Biography: Edmund
Edmund Finnis (1984-) is a London-based composer. He writes music for concert halls, art galleries, film, dance-floors, installation and choreography. Flicker, his first work for full orchestra, was premiered by the Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra in Helsinki and subsequently performed at the Barbican in London. Amongst his varied output, he has composed for the London Symphony Orchestra, New College Choir Oxford, viola-player Paul Silverthorne (London Sinfonietta), Isafold Chamber Orchestra (Reykjavik) and players of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
In 2011 Finnis has received commissions from the London Sinfonietta, Spitalfields Music Festival, Sounds New Music Festival, and the British Film Institute (to co-compose an original score for the 1929 Eisenstein film, The General Line).
Finnis’ previous teachers have included Julian Anderson, Paul Newland and Rozalie Hirs. He is currently working to complete his AHRC-funded doctorate on the subject of distortion in acoustic instrumental composition.
Biography: Victor
Víctor Ibarra was born in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1978. He studied the license in flute in the National School of Music at the National University of Mexico with Rubén Islas; also he studied composition with José Luis Castillo and Hebert Vázquez, later in Paris with Edith Lejet and in the conservatory of Geneva with Michael Jarrell.
He has taken some master classes, important flute and composition courses and seminaries with central personalities including the summer courses of Acanthes in 2008 and 2009, with Salvatore Sciarrino, Ivan Fedele, Wolfgang Rihm and Fabio Nieder as guest composers.
His work has obtained some distinctions and recognitions including the INJUVE-CDMC composition prize in Spain (2006), the prize of the Zeitklang composition contest in Austria (2008), the “Taller Sonoro” ensemble commission (2009), the 1st prize of the ALEA III international composition contest in the USA (2010), 1st prize in the II Composition Contest at the National Auditorium of Music -BBVA foundation in Spain with his work "Silensis" for orchestra (2011).
Víctor Ibarra has received commissions and invitations from important festivals and ensembles in the United States, Latin America and Europe. He has won some scholarships developing his work: the National Fund for Arts and Culture of his country and the scholarship for Excellency in Arts by the French government.
He has just finished his Masters with honours, obtaining the Salabert foundation prize, at the National Conservatory of Music in Lyon with Robert Pascal.
Biography: Ben
Benjamin Oliver lives in London and is working as the AHRC Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Composition for Cochlear Implant Users and as a lecturer in composition at the University of Southampton; and as a freelance composer, electronic musician, pianist and educator.
Ben was born in 1981 and grew up in Chatham, Kent, in the UK. He left home for Yorkshire and in 2005 graduated from the University of Leeds with distinction in his MMus in Composition. He recently completed his DPhil in Composition at the University of Sussex (graduation in January 2011) under the supervision of Sam Hayden where he was also an associate tutor in composition. He received financial support from the AHRC and a 2006 PRS Foundation Scholarship for his doctoral work.
Ben’s music has been performed internationally and in the UK by ensembles including: Orkest de Ereprijs (International Young Composers Meeting 2010, The Netherlands), Ostrava Banda (Ostrava Days Festival 2009, Czech Republic), Leeds University Union Symphony Orchestra, Black Dyke and Rothwell Temperance Brass Bands, LIMA Orchestra, Dan Stern’s Woodwork (London Jazz Festival 2008), The Mobius Ensemble with Hackney CYM Children’s Choir (Spitalfields Festival 2010), Yorkshire Philharmonic Choir, Labyrinth, Retorica Duo (Odessa Festival 2008, Ukraine), Musarc (London Festival of Architecture 2010), Kosmos, EMFEB Chamber Orchestra, NYX trio and Leeds Sinfonia. His fifty minute work Fasten Your Seatbelts, which aligned his own quartet with electronics, was premiered to critical acclaim at the 2007 Soundwaves Festival in Brighton. Groups including Orkest de Ereprijs, Gemini Ensemble and the Royal Academy of Music Manson Ensemble have performed his music in workshops.