sound is pleased to announce that we will be offering an exciting new development opportunity for emerging Scottish-based composers in partnership with Red Note Ensemble. Five composers will have the opportunity to develop short works for viola and percussion working alongside Fiona Winning (viola) and Tom Hunter (percussion) from Red Note with Deirdre McKay as composer mentor. The new works will be performed during 2024 soundfestival.

sound is a new music incubator based in North East Scotland, which aims to increase access to new music, encourage excellence and experimentation, and nurture talent. It achieves this through a variety of activities including the annual soundfestival, a year-round composer support programme, a youth programme, and other learning and engagement activities.

Since its formation in 2008, Red Note Ensemble has taken up a leadership position as Scotland’s contemporary music ensemble, performing and developing both an extensive, highly-varied and critically-acclaimed programme of new music.

Opportunity description
Five emerging Scottish composers will have the opportunity to develop short works of around 5 min for Fiona Winning (viola) and Tom Hunter (percussion) with mentoring support from Deirdre McKay.

This will take place over a period of 4 months with a mixture of online and live sessions (see key dates below).

The new works will then be performed as part of the soundfestival on Saturday 26th October 2024.

Key dates
The successful candidates should be available to attend the following sessions:
- Online introductory session: Tuesday 2nd July evening
- 1-to-1 mentoring sessions with Deirdre McKay and/or musicians (mid-August, dates and times tbc)
- Workshop session with Fiona and Tom: 21st September in Glasgow
- Performance on Saturday 26th October 2024 at 12pm in St Andrew’s Cathedral, Aberdeen.

This requirement is kept flexible for those living with disability, or those for whom such participation might be tricky due to any other reason related to their underrepresented characteristic. You will be able to discuss this with us upon successful application and we will help find a solution.