YCAT Composer Fellowship

The year 2024 marked the 40th anniversary of the foundation of YCAT and the Trust was pleased to collaborate in a new initiative — the YCAT Composer Fellowship, which the Trust is funding in memory of Hans Keller (who was involved with YCAT in its earliest years).

From the 1950s to the 1980s, Hans Keller was a sought-after teacher of composition. In addition, through his work at the BBC (where he was in charge of new music in the 1970s) he gave considerable support to contemporary composers, for which the then Composers’ Guild of Great Britain honoured him in 1979.

YCAT’s new Composer Fellowship is intended to nurture and support composers establishing their careers. Each Fellow will receive a commission to write two short chamber works for specific YCAT artists. Composers have the opportunity to work closely with the artists throughout the composition process, fostering relationships that could extend beyond the duration of the Fellowship. The resulting works are premiered across UK regional venues, culminating in a Wigmore Hall performance professionally recorded for promotional purposes.

The current YCAT Composer Fellow is Fergus Hall, who is writing new works for the Fibonacci Quartet (the current YCAT Hans Keller Artists) and for the cellist James Morley — both works will be premiered during the 2025-26 season.

Fergus is a musician, composer, multidisciplinary artist and music educator from the west of Scotland, currently based in Glasgow. His eclectic musical background has given him a keen interest in cross-disciplinary collaboration and contrasting musical practices. He describes himself as particularly drawn to projects concerning the natural environment, ecologies, sustainability and conservation, particularly around the seas and coastlines of Scotland. 

Fergus has already been commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society, Sound Festival, CoMA, Sound and Music, Making Music UK, An Tobar and Nevis Ensemble. His music has been performed by Sequoia Duo, Emily Davis, Fergus McCreadie, Matt Carmichael, The Edinburgh Quartet, Mr McFall’s Chamber, Marie Schreer and the University of Glasgow Chapel Choir. He has also undertaken creative residencies across Scotland hosted by Taigh Chearsabhagh in North Uist, An Tobar in Mull and the Argyle Hope Spot Snorkelling Artist Residency.

The holder of the inaugural Hans Keller Composer Fellowship in 2024-25 was Electra Perivolaris.

Her music draws inspiration from her mixed Scottish and Greek island heritages, focusing on the natural world as a fragile living organism and engaging with natural processes from her home on the Scottish Isle of Arran and from her family’s roots on the Greek Aegean island of Chios. Previous commissions included works for the London Sinfonietta, BBC Singers, BBC Concert Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Composers’ Hub. 

During her Fellowship year, she wrote Rock, Salt, Air, Water for the Atenea Quartet and Within the drifting contours of the land for the violinist Njioma Grevious, accompanied by Joseph Havlat (former Hans Keller Scholar at the Royal Academy of Music).

Listen to both these beautiful works, recorded in performance at the Wigmore Hall, below: