"Frank Denyer is an English composer whose brilliantly coloured and imaginatively rich compositions fall between several and into none of the accepted categories of contemporary music.

Born in London in 1943, he was a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral by the age of nine, the director of the experimental music ensemble Mouth of Hermes in London at the age of twenty-five, and a Doctoral student in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University, Connecticut at the age of thirty. He has lived and worked in east Africa and India.

Denyer's music is distinguished by a keen sensitivity to sound. Each of his works is written for a unique combination of instruments, more often than not a combination that no composer has dreamed of before. Each work finds its own individual form, laying down the path for its journey as it proceeds. In some cases even such basic musical materials as the scales and the tuning system are invented from scratch.This music is handmade in every detail; it is engaged in a complex process of affirmation and negation, accepting no easy solutions.

For Denyer, a fine pianist who has composed not one note for his own instrument since his student days, the whole question of musical instruments is a central one. His compositions present an astonishingly varied array of sound sources - new instruments of his own invention, adapted instruments, instruments of non Western traditions, rare or virtually extinct instruments, and conventional Western instruments. This whole concern with what his friend Morton Feldman called 'the instrumental factor' is not a postmodern mixing-and-matching of instruments from different 'ethnic' traditions: rather, his work suggests that all instruments bear the imprint of the tradition of which they are a part, whether that tradition be nascent, mature or decaying, and that at the beginning of the twenty-first century we cannot afford to be complacent about which musical traditions we consider to be 'ours.' Neither is his music that of a composer making do with ready-mades or whatever lies to hand (like Cage's percussion ensemble works of the 1930s and early 1940s). Nor, at the other extreme, does one have the sense of the composer gradually assembling an instrumentarium of his own, creating the illusion of an alternative musical universe (like Harry Partch): for one thing, Denyer's assembly of new instruments hardly ever plays together; for another, they rarely recur from one work to the next - each new composition wipes the slate clean and starts afresh. The instruments are like flowers that suddenly spring up between the cracks in a wall; they seem to be there because the opportunity has arisen for them to exist, to fill the gaps between isolated islands of instrumental sound.

Denyer's concern with musical instruments can also be seen as a metaphor for the larger question of what can be salvaged, artistically, from the chaos of civilization as we begin our new century. Compositions like A Monkey's Paw (1987-88) and Finding Refuge in the Remains (1992) confront this central issue - the sense of new life emerging from a morass of dead or decaying matter - an urgent issue for him both compositionally and culturally."

"English guitarist and composer Sam Cave is one of the guitar's leading exponents of new music.

Sam's performances have taken him to some of the most exciting venues and festivals in the UK and abroad with appearances at St John's Smith Square, City Showcase Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Nonclassical, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, LSO St. Luke's, AVGARDE concert series in Norway, the Purcell Room at the Southbank Centre, Kings Place and the Tianjin May Festival in Tianjin, China. Sam has been a Park Lane Group Young Artist and has recorded for both 'Another Timbre' and 'Metier' record labels. His playing has been broadcast on both 'Late Junction' and 'The New Music Show' on BBC Radio 3. Sam is a member of the leading new music groups Octandre Ensemble and Apartment House and has performed with many other groups at the forefront of new music including Riot Ensemble and Explore Ensemble.

Sam studied at the Royal College of Music in London with Gary Ryan and Chris Stell with financial assistance from The Countess of Munster Musical Trust. He has also studied with Vincent Lindsey-Clark, Michael Zev Gordon, Michael Finnissy, Gilbert Biberian and Craig Ogden and graduated from the University of Southampton with first class honours and the Edward Wood memorial prize in music. In 2020 Sam completed a PhD in composition at Brunel University, London under the supervision of Christopher Fox and John Croft.

As a composer Sam's work has been performed in the UK, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Lithuania, Italy, Australia and the USA by some of the most exciting young ensembles and soloists working today. He is an LSO Soundhub Associate Composer for 2017-21 and his music is published by Babelscores.

Now also an educator in much demand, Sam is currently a tutor at Brunel University, London, he has been a guest lecturer in composition for guitar at Coventry University and a lecturer in composition and orchestration at Kingston University."

"Richard Craig was born in Glasgow and studied flute at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama with Richard Blake and Sheena Gordon. Graduating in 2003 with a degree and solo diploma, he continued his studies (supported by the Scottish International Educational Trust and a Dewar Arts award) at the Conservatoire National de Region Strasbourg with Mario Caroli and Claire Gentilhomme. In 2006 he received a "diplôme de spécialisation" from the CNR de Strasbourg, achieving 'unanimité du jury'. During this time Richard also received guidance from Pierre-Yves Artaud. He now has a burgeoning international career performing with many of the world's finest groups and musicians.

