Nina Whiteman
Lecturer in Music
BA Hons (Oxon), MusM, PhD, SFHEA
Email: [email protected]
- Undergraduate teaching
- Postgraduate teaching
- Module design
- Supervision and reviewing of postgraduate research in composition and contemporary performance
Nina Whiteman is a composer, vocalist, and multimedia artist based in Manchester, UK. Her collaborative project, BELOW GROUND, is an interdisciplinary investigation of the subterranean (funded by Arts Council England in 2023), and has included multisensory multimedia performances as well as ‘sonic gardening’ workshops in the community. In 2022, Nina created a cycle of multimedia works titled The Cybird Trilogy, investigating potential of AI in both sonic and visual domains to express complex relationships between nature and technology (in partnership with PRiSM at the RNCM, and Cyborg Soloists at Royal Holloway). Work during 2017-2022 has drawn inspiration from mazes and labyrinths, placing performers and audience in disorienting spaces and employing maze-like semi-graphic notation (House of Mazes, TOMB, Everything near becomes distant).
Her music has been commissioned and performed widely in the UK and abroad by ensembles such as the BBC Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, Quatuor Danel, Dutch accordion duo TOEAC, Ealing Youth Orchestra, Psappha, Colinton Amateur Orchestra (Adopt-a-composer scheme), and Distractfold Ensemble.
As a vocalist, Nina is known for her interpretations of contemporary solo, chamber and operatic repertoire, as well as her work as an experimental improviser and collaborator. She sings in and co-directs Trio Atem (flute, mezzo, cello), who specialise in performances of new and recent repertoire with an emphasis on commissioning new work and cross-genre projects. Nina is also Artistic Director of Manchester Contemporary Youth Opera, an organisation she co-founded to trailblaze creation of new opera by young and emerging artists.
Current and Future Research
Dr Nina Whiteman has a record of innovative practice-based research as a composer, vocalist and multimedia artist. This is exemplified by 2021-2024 composition research outputs: Forbidden (commissioned by Riot Ensemble; funded by Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation) innovates in the area of video notation, employing facial touch to provoke the singer’s sounds and gestures. BELOW GROUND (funded by Arts Council England) tests unusual collaborative models and the creative potential of new technologies through interdisciplinary investigation of the subterranean. The Cybird Trilogy investigates how AI-generated images and audio can expose uncomfortable fusions between humans and nature.
These works form part of a substantial body of funded research conducted since completing her PhD in 2009, and have been presented on internationally significant platforms in the UK and abroad (e.g. at the Southbank Centre, Bridgewater Hall, World Music Days Festival, BIFEM) and broadcast on national radio (e.g. BBC Radio 3). Significant works include TOMB (2018, for alto flute, electronics, video), which interrogates performer physicality and stamina as well as approaches to video-notation. Thread (2018, for solo amplified flute) has been performed, and presented in education settings internationally (e.g. Junior Royal Northern College of Music, Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, Cambridge University, University of York, Southbank Centre, BIFEM, and Carnegie Mellon University) as well as appearing on Kathryn Williams’ disc Coming Up for Air (2019, HCR label).
Innovative collaborations with research teams include ongoing work with PRiSM at the RNCM. Here, Nina has developed an app with software engineer Dr Christopher Melen designed for audience members to interact with video notation in Escape! (composition for organ, electronics, video commissioned by Lauren Redhead and Alistair Zaldua). Continued work with at PRiSM was based in machine learning and neural networks as Nina developed new work as part of Dr Zubin Kanga’s Cyborg Soloists UKRI-funded project during 2022.
Research Areas
- Multimedia performance, including use of new technologies
- Notation (including graphic and video)
- Gamification of musical experiences (for performers and audiences)
- Interdisciplinary collaboration
- Contemporary vocality
External Research Roles
Output assessor and panellist for REF 2021
Research Funding
- Arts Council England
- UKRI
- Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation
Undergraduate Teaching
Current undergradutate teaching in 2024-25:
- Undergraduate teaching in contemporary performance/performance studies
- Undergraduate mentoring for final year Creative Project
Past teaching:
- Performance and Repertoire Studies 3 and 4
- Female Singers 1960-2000 (year 3/4 elective)
- Music and Gender (year 3/4 elective)
- Music, Science and Mathematics (year 3/4 elective)
- Language of Music/Theory and Musicianship 2
- Performance and Repertoire Studies 2 [C20th]
- Historical and Contextual Studies 1 [late C20th]
- Professional Skills 1
- Introduction to Musicology (foundation module)
Postgraduate Teaching
- Electric Experimental Ensemble (co-leads postgraduate module with Dr Sam Salem)
- Music and Environment (leads postgraduate module)
- Supervision of MMus projects/dissertations
Research Supervision
Reviewer/adviser for a number of projects in composition and/or contemporary performance, including David Bainbridge, Devon Bonelli, Cee Haines, Amelia Clarkson, Rosie Middleton, and Meriel Price.
Selected Outputs
Practice Research/Compositions
Nina Whiteman, Earthed, performed by Adam Swayne [piano] and Nina Whiteman [electronics and multimedia] (2024).
Nina Whiteman, Moss, performed by Nina Whiteman [voice and multimedia] (2023).
Nina Whiteman and collaborators, BELOW GROUND, performed by David Birchall, Lee Patterson, Jackie Haynes, Toreh O’Garro, Alice Purton, Nina Whiteman, Tim Forshaw, Gavin Osborn, Zoe Katsilerou (April, 2023).
Nina Whiteman, Incandescent (from The Cybird Trilogy), performed by Trio Atem (2024).
Nina Whiteman, cybird cybird, performed by Zubin Kanga [piano and multimedia] (2022).
Nina Whiteman, Fuming, performed by Nina Whiteman [voice and multimedia] (2022).
Nina Whiteman, Forbidden, performed by Sarah Dacey [soprano] (2021).
Nina Whiteman, Escape!, performed by Lauren Redhead [organ] and Alistair Zaldua [electronics] (2020).
Nina Whiteman, Overcast, performed by The Vonnegut Collective (2019).
Nina Whiteman, Everything near becomes distant, performed by Alice Purton [cello] (2019).
Nina Whiteman, TOMB, performed by Gavin Osborn [flute] and Nina Whiteman [electronics] (2019).
Nina Whiteman, Thread, performed by Kathryn Williams [flute] (2018).
Nina Whiteman, House of Mazes, performed by Trio Atem (2017).
Nina Whiteman, The map of days outworn, performed by BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Andrew Gourlay (2015).
Professional Activity
- External work in community settings with organisations including Streetwise Opera and Manchester Camerata
- Work with young people includes South West Music Service, National Youth Orchestra
- Vocal performance of contemporary chamber and operatic repertoire, including commissioning activities
- Artistic Director (and co-founder) of Manchester Contemporary Youth Opera
- Artistic Director (and co-founder) of Trio Atem
