I’m grateful for the opportunity to co-curate a concert for Wigmore Hall Learning, with flute, cello and piano trio Temporal Harmonies, Inc. Having worked with their flautist Lydia Walquist before, we've been able to forge a deeper relationship on this venture. At our first meeting to discuss the programme, two threads came up. We wanted all 21^st Century repertoire – or by (recently) living composers. We also wanted to reflect some of the anxiety, melancholia, uncertainty, and hope(lessness) of existing as a young person in 2025. 

This made me realise: we don’t talk enough about how the state of the modern world makes us feel. One of us, somewhat jokingly, came up with the idea of theming the programme around a ‘quarter-life crisis’, which seemed to fit with the first quarter of the new century. Through this lens, we chose music by Caroline Shaw, Lowell Liebermann, Kaija Saariaho, and our friend Ashkan Layegh – framed by two new works composed by me. They will be stylistically opposites of each other, but intrinsically linked. The concert opener – music for the quarter-life crisis (synth étude)– is styled as a tongue-in-cheek indie pop song, with cheesy singalong vocals and melodramatic synth passages. The closer – IN THE EVENT THAT YOU STAY – is packed with twists and turns, lurching from dissonant modernism to emotionally-charged romanticism in a way that should feel ironic – but somehow isn’t! 

In these works, I’ve tried to sonically distill the essence of the generational malaise so many of us feel, bred from global politics, economic permacrisis, and climate catastrophe. I’m not sure even the most captivating piece of music can truly make a difference but at least we can ask ‘hey, we feel this way – do you feel this way too?’ 

Composer Jamie Elless once said that composing for friends is ‘a monumentally intimate and special experience. You know each other’s faces, voices, styles, lives, stories – you know each other, meaning you must be nothing but honest throughout the process.’ I’m immensely grateful to Temporal Harmonies, Inc. for being such incredible collaborators and friends through this process, and to the RPS and Wigmore Hall Learning for their unwavering support. As pianist Xiaowen Shang sings at the end of music for the quarter-life crisis: ‘When it feels like you’re staring armageddon in the face, the best you can do is be yourself.’

Annually, the RPS Composers programme works with a group of talented composers, offering each a commission and premiere with a UK ensemble, festival or venue, supported by a year of professional development and personal mentoring to help elevate their careers. Our commitment to supporting composers is part of a tradition that dates back to Beethoven and Mendelssohn, whose 'Italian' Symphony was commissioned by the RPS when Mendelssohn was in his early twenties. Since 2000, the RPS has commissioned over 100 composers in their early careers, including Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Dai Fujikura, Daniel Kidane, Shiva Feshareki, Tom Coult and Charlotte Bray. 

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.