Alex Tay

Alex graduated from Cambridge with a BMus in Music (Kings) and MPhil in Music Composition from Churchill. From 2016 - 2022, he, while guided by Professor Julian Anderson CBE and Malcolm Singer, composed illusory deceptions which confound perceptions of musical speed, pitch continuity and sound ontology as part of his doctoral research at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

He studied violin with Matthew Jones while at Cambridge. As a composer he has worked with Colin Matthews, Christian Mason, François Xavier-Roth, the London Symphony Orchestra (as part of the 2018 - 19 Panufnik Scheme), Brett Dean, Jack Sheen and the LPO (as part of the 2021 - 22 LPO Young Composers’ Scheme), the Park Lane Group, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Robin Holloway, Richard Causton, Jeremy Thurlow (teachers at Kings and Churchill College Cambridge), Judith Weir (Dartington), Gerry Cornelius, Patrick Bailey, Hugh Brunt, the Britten Sinfonia and the Heath Quartet (Dartington). Future projects include a Lockdown Commission from Wigmore Hall.

Alex has been teaching violin, composition and piano privately in Wokingham and London since 2016, with successes including a student winning a choral scholarship at Westminster. He also teaches at the string instrument course Pro Corda, where he has led musicianship classes and coached chamber music ensembles.

"I've always loved the process of sharing knowledge with enthusiastic students but at times I've struggled to get across the complex, embodied concepts of pulse, rhythm and intonation. Learning about Da Capo and Jane's honed refinements of the Kodály and Dalcroze methods has been a revelation. Through Da Capo's rigorous framework, kids are able to engage with music learning at their own pace so that it, in the capacity of their choosing, becomes the source of fun, enjoyment and catharsis that it should be in their adult lives."