Live Music Now Scotland regularly commissions composers based in Scotland and has led the way in creating new works for audiences and performers outwith the concert hall.
Composing with Care
LMNS devised the Composing with Care model for composers to create new works in collaboration with older people living in residential care. Through visits and performances in care homes, LMNS musicians gather stories, memories and contributions from residents that composers then use as inspiration to compose a new piece.
The model creates:
- A unique opportunity for some of the best emerging professional musicians in the UK to work with established composers and older people in care, in the creation of a brand new piece of music
- A new piece of music made through a unique collaborative process reflecting and inspired by the voices of older people, which can enter artists’ repertoire and be performed for years to come.
- Premiere and subsequent performances of the new music in care homes
- Commercially produced and distributed recordings
Watch our Videos
Watch to find out more about the projects or links to stories about the projects.
Explore our Luminate CD released on the Delphian Label in 2014 to celebrate our 30th birthday and our commissioned works. Visit delphianrecords.com.
Composing with Care Commissions
- 2013 – Luminate: From the Islands (soprano/piano) – William Sweeney
- 2014 – A Castle Mills Suite (mezzo-soprano/piano) – John Maxwell Geddes
- 2015 – Songs from Above and Below (soprano/piano) – John McLeod
- 2017 – Mill Memories (flute/guitar) – Savourna Stevenson
- 2017 – Reel Folk (trad trio) – Ailie Robertson
- 2020 – City Sounds of Nature (voice/acc) – Karine Polwart
Kimie Composition Prize
in partnership with Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
For over a decade, with funding from Kimie Trust, LMNS has worked with RCS to give an outstanding composition student, under-graduate or post-graduate, the opportunity of composing a piece of music for interactive performance in outreach settings such as those which form the bedrock of the work of Live Music Now Scotland. Working closely with experienced LMNS musicians, a new work is written for the student’s chosen audience, either older people in care or children with additional support needs. The piece is workshopped with staff and fellow composers at the RCS and the finished work is then performed in the selected settings, professionally studio-recorded and formally submitted as part of the composer’s academic assessment.
This composition initiative, opening up awareness among emerging composers of writing for a diverse range of audiences, is supported by Kimie Trust.
“This initiative is about staying close to the composer’s artistic practice, while being inclusive for the audience.”Matthew Grouse, 2016 Kimie Composition Prize composer
Kimie Trust Composers
- 2024/25 – Rachel Sullivan – A Girl, a Goat and a Guitar for guitar and soprano
- 2023/24 – Connor Bristow – Dancing in Faerie for string trio
- 2022/23 – Amy Stewart – Babbling and Breathing for accordion and violin
- 2021/22 – Erin Thomson – The Graceful Art of Walking on Stilts for piano and wind trio
- 2020/21 – Ollie Hawker – A Great Joy for solo concert harp
- 2019/20 – Gillian Walker – The Music Box for wind trio
- 2018/19 – Rylan Gleave – Six Weather Pictures for tenor saxophone and piano, with optional BSL performer
- 2017/18 – Electra Perivolaris – Bruadaraiche-Dreamer for guitar and cello
- 2016/17 – Matthew Grouse – Polaroids for string trio
- 2015/16 – Aran Browning – Cardboard Creations for wind trio
- 2014/15 – Beki Smith – Some Nonsense about Animals for soprano, trumpet and piano
- 2013/14 – Matt Zurowski – Monochromes for string quartet
“We have been really excited and honoured to have Connor’s piece written for us, the whole experience has been very enjoyable! It opened doors for us and by talking with Connor we might have new ideas coming up in the future!” – No Borders String Trio, 2024
Other New Music Commissions
- 2012 – Dance Suite for Two (violin/cello) – Eddie McGuire
- 2013 – The Bellany Suite (trad trio) – Wildings
- 2014 – String Quartet No 2 ‘The Keeper of Sheep’ – Alasdair Nicolson
- 2015 – Bi-Cycle (clarinet/piano) – Jennifer Martin
- 2019 – What’s For You…. (clarinet/piano) – Jennifer Martin