Zygmund de Somogyi

Zygmund is one of eight composers selected for a place on the 2025 RPS Composers programme. This will culminate in them writing a new piece, commissioned by the RPS, for Wigmore Hall Learning.

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

About Zygmund

‘Hi everyone! My name’s Zygmund de Somogyi (you can call me Zyggy) and I’m a British-Filipino composer, interdisciplinary artist, and writer.

For me, music has been a way to express myself in ways I couldn’t with words; a way to feel seen and understood in a world I couldn’t understand. I grew up with bands such as Linkin Park, Enter Shikari, and The Wonder Years, and my compositional style was formed from the wonderful memories I’ve made performing in the UK’s rich punk and alternative music scenes.

I’d say my music has a stylistic irreverence and eclecticism, perhaps stemming from my unconventional background and DIY ethos. I take as much from punk rock, experimental electronic music, immersive theatre, and video games as I do from classical and contemporary music canons. I’ve recently discovered a love of opera and music theatre, and online folklore, queer storytelling, speculative worldbuilding, and metamodern aesthetics are becoming important facets of my practice. At the moment music I’m loving includes Sibelius, Ben Nobuto, Laura Jane Grace, and Defences.

In essence: I write music to feel seen, and to hopefully maybe help others feel seen too. Music saved my life, and so I feel the least I can do is write music that might someday help other people as well.’

Highlights

  • In June 2024, Zygmund’s second opera URSA MINOR, with librettist Alexia Peniguel, was performed to sold-out audiences at Milton Court by Guildhall Opera Department, in association with The Royal Ballet & Opera. Zygmund’s first opera hikikomori! was commissioned in 2022 by Opera in Oborne.
  • Zygmund has written two works for the US Composers Conference: 2024’s song cycle Gilded with librettist Sara Clifford, and 2023’s cantata GREDOS (Starship I).
  • Zygmund sings and plays guitar in punk quartet Trouble Sleeping – their debut album was released on INiiT Records in 2023.
  • International highlights include false vacuum songs – co-created with ensemble àktapha and performed in Athens – and BLUSH HOUSE, a graphic-score-video-game exhibited at Gaudeamus Muziekweek in 2022.
  • Since 2020, Zygmund has been artistic director and editor of PRXLUDES, a contemporary music magazine and organisation promoting upcoming composers.

A LIGHTHOUSE FEVERDREAM (2023), for piano trio and narrator

Find out more

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

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, Presteigne Festival, Radcliffe Trust, Susan Bradshaw Composers' Fund, Vaughan Williams Foundation, and several anonymous donors.