Basil Athanasiadis,  Composer
Founder
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Basil Athanasiadis studied composition at Trinity College of Music (BMus) with Daryl Runswick where he was awarded the Chappell Composition Prize for outstanding performance, then he continued with his Masters at the Royal Academy of Music with Paul Patterson supported by the G. V. Turner Cooke Award and finally at the Canterbury Christ Church University he pursued his PhD supervised by Roderick Watkins and Paul Patterson and examined by Jonathan Harvey, with the support of the Research Studentship Award.
Basil's works are characterised by a strong visual identity and their performance has often been associated with dance or stage action. His late period works demonstrate a strong focus on the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi, which has also been the main subject of his PhD and post-doctoral research since 2004.
Basil's works have been performed in Europe, US, Canada and Asia by ensembles such as the London Sinfonietta, Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet, Mondriaan Quartet, Silk String Quartet, Okeanos, Alea III, Shonorities and choirs such as the BBC Singers, Wells Cathedral Choir, Cambridge Chapel Choir of Selwyn College, Montreal Christ Church Cathedral Choir.
His music has been published by Oxford University Press and United Music Publishers and recorded under the labels of Organ and Choir, Dutton Epoch, Regent Records and Fonorum. A summary of his doctorate thesis was published in Greece by the music-writer/archivist Thomas Tamvakos on the contemporary music journal Polytonon and the magazine Jazz & Jazz (November, December 2009). Basil is a member of the British Music Information Centre (BMIC) and the Greek Composers' Association.
In 2010 Basil was awarded the JSPS Post Doctorate Fellowship Award (2010-2011). Based in Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku (Tokyo University of Music and the Arts), Basil worked on various new works for Western and Japanese instruments with a particular interest on the sho (mouth organ) and the 20-stringed koto. Those works were presented in a series of concerts culminating to large-scale performance project that took place at Sogakudo Hall in 23 January 2011 with the title British Renaissance Music and British Contemporary Music with Japanese Cultural Influences.
Recently Basil was awarded for the second consequtive time the prestigious JSPS Post Doctorate Fellowship Award by JSPS (2011-2013), for the composition of new works for Japanese and Western instruments and the organisation of new music performance projects in both Japan and Europe.

Roderick Watkins, Composer
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Roderick Watkins studied composition in the US (Oberlin), in France (IRCAM) and at the Royal Academy of Music, where his teachers included Hans Werner Henze and Paul Patterson. His works include an opera, The Juniper Tree, commissioned by the Munich Biennale and premiered in Munich and London by the London Sinfonietta and Almeida Opera, Red Light, also premiered and broadcast by the London Sinfonietta, and Still, premiered by the Britten Sinfonia. Chamber works include a Clarinet Quintet, a song cycle Breath, and a number of works combing acoustic instruments with computer generated sound. His music has been described as “wonderfully sinister and suggestive” (Independent), and as possessing “real succinctness, purpose and flair” (BBC Music Magazine). In 2005 he was appointed Professor of Composition at Canterbury Christ Church University.

Yoko Kubo, Composer-Pianist
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After a first prize of composition in 1979 and the master degree of Science of Arts in 1981 of the Osaka College of Music, Yoko KUBO was invited by the French Government from 1984 to 1987 to study at IRCAM directed by Pierre BOULEZ and the Paris University I as a scholarship student. In1995, she obtained a PhD's degree of Arts and Science of Art of the Paris University I under the direction of Iannis Xenakis. The central thema of her thesis titled "Relations between the technics of the contemporary music composition and the Japanese traditional arts" is connected intimately with her work of composition and her musical study of the mutual influences between the oriental and occidental cultures. She was invited by Paris-Sorbonne University, Paris University VI, Paris Conservatory etc. to give the lectures. She is presentelly professor at the Osaka College of Music and chef pofessor in the section of composition at the master course of the Osaka College of Music. She is visiting professor of Paris-Sorbonne University in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Yoko KUBO studied the composition with Kei KONDO, the musical analysis with Olivier MESSIAEN, Iannis XENAKIS and the piano with Yvonne LORIOD and Cristian PETRESCU. She was awarded the first prize at the Premier Concours Franco-Japonais de Jeune Musique Contemporaine in 1983 and gave many important recitals, concerts and lectures as a composer-pianist at many international festivals in Japan, Europe and USA. She composed works commissioned by the NHK and the Cultural Foundation of the Osaka Prefecture or another organisations and her works were played by The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, The Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, The Osaka Century Orchestra and by international solists such as Claude HELFFER or Pierre-Yves ARTAUD. Her works have been broadcasted in many country like Japan, France, Germany, USA... and she is invited by the radio to participate in the many emmisions. As a pianist, she plays in duo with Claude HELFFER from 1996 and with Pierre-Yves ARTAUD from 1988, and give many concerts.

May Kay Yau , Composer
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Born in Hong Kong, May Kay Yau entered the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts to study composition with Clarence Mak and Wing-Fai Law at the age of 17 where she was the winner of the Concert Trial and had her first orchestral piece presented in the concert of the 5th Anniversary of the Establishment of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Following that she was awarded a scholarship to pursue a master’s degree at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Paul Patterson. Her compositions have been performed in various music festivals in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Israel, Portugal and Greece and UK. She has also collaborated among others with the London Sinfonietta, the BBC Singers, National Theatre, RAM Harp Ensemble, the Gemini Ensemble. She is the composer-in residence with the Wuji Ensemble.
May Kay is currently a PhD student supervised by Professor Geoffrey Poole at the University of Bristol, funded by the ORS and the University Research Studentship.