On this page, Lisa introduces herself in her own words, and shares links to her music, her website, and her social media platforms. We warmly invite programmers and commissioners to take a closer look at Lisa's work, and please be in touch with us if you would like to connect with her.

About Lisa

'I am a composer and violinist from the West Highlands of Scotland, particularly interested in human/nature relationships and environmental advocacy. In my music, I often aim to capture the sense of place of my home area while addressing globally significant environmental themes. I speak Gaelic and thematically my work advocates reclaiming traditional Gaelic culture’s eco-conscious values to foster a healthier relationship with the environment, as a means of tackling the environmental crisis. I reflect natural sounds in my music alongside using fragments of traditional folk music and material derived from the Gaelic language. My PhD, completed at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, centred around these themes.

I am passionate about finding ways to excite audiences new to contemporary music by exploring exciting colours, engaging musical material and concepts and embedding folk and nature influences. I am most fascinated by timbre and finding new colours reflecting natural sounds.

As a violinist, as well as performing my own and other contemporary works, I’ve been really inspired by performing in community settings, such as with Live Music Now Scotland in my soprano-violin duo, Lark Duo, and hope to continue with this kind of work, both as a composer and performer.'

Highlights

• Lisa was commissioned by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra to write a piece which will be performed alongside children from Sistema Scotland as part of the Nordic Music Days Festival in November 2024.
• The Loch Shiel Festival commissioned Lisa to write a large-scale piece for the Maxwell Quartet, brass duo Dopey Monkey, mezzo-soprano Katie Coventry, local student brass players and a Gaelic choir of local school children celebrating local native woodlands and local Gaelic bards.
• In March 2022, Lisa’s work am fàsach, for defunensemble (Finland), was performed at Musica Nova Festival in Helsinki as part of the Northern Connection project.
• As winner of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Composers’ Hub, Lisa’s piece am fìor-eun was selected to be performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Thomas Søndergård in January 2023.
• Lisa was commissioned by The Sixteen to write …a link in a chain… and a recording was released on Coro label in June 2022.

Find out more

If you are interested in finding out more about Lisa, hearing and and keeping up to date with her work, take a look at her website and social media below:

• Website
• X/Twitter
• Instagram
• Facebook

Lisa’s RPS commission and her place on the RPS Composers programme is kindly supported by Thea Musgrave and Peter Mark. The RPS Composers programme could not happen without the support of RPS Members, PRS Foundation Talent Development Network supported by PPL, Delius Trust, Fidelio Charitable Trust, Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation, Idlewild Trust, John Ellerman Foundation, Marchus Trust, Presteigne Festival, Radcliffe Trust, Susan Bradshaw Composers' Fund, Vaughan Williams Foundation, and several anonymous donors.