Photo: Kit McCarthy
Bio
Siri Livingston is a Danish-Canadian composer. She has written for Olivia Jageurs, EXAUDI, the Plus-Minus Ensemble, the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, and players from the London Symphony Orchestra (cond. Jack Sheen). She has written extensively for Cambridge College choirs: as part of commissions (Robinson, present company) and the Minerva Composition Competition (Clare, Trinity, Gonville and Caius, cond. Sarah MacDonald). She has also cultivated collaborative relationships with instrumentalists such as Imogen Davey (Trio Farben), Dominic Stokes (Rothko Collective), Lydia Kenny (Bauhaus Quartet), Thomas Masciaga, Mirella Gruesser-Smith, Omri Kochavi, Nathanael Horton, and Somerset Peede, as well as poet and librettist Olivia Bell.
Her music has been performed at a wide variety of venues, including the Chateau d'Aix, the West Road Concert Hall, Poplar Union, the Milton Court Concert Hall, the Cambridge Zoology Museum, Olivia Jageur's virtual Harpy Hour series, Eugene Birman's Hong Kong-based composition intensive, Robinson College Chapel, The Place Theatre, Canterbury Cathedral, and at a virtual evensong commissioned and curated by present company. Her piece the isle is full of noises has been performed in various venues by Mirella Gruesser-Smith with the role of narrator assumed by actor Florence Roberts.
Siri has a Masters in Composition with merit from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she studied with Sylvia Lim under the generous support of the Guildhall School Trust. She also studied Music at the University of Cambridge, receiving a starred first-class degree and specialising in composition with Darren Bloom. As a finalist of the Minerva Composition Competition, she received mentorship from Deborah Pritchard and Judith Weir.
About
Siri lived in Hong Kong until she came to the UK for university and stayed — mostly for the dry British humour. She grew up taking piano lessons and singing in choirs, but from a young age was more interested in composing than in learning pieces (much to her teacher's delight and dismay). She initially studied Philosophy at Cambridge before switching to Music in order to train in composition.
Siri is active in various vocal groups and choirs and is in what is probably the world's only active melodica quartet led by Efe Yüksel. She is passionate about the art form of video games and regularly collaborates with Álvaro Gomez Iñesta to create games. She has two cats — Lili and Nadia (Boulanger). Photos available on request.
She loves bass instruments, Adrienne Lenker, Chet Baker, Kaija Saariaho, and coffee. Her favourite website is Every Noise at Once.