RNCM Artist of the Year: Composer Final / Wed 17 Jun
Welcome to the RNCM Artist of the Year (Composition), the College’s most prestigious annual award, in an evening of new works premiered in front of a distinguished panel from across the music industry. In this concert, you will hear four new pieces in the RNCM Concert Hall and two new sound installations in RNCM Studio 8. Our six finalists were selected to take part by composer Amy Bryce. We would like to thank you for supporting our students and hope you enjoy a day of wonderful music-making.
The schedule for the concert is as follows:
7pm-7.30pm / Studio 8 – Emily Dunbar’s installation
7.30pm / Concert Hall – Talland Quartet and Carl Raven
8.30pm-9pm / Studio 8 – Kámea Németh’s installation
9pm / Concert Hall – Winner Announcement
The Panel:
Laura Bowler – Deputy Head of Composition, RNCM
David Fennessy – Composer
Matt Whitham – Head of Programming, RNCM
The Performers:
Carl Raven saxophone
Talland Quartet:
Dylan Edge, Orla McGarrity violins
Rebecca Stubbs viola
Nathan Jackson-Turner cello
Emily Dunbar Expanded Objects
This is an acousmatic surround-sound installation which combines electronic processing with instrumental recordings. The sound for the installation was created from a series of miniatures for bass clarinet, recorded by Heather Roche in March 2026. The video was made by Isabel Jones, an art student at the University of Leeds. Audience members are encouraged to come in and out as they please, with a recommended duration of approximately 10 minutes. Programme note by Emily Dunbar
Emily Dunbar is a British composer from Reading, UK. She is based in Manchester and is about to finish her undergraduate degree at the RNCM, where she studied composition with Steven Daverson and Sam Salem. Her favourite part of the RNCM has been collaborating with friends on various projects. Highlights include “Eston” for piano and electronics, performed by pianist and composer Lucian Amette Crosby at his end-of-year recital in May 2025. Another highlight is a recent electronic set with cellist Elena Edwards at Curio Festival in February 2026. She is currently looking forward to her upcoming Bridgewater Hall debut in June 2026 after being awarded the RNCM’s annual Symphony Orchestra commission. Upcoming projects include writing the score for Ruth Mill’s short film “Ham”.
Gloria Xia Glass Bodies for string quartet and fixed electronics
This piece focuses on the aftermath of a glass shattering, where fragmented pieces scatter across the floor, each carrying a different weight, distance, and residual tension. Programme note by Gloria Xia
There was a glass on the table all afternoon.
It seemed temporary already.
Then there was a sound, brief and delicate, as though something very small had understood something before the rest of us. Then the spreading. Then the separate pieces.
The smallest pieces travelled the farthest.
One was found later near the door, shining briefly in the evening light before disappearing again.
Gloria Xia, originally from China, is a Manchester-based composer whose creative practice centres on humanity, relationships, and feminism. Her work explores vulnerability, discomfort, and embodied expression, often drawing on New Discipline and cross-disciplinary, intercultural practices that integrate music with text, movement, and visual media. She has been selected as one of three composers for the Marian Consort Emerging Voices 2026 programme, and her work has been featured in festivals including the Rainy Days Festival 2025 and the Eugene Difficult Music Ensemble 4th Annual New Music Festival. She is currently in the final year of an undergraduate composition degree at the RNCM, studying with Larry Goves and Steven Daverson.
Helena Zyskowska noon and l’heure bleue for string quartet
The piece was inspired by a quote from Éric Rohmer’s film Quatre Aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle (1987): “Do you know the blue hour (fr. l’heure bleue)? In fact, it’s not an hour, it’s a minute. Right before dawn, there’s a minute of silence. The daytime birds are not yet awake, and the nighttime birds are already asleep. And then, there’s silence.” This piece explores this space where time seems to pause and briefly become weightless. Programme note by Helena Zyskowska
Helena Zyskowska (born 2003, Warsaw) is a Manchester‑based composer whose work explores fragile sonorities and nuanced musical spaces. She is currently studying composition at the RNCM with Professors Emily Howard and David Horne, and has collaborated with ensembles including the Hallé Orchestra, Athens State Orchestra, BBC Singers, Heather Roche, Patrick Stadler, and CoMA. Her music has been featured in masterclasses such as outHEAR New Music Week with Mark Andre, the International Divertimento Ensemble Academy, and the Summer Composers’ Lab with Yannis Kyriakides. Helena grew up around the vibrant music scene of Warsaw, training as a pianist from the age of nine. After moving to England in 2020, she encountered composition for the first time which quickly became her enduring passion. Upon completing her Bachelor’s degree in Manchester, she has been accepted to pursue her Master’s studies in composition at the Bern University of the Arts starting in September 2026.
