When Birmingham Conservatoire approached us about hosting a PhD studentship we considered some obvious options, retrospective surveys, philosophical reflections, contextual and comparative studies but ultimately composers want to compose and we want to both avoid the obvious and collaborate on making exciting new art. So a new plan has been hatched.
We are collaborating with Birmingham City University offering a PhD studentship to spend an extended period of up to three years as Composer in Residence at Stan’s Cafe. The plan is for this artist to become part of the team exploring how they can ‘add value’ in unexpected new ways. This figure won’t replace our existing musical collaborators composing music for shows, but prompt new interventions in unexpected corners of the company, to work with us innovating and exploring. It’s open ended and we’re very exited about the possibilities, we hope some exciting and talented composers apply.