Contingency Music

I am a Liverpool based composer and guitarist. I have a PhD in composition from Liverpool Hope University, focussing on the dynamics of the composer/performer/listener relationship in the creation of music. My creative and performance work embraces contemporary classical composition, ambient minimalism and free improvisation.
 
I took up the guitar as a child and, after seven years spent as a student of zoology at the University of Liverpool (BSc 1990, PhD 1994), I returned to the full time pursuit of music, studying and then teaching at Liverpool Community College. In 2008 I began attending Liverpool Hope University, studying first for an MA in Music Since 1900, and then for my (second) PhD. 
 
I have a large and ongoing portfolio of original compositions, many of which are available to look at, download and perform on this website. Some of these are written for specific instruments or ensembles, but most of my work is flexibly scored for soloists or ensembles of any size and forces. These pieces are generally quasi-improvisational in nature, and explore ways in which the performers might collaborate with me, as composer, to create the music as heard.