Cambridge Young Composers’ Course
St Catharine’s College, Cambridge
15–20 August 2027
The first Cambridge Young Composers’ Course will take place at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, from 15 to 20 August 2027. The course aims to provide outstanding tuition for talented young composers aged between 18 and 30. Principal tutors for the course will be Huw Watkins MBE and Dr James Olsen, with guest tutor Sir John Rutter.
The course is residential, and the fee includes accommodation for five nights at St Catharine’s College, full board (breakfast, lunch and dinner, and morning and afternoon tea and coffee) and all tuition.
Students attending the course will form an ensemble of singers and instrumentalists who will workshop and perform the pieces composed for the course. During the week, works by the participating composers will be workshopped and rehearsed, with feedback provided by the principal tutors. We also plan to hold additional classes in subjects relevant for composers, such as analysis, harmony and counterpoint, and musicianship. We are also delighted that Sir John Rutter will join us to give a talk, and answer questions from students.
The course will culminate in a lunchtime concert on Friday 20 August 2027 in the chapel of St Catharine’s College, open to members of the public, where new pieces by the participating composers will be performed.
Students can attend either as participating composers or as observer musicians:
Participating composers will be expected to compose a short piece before the course begins for members of the course ensemble, and to compose another short piece for members of the course ensemble during the course. They will receive one-to-one tuition from the principal tutors during the week, and one of their pieces will performed in the final concert in the chapel of St Catharine’s College. They will receive an audio recording of this performance for their personal use.
Observer musicians will be able to attend all sessions other than one-to-one sessions, and to participate as musicians in the course ensemble if they wish. They will not be expected to compose for the course. Applicants may wish to take part as an observer musician if they have an interest in composition, but do not wish to put themselves forward as a participating composer. This option may also be of interest to performers with a strong interest in contemporary music, as there will be the opportunity during the week to workshop and perform a large number of new pieces.
Places are strictly limited to 10 participating composers and 20 observer musicians, so early application is advised.
Cambridge has a long association with composition. English Renaissance composers Orlando Gibbons, Christopher Tye and Robert Fayrfax studied at Cambridge. The University’s Professorship of Music, founded in 1684, has been held by composers including Maurice Greene, William Sterndale Bennett, Charles Villiers Stanford and Charles Wood. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, composition has been taught at the university by Alexander Goehr, Hugh Wood, Robin Holloway and Richard Causton, and former students include Thomas Adès, Julian Anderson, George Benjamin, Jonathan Dove, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, John Rutter, Errollyn Wallen, Hugh Watkins and Judith Weir.
St Catharine’s College has outstanding facilities. In addition to the main rehearsal room we will be using, the Music Room contains a Schimmel grand piano and space for an ensemble of up to 10 people. The College Chapel is home to Steinway B grand piano and an organ designed by William Johnson (restored by Flentrop). Other spaces for workshops, rehearsals and one-to-one tuition will also be available to use.
Accommodation is on the main site (on Trumpington Street) and 10 minutes away in St Chad’s flats on Grange Road. Both standard accommodation (with shared bathroom facilities) and en suite accommodation are available.
The servery in the College Hall provides a wide range of dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. For lunch and dinner, in addition to the hot main dishes, there is usually a fresh salad bar, homemade soup and bread, fruit, soft drinks and sweet treats. Special dietary requirements (e.g. gluten-free, lactose intolerance, vegan, nut allergies, Kosher, Halal etc.) can be accommodated.
