about 4 or 5 per year)
* Sends an annual newsletter to supporters on mailing list
Membership Criteria:
Membership is open to any composer living or working in the Sussex area.
Current annual subscription is £15 (£7 for student members).
Contact Details:
Patrick Harrex, 21 Preston Drive, Brighton BN1 6LA, tel 01273 501758
Email: [email protected]
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Name of Organisation:
North West Composers Association
Geographical Area covered:
Members are composers living and working in North West England and North
Wales
Aims of the Organisation:
To enhance the appreciation of new music in the region
Activities:
* Promotes concerts and recordings of contemporary British music
* Organises education workshops.
* Runs a web site
Web site:
www.dws.ndirect.co.uk/nwca.htm
Membership Criteria:
Originally only members of the Composers Guild (latterly BACAS) could
be members, but this has been dropped from the constitution. Now anyone
wishing to help new music in the region, or with connections with the
region, may join. Payment is currently £20 p.a. but will increase
next year on the argument that non-membership of BACAS will save a great
deal of money. Friends of the NWCA will be less.
Contact Details:
Colin Bayliss, Secretary, tel 0161 766 5950. Email [email protected]
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Name of Organisation:
Original Signature
Geographical Area covered:
Norfolk and Suffolk
Aims of the Organisation:
To perform and explore new music
Activities:
Still in the embryonic stage at present, we have just started life as
a
seven-strong group of composer/performers. We achieved first funding through
the Year of the Artist, through which we made a programme of new music
and
toured it through Norfolk's rural touring scheme. Since then we have raised
some further funds from the PRS Foundation and are in the process of
applying for more to support a next concert weekend - all of this heading
towards the idea up of some sort of 'laboratory' (old-fashioned but apt
term) for other interested composers in our patch.
Membership Criteria:
Original Signature is not accepting new members at present while funding
applications are pending.
Contact Details:
Jane Wells, email [email protected]
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Name of Organisation:
Portsmouth District Composers Alliance
Geographical Area covered:
We currently have about 28 members spread across the Southern Arts region,
but also a few members further afield including Wigan, Jersey and Fecamp,
France.
Aims of the Organisation:
To promote the composition and performance of new music, especially that
of regional composers
Activities:
* Each year we put on a programme of at least four professional concerts
including one each year in London (usually the BMIC). Performers have
included the Coull Quartet, Kreutzer Quartet, James Oxley, Tapestry, Sounds
Positive and the Portsmouth New Music Orchestra. Obviously the bulk of
our activities centre around Portsmouth and the Southern region, but we
have had 2 concerts of our music in France and another in Bristol.
* Other activities include Composer Forums where members can get together
in a social situation to discuss their music. We organise the composition
competition for the Portsmouth Music Festival and have close ties with
the Portsmouth Music Club. We publish a newsletter 3 times a year.
* In 1998 we hosted in Portsmouth a Regional Composers' Conference in
collaboration with the Composers' Guild of Great Britain.
Web site:
www.riverview.freeserve.co.uk/pdcindex.htm
Membership Criteria:
Membership is open to any composer in the "region" and to non
composers who would like to support our activities. Membership fees are
£10 (£5 concessions).
Contact Details:
Paul Pilott, Secretary, Flat 1, Stokehurst Old Rectory, Anglesey Road,
Alverstoke, Gosport PO12 2EH, Tel: 023 9252 6255, e-mail: [email protected]
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Name of Organisation:
Severnside Composers Alliance
Geographical Area covered:
Somerset and Gloucestershire
Activities:
Performance, recording and social activities
Membership Criteria:
Open to all interested parties.
Contact Details:
Severnside Composers Alliance, 76 Lower Oldfield Park, Bath, Somerset
BA2 3HP, e-mail: [email protected]
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