Philip Ashworth (b. 1983) is a young British composer with an emerging international profile. A graduate of the Royal College of Music in London, he was awarded a Doctorate in 2015 for his thesis “Developing an approach to large-scale musical composition”. He is the recipient of several scholarships including a Constant and Kit Lambert award, a Drapers Company Award, an RCM Director’s Award and an award from the PRS foundation for new music.
In 2013, he won the Royal College of Music’s concerto competition for composers, for his orchestral work Diurne. This work was subsequently shortlisted for the Alexander Zemlinsky International Composition Competition.
He has had premieres across the United Kingdom, Russia and Europe. In addition to his orchestral works, Philip has a passion for vocal music, and opera in particular. His opera, Bare, to a libretto by Natasha Collie was performed at the Edinburgh Festival, The Sage Gateshead, The Rose Theatre Kingston and at other venues across the UK.
In 2015 Philip was commissioned to write the latest in a series of world-premiere operas produced by the International Opera Theatre. Errori! was a retelling of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors and received its first run of performances in Citta della Pieve, Italy.
Later that year he was approached by violinist, Krysia Osostowicz and pianist, Daniel Tong to collaborate on their Beethoven Plus concert series. Philip was commission to write a companion piece, Air, to be performed alongside the C minor violin sonata. This has since been performed at King’s Place, St Georges Bristol and is soon to be released on a commercial recording.
Philip was selected to join the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for the 2016/17 Season as part of their Composers’ Hub Scheme.