Sunday 15 August
Afternoon: arrival and check in
5pm: welcome and introduction to the course, followed by dinner
Monday 16 to Thursday 19 August
Breakfast
Morning: workshops, rehearsals, additional classes
Lunch
Afternoon: workshops, rehearsals, individual tuition for participating composers
Dinner
Evenings: free time, opportunities for further rehearsals and informal music-making
Friday 20 August
Breakfast
Morning: check out of accommodation, final rehearsal
Lunch
1pm: concert in St Catharine’s College Chapel
Afternoon: departure
Huw Watkins MBE (principal tutor) was born in Wales in 1976. He studied piano with Peter Lawson at Chetham’s School of Music, and composition with Robin Holloway, Alexander Goehr, and Julian Anderson at Cambridge and the Royal College of Music. He has taught composition at the RCM and the Royal Academy of Music. Watkins’s orchestral works includes the widely acclaimed Violin Concerto (2010), two commissions from the London Symphony Orchestra, and two symphonies for the Hallé Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder, the second of which won the South Bank Sky Arts Award for classical music in 2022. A wealth of chamber music is central to Watkins’ output, complementing his parallel career as a pianist, and in 2016 Watkins was awarded the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Elise L. Stoeger Prize. Watkins’ vocal works include Five Larkin Songs (2009-10) for soprano and piano, which won a British Composer Award. In 2017, Watkins was commissioned by King’s College, Cambridge, to write a carol for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. As pianist, Watkins has appeared as soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Britten Sinfonia, and London Sinfonietta, and performs throughout Europe and North America as soloist and chamber musician. Watkins was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to music.
Dr James Olsen (principal tutor and course director) is a British composer, musicologist and music educator. Born in London in 1982, James read music at King’s College, Cambridge, where he gained a double starred first, and studied composition with Wolfgang Rihm in Germany and with Julian Anderson, Colin Matthews, Robin Holloway, Michael Finnissy and Adam Gorb in the UK. James has seen performances of his music by orchestras and ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Britten Sinfonia, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the BBC Singers, Trio Gaspard, the Galliard Ensemble, Tête à Tête opera and Minguett Quartet. Three commercial recordings of his music have been released. James’s music has been broadcast by BBC Radio 3 in the UK and by DeutschlandRadio Berlin and Kulturradio in Germany. He is a Bye-Fellow at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge where he supervises students for courses in music analysis and music history.
Sir John Rutter (guest tutor) was born in London and studied music at Clare College, Cambridge. He first came to notice as a composer during his student years; much of his early work consisted of church music and other choral pieces including Christmas carols. From 1975–79 he was Director of Music at his alma mater, Clare College, and directed the college chapel choir in various recordings and broadcasts. Since 1979 he has divided his time between composition and conducting. Today his compositions, including such concert-length works as Requiem, Magnificat, Mass of the Children, The Gift of Life, and Visions are performed around the world. His music has featured in a number of British royal occasions, including the two most recent royal weddings. He edits the Oxford Choral Classics series, and, with Sir David Willcocks, co-edited four volumes of Carols for Choirs. In 1983 he formed his own choir the Cambridge Singers, with whom he has made numerous recordings, and he appears regularly in several countries as guest conductor and choral ambassador. He holds a Lambeth Doctorate in Music, and in 2007 was awarded a CBE for services to music. In September 2023, he received the Ivors Academy Fellowship, and was knighted in the 2024 King’s Birthday Honours.
Fees to attend the course are as follows:
Participating composers:
£1,100 (standard accommodation)
£1,400 (en suite accommodation)
Observer musicians:
£935 (standard accommodation)
£1,235 (en suite accommodation)
Early bird discount: receive 10 per cent discount if you apply on or before Friday 31 July 2026:
Participating composers:
£990.00 (standard accommodation)
£1,260.00 (en suite accommodation)
Observer musicians:
£841.50 (standard accommodation)
£1,111.50 (en suite accommodation)
Applicants should:
- be aged between 18 and 30 on 15 August 2027
- have some prior experience of composing and be competent using staff notation
- have sufficient English language skills to participate fully in the course
If you are interested in applying, please contact us using this form and we will email you an application form for you to complete.
Applications must be received by Friday 11 September 2026, or when the course reaches capacity.
In order to qualify for the early bird discount, applications must be received by Friday 31 July 2026.
Please note that we will review applications on a rolling basis, and when all places have been filled we will not accept any further applications. We therefore recommend applying early.
Your data will be held in accordance with the Olsen Verlag privacy and data protection policy.
Terms and conditions apply. These will be emailed to successful applicants.
The Cambridge Young Composers’ Course is organised by Olsen Verlag (UK) Limited. The company contracts with St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, for the use of its facilities. It is not otherwise affiliated with St Catharine’s College or the University of Cambridge.