Jazzlife Alliance Young Composers Award with Django Bates

Application

Dear Members of the Award Panel,

Thank you in advance for your time reviewing my application.

I am a 22 year old composer and guitarist based in Cardiff, UK, and have just graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) with a First Class Honours in BMus Jazz Guitar (2021). Proudly, I was awarded The RWCMD Principal’s Award for Music. I also work as a part-time composer’s assistant for composer Jordan Rees. As well as studying large-ensemble Jazz composition with Steve Waterman, I have studied electronic music closely with Dr. Owen Lloyd and Odilon Marcenaro. Thus, my Jazz compositions feature the presence of novel timbres and aleatoric elements inspired by modular synthesizers as well as field recordings. Recently, I have composed a portfolio of big band compositions, a set of original compositions that incorporated live modular synth with a combo, and an album of ambient music for an artist release. This opportunity would be a great chance for me to further expand my skills as a Jazz composer. I aim to improve my ability to focus on linear motion and polyphonic writing, gain new awareness of rhythmic devices, as well as gain the opportunity to explore knowledge of timbres through obtaining performance of a work.

Please find my work below, alongside buttons to view the scores (PDFs). Please note that Shower Trickles for Big Band has not been performed yet and features aleatoric elements. There is a Sibelius mock-up, but it is approximate. Thus, please focus on the score for that work.

Thank you again for your time!

Joshua Lascar