Angela Elizabeth Slater
RPS Composer 2021 | Commission for Music in the Round
About Angela
I have always had a fascination with sound. Expressions of narrative and emotion have captured my mind ever since I was young. My composing journey started through writing small piano pieces and songs in my teenage years. At this point, I did not realise that people could still become composers, but I was always certain that I wanted to create music.
I went on to complete a music degree and an AHRC-funded PhD in composition at the University of Nottingham, where I developed an interest in the possible dialogues between science, visual arts, dance and politics, and the ways these can be expressed musically. My work regularly explores these and engages with the natural world, musically mapping specific concepts and phenomena as a key part of my artistic expression. These help to shape the architecture of my pieces, informing contours of gesture, melody, rhythm, harmony, and colour. Timbre is also a hugely important aspect in my work as an expressive extension of a musical line, a way of shifting the colour and bringing a new insight to the material.
Artistically, I want to keep striving to be as authentic to my musical intentions as possible and to keep pushing myself creatively, exploring new sonic possibilities. Composing is something I have always felt a need to do. It is my desire to communicate and express something of myself and my impression of the world
RPS Commission
Angela Slater's clarinet quintet The Light Blinds was premiered by Ensemble 360 at Music in the Round, Sheffield, on 21 May 2022.
Highlights
- London Philharmonic Orchestra Composer 2021-22
- RSNO Composer 2020-21
- 2020–2022 – Tanglewood Composition Fellow
- August 2021 – Recipient of Brightwork Fellowship (with full scholarship) for Impulse Festival in Los Angeles. Includes performances of Woven half dreams for solo cello and newly written piece To know the dark for mixed ensemble
- 2019 – Mendelssohn Scholarship Award, administered by Royal Academy of Music, studying with New England Conservatory Chair of Composition Michael Gandolfi
- April 2019 – Roil in Stillness for orchestra, premiered by the New England Philharmonic (Boston, MA)
- 2017–2018 – Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme Composition Course with Oliver Knussen, Colin Matthews and Michael Gandolfi. Includes a premiere of Soaring in Stasis for chamber orchestra in 2018 Aldeburgh Festival.
ANGELA SLATER | Through the Fading Hour
Angela Slater | Eye o da hurricane
Find out more
If you are interested in finding out more about Angela, hearing and keeping up to date with her work, take a look at her website and social media below:
