Job Title: Principal Lecturer
Courses Taught: BA (Hons) Music (Classical), MA Music, Leeds Junior Conservatoire
Specialisms: Composition
Ben Gaunt (born 1984) studied for a Bachelor's and Master's in Composition at the Royal Northern College of Music with Adam Gorb and Paul Patterson.
He was awarded the Edward Hecht Prize for Composition during his second year and his Master's was kindly funded by The Countess of Munster Musical Trust. Ben holds a PGCE from Manchester Metropolitan University, and he recently completed a PhD in Composition at The University of Sheffield studying with Dorothy Ker and George Nicholson, where he was awarded The Gladys Hall Scholarship. He has received additional private lessons with David Horne and Michael Finnissy, and been mentored by Harrison Birtwistle, Alwynne Pritchard and Ian Gardiner.
Ben has been asked to write for the London Symphony Orchestra, Icarus Ensemble, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble 10/10, Britten Sinfonia, Size Zero Opera, York Late Music Ensemble, Christopher Redgate, Oren Marshall and Sarah Nicolls. His music has been performed at a variety of festivals and locations across the UK and further afield, including Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, New Music North West, Chorlton Arts Festival, Sonic Arts Festival, Sensoria Festival, Sheffield Lyric Festival, Music at Duffield, The Tate Modern, The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, Spazio Icarus in Reggio Emilia (Italy), the Cornerstone in Liverpool, and the Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand).
Performances of Ben's works have been funded by ACE, BFI, the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust, Sir Max Bemrose Bursary Trust, The Frances Chagrin Award, The Bliss Trust and PRSF Composer Bursaries. Ben has participated on the European Composer’s Professional Development Programme, Sound and Music Portfolio scheme, Britten Sinfonia OPUS2014, Sound and Music Next Wave, and was a member of the LSO Soundhub in 2016.
Alongside fellow composers Eve Harrison and Steven Jackson, Ben co-founded the ensemble Sounds of the Engine House, which toured the North of England in 2013 and 2014, funded by Sound and Music, and have curated events at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Bridgewater Hall and Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival. His music has been published by University of York Music Press and recorded by NMC. In 2017 he was shortlisted for a British Composer Award.
Ben performs synth in Beyond Albedo, a Yorkshire-based jazz/EDM quartet.