Sophia Hurst basilica di san clemente for alto saxophone and string quartet
basilica di san clemente is based on a trip to Rome. I visited Basilica di San Clemente, which is comprised of three layers:
i. 12th century: The first layer is the current basilica, which appears to be the entire church. It was built in the 12th century. The inside is striking and rich, much like other Roman basilicas.
ii. 4th century: Beneath it is a 4th-century basilica, which was converted out of the home of a Roman nobleman, which was also believed to have served as a church in the 1st century. It shares some of the same opulence; however, it is noticeably far simpler.
iii. 64 ad: The third layer was the home of a Roman nobleman, built on the ruins of the great fire of Rome, 64 AD. It is incredibly dark, damp, and primitive. The air is thick, and it feels like you have been taken to another time.
Each movement represents a layer of the basilica, with the music gradually becoming more exposed. Programme note by Sophia Hurst
Sophia Hurst is a composer born in Essex in 2003. Upon graduating from the University of Manchester with first-class honours and being awarded the Procter-Gregg prize for highest marks in composition, she has been studying at RNCM with an entrance scholarship, under the tutelage of Tom Coult and Laura Bowler. Her music has been performed in various venues across the UK, including Wigmore Hall. Particularly suited to chamber ensembles, her music is intimate and inviting, often exploring art or text. In 2025, she was a composer-in-residence at JAM on the Marsh music festival, collaborating with percussionist Beibei Wang and pianist Thomas Kelly. She has also collaborated with chamber ensembles, including Spółdzienlnia Muzyczna contemporary ensemble, Voluta string quartet, and FRACTAL saxophone quartet. Larger ensemble collaborations include the BBC Singers, Fitzhardinge Consort, and Manchester Contemporary Orchestra.
Lucian Amette Crosby It was as if the daylight had changed with unnatural suddenness, as if the temperature of the evening had altered greatly in an instant, or as if the air had become twice as rare or twice as dense as it had been in the winking of an eye
This piece takes its title from Flann O’Brien’s novel The Third Policeman, the subject matter of which fascinatingly juxtaposes its witty and surrealist tone with a horrifying vision of hell and fate beneath the surface. This discursive contradiction felt appropriate to put alongside the piece, whose ten short movements contain musical material which takes twists and turns despite being essentially constant, conjures drama yet is unsentimental, and meanders whilst remaining intensely focused. Programme note by Lucian Amette Crosby
Lucian Amette Crosby is in the final year of his undergraduate degree, studying with Steven Daverson (previously with Larry Goves). Recent premieres include a work for six pianos for soloist Adam Swayne with RNCM students, a new piano work for the Argentinian pianist Martina Copello, a percussion sextet, and a collaborative installation at the Manchester Museum. Upcoming and ongoing collaborations are with the saxophonist Patrick Stadler, violinist Marie Schreer with Riot Ensemble, and the Sage Quartet, a string quartet based at the RNCM. He was recently selected to attend the Time of Music festival in Viitasaari, Finland in summer 2025 working with tutors Matthew Shlomowitz and Mark Knoop. Lucian is also an active pianist and has been awarded the RNCM’s Brodsky prize for chamber music, as well as the Patricia Cunliffe award for contemporary music performance.
Kámea Németh Garden Escargot?
When I was a child, I tried to eat a garden snail because I thought it was an escargot. Thankfully, my mum stopped me before it was too late. “Garden Escargot?” further explores the idea of social constructs society expects you to know through a children’s tea party, inspired by the Mad Hatter’s tea party in Alice in Wonderland. This academic year, I have been exploring themes of time, nostalgia, and dissociation across all my work. These are topics I have been thinking about a lot more recently, with this year being the last for all of us involved in Artist of the Year. Feel free to walk in and out of this installation freely, and to open/close the lids of the 4 teapots as you like. Programme note by Kámea Németh
Kámea Németh is a 21-year-old queer Brummie composer, singer and musical director originating from Hungary. They are currently studying composition at the RNCM and are in the 4th and final year of their BMus degree. Throughout their work, Kámea likes to include whimsy and playfulness where appropriate. They specialise in graphic notation and performance art, which they often enjoy interspersing between electronics or Hungarian folk tunes throughout their compositions.
