Six composers appointed to the LSO Helen Hamlyn Panufnik Composers’ Scheme

Across twelve months, these composers will experiment with and develop their orchestral writing skills, guided by Colin Matthews, with support from Christian Mason and additional tailored support. They will each develop a three-minute composition, which will be workshopped by the LSO in a public session at the culmination of the scheme. Two compositions will be chosen to be further developed into five- and ten-minute pieces, to be premiered in an LSO concert at the Barbican.

I feel truly honoured to have been selected for this opportunity and I am excited to explore deeper dimensions of orchestral writing with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Amy Crankshaw’s music has been described as having ‘a real feeling of ecstasy’ (Planet Hugill); ‘carrying images and sensations’ (Ôlyrix); and as ‘an act of love’ (Opera Now). Her compositions are performed internationally, with commissions by Radio France, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, South African Music Rights Organisation, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and Ensemble Matters, and performances at Barbican Hall, LSO St Luke’s, La Scala Paris, Centre in the Square, Silk Street Theatre, Donald Gordon Theatre, Festival Présences, Aix en Juin, ISCM World New Music Days, Festival Texte & Töne, Grahamstown National Arts Festival, and Bloomsbury Festival.

Amy was a 2023-2024 LSO Soundhub composer and has held multiple residencies with Académie du Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and the London City Orchestra. She won the RCS Muriel Dawson Award in 2024, the Priaulx Rainier Composition Prize in 2015, and second prize in SAMRO’s Overseas Scholarship Competition in 2014.

Amy is a doctoral (DMus) candidate at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and is funded by the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust and the Guildhall School Trust. She previously studied composition at the South African College of Music.

Follow Amy on Instagram

I feel very honoured to be one of this year’s composers and excited to explore the orchestra as a medium for bringing my musical ideas to life. Working with the LSO’s incredible musicians will be an inspiring opportunity to push my orchestral language in new directions.

Elif Nur Karlıdağ is a Turkish/British composer who integrates music, text, visuals, and electronics in multidisciplinary art, film, and stage productions. Her work spans documentaries such as Hamlet Within (starring Sir Ian McKellen) and Moments with Mujica, sonic creations for Marguerite Humeau’s Oscillations, and collaborations with ensembles like the Carice Singers. She co-founded the East London Sound Ensemble, amplifying underrepresented voices in contemporary classical music.

Elif’s music has been performed at venues, including Milton Court at the Barbican Centre and Kings Place. Recent commissions include the English National Opera and the Three Choirs Festival, where she set a 6,000-year-old Issyk text to music. Having lived in multiple countries, she trained at Izmir DEU National Conservatoire and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. A recipient of the John Clementi Collard Fellowship for two consecutive years, she remains dedicated to exploring new creative possibilities in her work.

Follow Elif on Instagram, Facebook and X (Twitter)

I’m thrilled to be part of the LSO Helen Hamlyn Panufnik Composers’ Scheme and excited to push my creative boundaries while contributing my perspective on the orchestral soundscape with the LSO.

Zhenyan Li is a London-based Chinese composer and Dizi (Chinese flute) player whose music is deeply shaped by traditional East Asian theatre. She draws on its distinctive storytelling techniques—characterized by contrast and ambiguity—to weave these elements into her compositions.

Li has composed for ensembles and festivals including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, Lucerne Festival, and Tête-à-Tête Festival. Recent commissions include works for the City of London Sinfonia, Beijing Music Festival, Tangram Collective, CoMA Ensemble, and Psappha Ensemble, among others. As an active collaborator, she works with institutions such as the Architectural Association and London Film School, and artists including percussionist Beibei Wang and conductors Martin Rajna, Charlotte Politi, and Jessica Cottis.

Currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the Royal Academy of Music under Philip Cashian and David Sawer, Li is also a member of the London Chinese Opera Studio and the Silk & Bamboo Ensemble at SOAS University of London.

Follow Zhenyan on Instagram, Facebook and X (Twitter)

I am grateful for this extraordinary opportunity. Writing for the LSO’s incredible players will let me explore new ideas and worlds, and I’m so excited for the challenging year ahead.

Kit McCarthy is a composer and producer from Scotland. Often working across genres and disciplines, Kit’s recent projects have explored séances, seagulls, seaweed, constellations, mania, black holes, the materiality of empty space, Ordnance Survey maps, tape saturation, felt, rewilding, the Overground, topological insulators and lobsters.

Kit has worked with EXAUDI, the Ligeti Quartet, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Antonio Pappano, John Luther Adams, Shaper/Caper, Jack Sheen, Neil Luck and the Brompton Quartet, amongst others. He also regularly collaborates with theatre makers and has experience as a writer, dramaturg and sound designer.

Kit studied composition and electronic music at Guildhall with Hollie Harding and Laurence Crane, and graduated with first class honours in 2024. His orchestral piece, ‘The Players Nearest The Fire Exist,’ won the Ian Horsburgh Prize for best undergraduate composition.

He loves the Cairngorms, open cello strings, birch trees, harmon mutes, ceilidh tunes and poems about crows.

Follow Kit on Instagram

Writing for one of the world’s best orchestras is an opportunity all young composers dream of! The LSO has been a part of my life since my days at Junior Guildhall when I used to sneak backstage, courtesy of kind security guards who indulged my wide-eyed desire to meet the artists. I am delighted and feel very privileged to be welcomed onto the LSO Helen Hamlyn Panufnik Composers’ Scheme to work with the orchestra’s fantastic players and inspiring mentors Colin Matthews and Christian Mason. To be able to workshop my ideas with musicians of such high calibre and compose a piece for them is immensely exciting… I can’t wait to get going!

Marcello Palazzo is a versatile musician, praised by Julian Anderson as ‘one of the brightest young talents on the musical scene.’ He has been commissioned by the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Castalian Quartet, and Sir Thomas Allen. A former Britten Pears Young Artist, he has composed pieces for the Aldeburgh Festival, working with Lumas Winds and Jonathan Berman. The first draft of Marcello’s opera, Mount Herzog, was the best-seller of the 2024 Tête-À-Tête Opera Festival. A passionate conductor of new music, Marcello premiered Elisabeth Lutyens lost Five-Part Fantasia for Strings. As a dedicated teacher, Marcello teaches on the Rodolfus Choral Courses and SAM Composition School. He is also a former tenor lay clerk. Marcello studied at Durham University (BA, 1^st Class Honours), the University of Oxford (MPhil Composition, Distinction), and with Julian Anderson, Christian Mason and Bent Sørensen. He has been supported by The Munster Trust and Mazzini-Garibaldi Foundation.

Follow Marcello on Instagram

I was delighted to hear that I’d have this chance this year to become a small part of the greater LSO community. It’s an honour to join talented colleagues and admired mentors in working with such an extraordinary, storied orchestra. I’m looking forward to meeting many fellow musicians this year, and to exploring many, many sounds—both alone in imagination and together in reality.

American composer and pianist Miles Walter’s Fantasy for piano solo (2024), a three-movement, 25-minute work commissioned by Venice Biennale Musica for Bertrand Chamayou, was recently hailed as ‘evoking the young Messiaen’ (Classica) and as ‘one of the most refreshing piano compositions one has heard in recent times…. Don’t forget this name’ (Scherzo). Miles’ music has received recognition from BMI, Classeek, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and has been commissioned and performed by ensembles including Argento Ensemble, Orpheus Sinfonia (London), Aspen Chamber Symphony, New York Virtuoso Singers, Merz Trio, and Yale Percussion Group. As a pianist, Miles performs fluently and joyfully in numerous styles in and out of the concert hall. Festival and masterclass credits include Aspen, Norfolk, Bowdoin, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and Prussia Cove. Twice graduated from Yale (BA, MM), Miles is presently pursuing doctoral studies at King’s College London with Sir George Benjamin.

Follow Miles on Instagram

The LSO Helen Hamlyn Panufnik Composers’ Scheme was devised by the Orchestra in association with Lady Panufnik, in memory of her late husband, the composer Sir Andrzej Panufnik, and generously supported by Lady Hamlyn and The Helen Hamlyn Trust.