Mr John Cooney
(he/him)

BMus (Hons) Hon ARAM

Research student

After more than twenty years working as a composer, teacher and lecturer, I began PhD research as an opportunity to explore in depth some of the issues that have emerged over many years of creative work. Having used a variety of ways to organise and exploit pitch material in my work so far, a PhD has given me the chance to explore how to connect, deepen and consolidate these methods, while at the same time integrating a number of new approaches that I have encountered in the course of my travels. Having spent more than two decades teaching and encouraging others, it is a joy to have chance to look inwards again and explore ways to nourish my own practice, developing methodologies that will hopefully sustain the next two decades of my creative work.

Thesis

Exploring And Evaluating Methods Of Pitch Organisation

The purpose of my thesis is to create a portfolio of original musical compositions, underpinned by research into a variety of approaches to the organisation of pitch material. Specifcially, I will be exploring the use of unordered pitch class sets, twelve note chords derived from symmetrical hexachords, magic squares, rotational arrays and change-ringing. Composers whose work I will be studying include Lutoslawski, Magnus Lindberg and Elliott Carter, and my research seeks to consolidate and build upon work from earlier in my career, as well as to explore a number of important new directions.

John Cooney is a composer, teacher and lecturer based in London. His music has been performed by a wide array of orchestras, ensembles and soloists, including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, London Sinfonietta, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Nash Ensemble, Allegri Quartet, Delta Saxophone Quartet, Chroma, Psappha, Simon Desbruslais, Lisa Nelsen, Gwenllian Llyr, Melinda Maxwell, Graham Caskie and Ellen Baumring-Gledhill. His work has featured in the Aldeburgh, Huddersfield, Spitalfields and Vale of Glamorgan festivals, has been recorded for NMC and is published by Composers Edition.

John has received a number of awards for his work, most notably the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize, as well as awards from the Performing Right Society, British Council, Arts Council, Leverhulme Trust and Hinrichsen Foundation. He has been Composer in Association with the Allegri Quartet, Composer in Residence with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and is an Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

John is well known for his work in education and is Head of Composition at the Yehudi Menuhin School. He has been a Visiting Lecturer in Composition at Royal Holloway, University of London, an Associate Lecturer at Cardiff University, and has taught at the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music. John has also led numerous education and outreach projects across the UK and beyond, including work with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, English National Opera, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, South Bank Centre, Philharmonia, Brodsky Quartet, Opera North, Glyndebourne, Royal Opera, City of London Sinfonia and ISCM World Music Days.

After completing an undergraduate degree at Cardiff University in the 1980's, John then studied at the Royal College of Music and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where his teachers included Simon Bainbridge, George Benjamin and Robert Saxton. In addition, John undertook a period of private study with Magnus Lindberg, as well as courses and masterclasses with Oliver Knussen, Colin Matthews, Péter Eötvös and Per Nørgård.