Dr Ryan Latimer BMus, MMus, PhD

• PhD Royal Academy of Music
• MMus in Composition. Birmingham Conservatoire
• BMus in Composition, Birmingham Conservatoire

As a composer, my music has been performed throughout the UK and Europe by leading ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Britten Sinfonia, BCMG, Orkest de Ereprijs (Netherlands), Warszawska Opera Kameralna (Poland) and the Workers Union Ensemble, with whom I was Composer-in-Association during 2014. I was recently in residence with the BBC Symphony Orchestra as part of the Sound and Music Embedded Scheme and my new work for the orchestra was performed in March 2016 and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. I have most recently been a resident composer with the collaborative dance group, Cohan Collective.  

My recent composition, Moby Dick, written for the London Sinfonietta in 2014, features on NMC Recordings’ Next Wave album, showcasing the diverse new work of twelve young composers. The same year saw the premiere of my first opera, Three Tall Tales of Doctor Monsieur Façade, commissioned by the Warsaw Chamber Opera in Poland.

Graduating in 2012 from Birmingham Conservatoire, receiving the Musicians’ Union ‘Bill Warman’ Award, Bachelor of Music Award and Composition Prize, I then went on to pursue an AHRC funded Ph.D. at the Royal Academy of Music. My work is published by Composers Edition.

I teach across a number of undergraduate and postgraduate modules, including:

• Paper Composition
• Advanced Studies in Instrumental/Vocal Composition
• Contemporary Music Studies
• Tonal Harmony and Counterpoint

I am currently supervising postgraduate composers completing composition portfolios and dissertations. I would be happy to supervise students interested in instrumental/vocal composition and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Find out more - our Music postgraduate study  page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

My research specialism is composition. I have a particular interest in the notion of compositional "play" and what I hope is clear from my work is simply my readiness to embrace music in all its various shapes and sizes.

It is important to me to engage critically and openly with the diversity of influences that have informed my own personal understanding and appreciation of music - from early childhood curiosities, to partial musical memories, to more current interests. To some extent this is the case for all composers, though I do consciously try to engage more actively with these influences, leaving clear traces of them close to the musical surface whilst exposing or confounding their particular qualities by playfully - and often energetically - bringing them together.

Through the use of parody, discontinuity, the manipulation of established forms, allusion, and combining classical and popular musics, this playfulness manifests not only in the stylistic and structural aspects of my work but equally in the underpinning creative process itself. 

Further information about my work can be found at www.ryanlatimer.com