Duncan MacLeod

Duncan MacLeod is Handel House’s third Composer-in-Residence. Born and raised in London, Duncan read music specialising in vocal studies at Bath Spa University, before going on to study composition with John Woolrich and Continuing Professional Development at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He continued with postgraduate studies in composition with sonology at the Royal Conservatoire in The Netherlands under the tutelage of Louis Andriessen, Clarence Barlow and Martijn Padding. He has supplemented his studies with residencies at Acanthes, the Banff Centre, June in Buffalo and the Bang-on-a-Can Summer Institute. He is currently a PhD student in composition at Brunel University under the supervision of Chris Fox and Richard Barrett.

Duncan has worked with a number of ensembles that include the Arditti Quartet, London Sinfonietta, Goldberg Ensemble, Quatuor Diotima, Orkest de Volharding and Piano Circus. He has received awards from the Arts Council of England, Bliss Trust, Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust, The Sir John Cass Foundation and has been a Royal Caledonian Schools Trust ‘Caley Scholar’. His work is currently short listed by the Society for the Promotion of New Music in the UK. He teaches at Trinity College of Music, the University of Hertfordshire and Goldsmiths College, University of London.

During his time at Handel House Duncan will be heavily involved in the ongoing schools workshops programme as well as working on one-off school projects. He will lead an opera project with a secondary school based on the London Handel Festival production of Alessandro. Handel House will also commission Duncan to write two new pieces of music that will be performed during 2009. 

Handel House would like to thank Miranda and Charles Alexander, The Ernest Cook Trust, The R K Charitable Trust and The Michael Tippett Musical Foundation for their support of the Composer-in-Residence scheme.