Persistently challenging our perceptions of the instrument and new music, Richard Craig has developed a technique and repertoire that has attracted widespread acclaim as a musician and programmer, and it is this which defines his work: a resistance to be cornered by expectations, trends or traditional hierarchies. As a soloist, chamber musician and lecturer, Richard has worked with composers such as Brian Ferneyhough, Beat Furrer, James Dillon, Salvatore Sciarrino, Kaija Saariaho, Richard Barrett, Helmut Lachenmann and musicians such as Emilio Pomarico, Enno Poppe, Stefan Asbury, Pierre-Yves Artaud, Roberto Fabbriciani and Rohan de Saram. More recently, Richard has worked as an improviser with performers such as Johan Zakrisson, David Stackenäs and later in 2010, Barry Guy.

He also maintains close contact with new music groups musikFabrik Cologne, Klangforum Wien, KammarensembleN Stockholm and the Hebrides Ensemble performing with them in festivals throughout Europe: Venice Biennale, Festival d'Automne, UltraSchall, Maerzmusik, the St. Magnus Festival, Wittener Musiktage. Richard is a regular member of C.C.P Stockholm and SMASH Salamanca. Broadcasts include WDR Cologne, YLE Finland, Radio France, Radio Nacional de España, Swedish Radio, ARTE, and Icelandic RUV. His solo disc, INWARD, is on general release

through Metiér, featuring works by Ferneyhough, Barrett, Croft, Bång and Karski, among others.

Richard is also a laureate of numerous international competitions: Grand Prix and a Primo Speciale (for his performance of works by Sciarrino) from the XIth and XIIth L'Accademia Concordia Concorso Internazionale di Interpretazione di Musica Contemporanea, Italy and 'prix du jury' from the XIVth Penderecki international chamber music competition, Poland.

As a pedagogue he has given classes and workshops to musicians around the world (Columbia University, New York, CNR Strasbourg, France, Cork University, Ireland, Leeds University, Aberdeen University, Huddersfield and Napier University Edinburgh), an activity that he sees as vital to the music of our time. As of 2010, Richard will be Visiting Lecturer in Performance at the University of Aberdeen. He has also been awarded an arbetesstipendium from the Swedish Arts Grant Authority for 2009/10 in recognition for his work in contemporary music."

"Juliet Fraser was educated at the Purcell School as a first-study oboist and then at Cambridge University where she read Music and History of Art. It was whilst a student there that she started singing, in the chapel choir of Clare College; subsequently she sang with professional choirs such as Polyphony, Tenebrae, the Monteverdi Choir, The King's Consort, The Tallis Scholars and BBC Singers. In early music, she has worked with European consorts Ensemble Polyharmonique and Gli Angeli Genève. She was a regular member of the soloists of Collegium Vocale Gent, directed by Philippe Herreweghe, for six years, performing and recording Renaissance polyphony by Lassus, Vitoria, Gesualdo and Byrd.

In new music, Juliet has performed as a soloist with Klangforum Wien, ICTUS, Plus-Minus, We Spoke: New Music Company, London Sinfonietta and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in festivals such as hcmf//, Tectonics Glasgow, Transit 20/21, Donaueschinger Musiktage, MaerzMusik and Wien Modern. Recently, she has created duo projects with pianist Mark Knoop and percussionist Maxime Echardour. She has premièred well over 100 works, many of which have been written for her, working particularly closely with composers Michael Finnissy, Bernhard Lang, Rebecca Saunders, Stefano Gervasoni, Frank Denyer, Christopher Fox, Matthew Shlomowitz, Cassandra Miller and Andrew Hamilton.

Juliet is principal soprano of EXAUDI, the acclaimed contemporary music vocal ensemble, which she founded in 2002 with composer/conductor James Weeks and with whom she makes regular appearances at major European festivals such as Aldeburgh, Spitalfields, hcmf//, ManiFeste, Festival d'Automne, Ars Musica, Wittener Tage and Darmstadt Ferienkurse. Opera roles include Neige in Catherine Kontz's NEIGE at Grand Théatre de Luxembourg (2013), Tina in Limbus Limbo by Stefano Gervasoni at Musica Strasbourg, Automne en Normandie, Opera de Reims and Opera Comique, Paris (2012), and Grace Hartigan in Larry Goves's I do this I do that (2011). Juliet has been nominated twice for an RPS Award in the Singer category and is currently supported by Aldeburgh Music's Open Space scheme. Her first dedicated solo disc, a recording of Morton Feldman's Three Voices, was released on the HatHut label in November 2016."

"Taylor MacLennan: Flute

Taylor has been the flute player of Explore Ensemble since its foundation in 2012. Originally from Scotland, Taylor moved to London in 2010 to study at the Royal College of Music where he received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees as well as an Artist Diploma in 2017. During his time there, he won the RCM Flute Prize and had the opportunities to work with conductors including Bernard Haitink, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Sir Roger Norrington. Taylor took up further study with Patrick Gallois at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena where he was awarded the Diploma of Merit.

Taylor was a member of Southbank Sinfonia in 2018 and has since worked with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, English National Opera and the Oxford Philharmonic, as well as guest principal flute with Scottish Ballet. Taylor has appeared at festivals including the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham and Encuentro de Música Santander.

Taylor enjoys tennis, being a home barista and all things culinary."