My name is Aidan and I am a composer and performer based in Manchester. I was born in Australia and was raised in my parents’ restaurant in Sydney before moving to Scotland at age 4. I started learning music on my fluorescent green recorder at age 6 and then went on to learn the saxophone, piano and double bass, all of which I performed on as a student at the Junior Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. It was here where I came to realise I preferred writing music than playing it and began learning to compose with Audrey McPherson. I then went on to study composition at the RCS with Dr Gordon McPherson and Dr Stuart Macrae. I have recently completed a PhD exploring the creative potential of embodying working-classness in a folio of new interdisciplinary compositions with professors Joe Cutler and Michael Wolters at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where I now work as a Visiting Lecturer.
I have had the pleasure of working with a wide range of organisations including the Orkest de Ereprijs, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Glasgow Barons Orchestra, the Riot Ensemble, Psappha Ensemble, Thallein Ensemble, and The Edinburgh Quartet. I have also worked with world- renowned performers Sinae Lee, Pascal Gallois, Timothy Lines, Rose Redgrave, David Quigley, Milos Milivojevik, traditional singer/songwriter Ainsley Hamill, rapper Solareye, artist Stefan Sczcelkun, and conductors Jessica Cottis and Paul MacAlindin.
I graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with a First-Class Honours degree and the winner of the Patrons Fund Prize (Royal College of Music) in Composition in 2018 and the Craig Armstrong Prize for 2018/19. I am the recipient of two Dewar Arts Awards, two Scottish International Education Trust bursaries, a Cross Trust bursary and a scholarship from the Royal
Conservatoire of Scotland in order to continue my studies at a postgraduate level. I am also a Yeoman with the Musician’s Company, was an associate member of the LSO’s SoundHub scheme
(2017/19), and have had my work performed on the BBC Radio 3 New Music Show with Kate Molleson.
I am currently exploring how to apply the ideas of the Situationist International in compositional and performance practice and working towards a new album of detourned music from Stravinsky, Steve Martland, Mahler, and Charli XCX.