I'm a composer, musical director and creative practitioner based in Manchester. I’m classically trained and write predominantly for orchestral instruments and voice. I’ve worked extensively as a creativepractitioner with people from diverse communities and lived experience of a wide range of health and social challenges, and this has profoundly shaped my career.I'd say my music is broadly tonal with elements of chromaticism, rooted in western classical tradition and with ‘theatricality’ at its heart. I write music that is deliberately accessible and engages audiences from smaller ex-industrial towns around the north where my participatory work has been based. I've recentlyfocussed on writing music for interactive and immersive theatrical podcasts, which is a new genre for me.Career highlights thus far have included professional commissions from national and international arts organisations, including The Halle, Manchester Camerata and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic.In 2017, I set up Made By Mortals alongside Paul Hine, a theatre writer/director I met whilst working in the participatory and outreach departments of various orchestras, theatres and arts organisations. Over several years we developed a fantastic creative relationship/ friendship and through our shared passion and vision of what we thought could be possible from a production that has 'participation' at its heart, we set up Made By Mortals. Made By Mortals 'bring people's experience to life' through shows, films, podcasts and workshops. We're passionate about using the arts as a means of sharing stories in a meaningful and fun way to bringing about positive change in the world. We're based in Tameside and work primarily in northern towns on the outskirts of the big city, in places that are often under-served by arts and culture. Our mission is to 'cultivate creative citizens' and we do this by leading creative collaborations between professional artists, organisations and community participants from a diverse range of backgrounds and lived experiences. Creating high quality artistic responses to health and social challenges is at the heart of all my work.
