Remain Composed

David Önaç is a composer, pianist, director and educator. He’s on Remain Composed ahead of the premiere of his latest work for orchestra, choir and soloists. Atlantic Requiem will be performed in London on 11 October 2026.

David explains the purpose of the piece, which has been commissioned by the charity Culture& with support from Lloyds of London, the insurance company which has apologised for its historic role in insuring slave ships. The work is intended to memorialise the lost lives of enslaved Africans during the transatlantic trade of the 18th and 19th Centuries. And it aims to acknowledge the significant contribution of their descendants to transatlantic culture.

David discusses the emotional task of turning the idea for this piece into a reality, and explains why he decided to use only 10 notes throughout - 5 black and 5 white.

David describes how he balances the improvisatory nature of gospel, jazz and Caribbean influences with the structured elements of the more classical western traditions in his work.

Featured recording: This episode of Remain Composed includes a short section of Carnival from David Önaç’s Five Etudes for solo piano, originally composed as a group of four. It’s performed by the composer.

Vivek Haria is, broadly speaking, a chartered accountant by day and a composer by night. He tells Remain Composed about what overlap there is between his two fields.

Vivek tells us about the new song cycle about rivers he's written for the Swaledale Festival which was premiered there recently. He tells us how he immersed himself in the landscape and literature about rivers as part of preparing the piece.

Vivek tells us he loves collaborating with performers. He says a piece only really begins when he reaches the final double barline.

We also learn about the influence of his Jain roots on his own philosophy and music.

Anna Clyne is a GRAMMY-nominated and Ivor Novello Award-winning composer. She is one of the world's most in-demand living composers.

Anna tells Remain Composed about the relationship between music and visual arts. She often paints works to alongside her pieces of music, which she says gives her space to reflect.

Anna tells us about the 'augmented orchestra' she's been developing with her husband and sound engineer Jody Elff. It's a technological development, designed to give more creative options to Anna as a composer.

Cameron Biles-Lidell is a composer based in North Wales. He tells Remain Composed he enjoys writing programme music, often based on landscapes or landmarks, and he also writes absolute music. He says he’s always thinking about evoking mood, image or feelings in his music.

Discussing how he gets his ideas flowing, Cameron says he always starts by going for a walk or at least getting out of his house.

Cameron says he often relies on tropes to communicate the story behind a piece to the audience quickly, and he likes it when his music is described as filmic. He says he fell in love with orchestral music by listening to great film music. And he says the comparison shows that his music connects with a wide audience.

Cameron has written several places inspired by the area where he lives. He says music based on places can create a cultural resonance with locals, and transport listeners from other places.

Chloe Knibbs is a composer currently studying for a PhD at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. In her work, she explores ways of being inspired by historical women composers.

Chloe tells Remain Composed about writing her 40 minute work Prism for piano and electronics, using material by and telling the story of the French composer Marie Jaëll (1846-1925). Chloe tells us she enjoyed combining humour with a serious message.

Chloe also discusses her fascination with the English composer Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), about whom she’s written two opera scenes.

Chloe says she enjoys projects most which have a lengthy ideas phase, and a piece is not finished when the score is complete - as she feels the performance is a crucial part of the creative process.

This episode focuses on AI, with Tom Collins, who is an associate professor of music engineering technology at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.

We discuss how AI tools make music, whether they're a threat to human creatives' jobs, the ways Tom has used AI creatively in his music and the challenges facing copyright.

Tom also tells us about the Music and AI course he teaches, and how he makes sure the assignments are AI proof.

Tom encourages everyone to have a go at using an AI music generator like Suno or Udio, to get first-hand experience of how it works - rather than just listening to hype in the media.

Sarah Henderson is a composer, soprano and cellist preparing to study an MA in composition at the Royal Academy of Music.

Sarah tells Remain Composed about the places she takes inspiration from - ranging from the Bible to a Japanese shopping centre.

Discussing process, Sarah says she enjoys the planning stage and playing around with ideas. She says actually committing notes to the page can feel scary unless she feels her ideas are already well formed.

Sarah recently won Tenebrae's 'Undiscovered Voices' composition competition, which was held to mark their 25th anniversary. Her winning piece, 'Wanderers' was performed by the choir at Wigmore Hall, and will be included on their upcoming album. Sarah tells Remain Composed about the relationship she's been building with the choir.

Philip Stopford is a composer and choral trainer based in Leighton Buzzard. His music has taken him from Truro to New York via Oxford, Canterbury, Belfast and Chester. He gives Remain Composed his thoughts for others looking to build a career in composition.

Philip says 99% of his pieces are settings of sacred texts - and with each work he tries to think about what he wants it to achieve or say. He says that as a composer of church music, he likes to write music which people will actually use in their worship. He says he loves being part of people’s repertoire.

Discussing the limitations on composers, Philip says there are fewer notes than there are balls on a snooker table. But every game of snooker is different, and we haven’t run out of melodies just yet.

Philip tells us the stories behind some of his most well known works like Do Not Be Afraid, which was commissioned for a baptism, and Lully, Lulla, Lullay which was written as a last minute addition to an album.

Debbie Wiseman has more than 200 film and TV credits. She’s Classic FM’s composer in residence, and last year she won the Ivor Novello Award for outstanding contribution to screen composition.

Debbie tells Remain Composed about how the process for writing scores varies between projects such as the BBC series Wolf Hall and Father Brown. She explains how important the relationship is between director and composer.

Asked about the threat of AI on creative work, Debbie says her composition often stems from subtext - not just the literal images on screen.

Debbie explains how studying at Guildhall School of Music and Drama helped her find her love for screen-composition. And she describes how she sent out showreels when trying to land her first job, as nobody ever advertises for a composer.

Debbie wrote two Alleluias performed at the coronation in 2023. She tells Remain Composed how one which had originally been written for the choir of Westminster Abbey was reworked for the Ascension Gospel Choir.

Matthew Warren is a composer and researcher. He's currently preparing for the premiere of an opera he's written in Manx Gaelic. He tells Remain Composed it's the first opera that's been written in the language. Matthew says it's been written for a string quartet, singer and dancer, to maximise the opportunities for taking it on tour.

Matthew says his favourite part of the compositional process is the ideas stage, before putting pen to paper.

Matthew also discusses the research he did for his PhD, into the relationship between universitiy bureaucracy and composers' creativity. He says while some composers accept the demands of the institutions, but others are on the verge of leaving the sector.