Release date: 17 October 2024
On 19 October, NMC Recordings releases Volume 8 in the Philharmonia Composers’ Academy series. Each year, the Philharmonia commission and support early-career composers to create a new piece for an ensemble of Philharmonia musicians.
This edition champions works by Elif Nur Karlıdağ, Sarah Lianne Lewis and Soosan Lolavar and was recorded live on 11 June 2025 in a concert performed by the Philharmonia in Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.
Elif Nur Karlıdağ is a Turkish-British composer whose music flows between the musical languages of her intercultural background, shaped by a fascination with multidisciplinary projects, community engagement, and stage productions.
Sarah Lianne Lewis is a Welsh composer of bold and imaginative classical music, described as ‘vivid’, ‘charming’, and ‘poignant’. Her music is often about connection, climate change and the natural world, informed by a female disabled perspective, and her work seeks to promote and provoke discussions about challenging topics with openness and thoughtfulness.
Soosan Lolavar is a British Iranian composer whose music ’sounds like nothing else on earth‘ (Gramophone). She was born in the UK to British and Iranian parents, and spent many decades immersed in the sounds of the classical music of both cultures. Her work is concerned with deep attendance to the texture, transformation and layering of sound.
Philharmonia Orchestra
James Murray conductor
Jonathan Stokes recording engineer
FUNDERS
This recording is kindly supported by grants from the Cockayne Foundation and Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne.
NMC Recordings receives funding from Arts Council England, The Vaughan Williams Foundation, The Hinrichsen Foundation and The Delius Trust.
Catalogue number: NMC DL3060