Tectonics 2026 Artist Profile

Laura Bowler, described as “a triple threat composer-performer provocatrice” (The Art Desk), is a composer and vocalist specialising in multidisciplinary works and music theatre. Bowler has been commissioned by leading ensembles, orchestras and festivals across the globe, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Basel Sinfonietta, Royal Ballet and Opera, Manchester Camerata, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Phace (Austria), Lovemusic (France), Ensemble Offspring (Australia), Donaueschinger Musiktage, MaerzMusik, and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, among others.

Her recent oeuvre includes The Blue Woman, a chamber opera commissioned by the Royal Ballet and Opera for its Engender Festival at the Linbury Theatre directed by Katie Mitchell; Wicked Problems, a chamber work for voice and bass flute which received the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Chamber-Scale Composition; and ADVERT, a music-theatre work commissioned by Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, New Music Dublin, Musica Estranha, Ultima, Time in Music, Music on Main and November Music.

Other notable works include The Sad Album, a multimedia music theatre work for ensemble and voice commissioned by Lovemusic and presented by Musica, Wien Modern, New Music Dubin and Kings Place; Damned Mob of Scribbling Women, a music-theatre song cycle for mezzo-soprano Lucy Goddard, nominated for a British Composer Award; her Ivors nominated Houses Slide, an off-grid performance powered by bicycles for London Sinfonietta and vocalist Jessica Aszodi; and Things Are Against Us, a 25-minute work for orchestra, voice, percussion and piano commissioned by Basel Sinfonietta performed by the composer and GBSR Duo alongside the Basel Sinfonietta. Her work is published by Ricordi.

Tectonics Glasgow 2026
Sat 2 May 2026, 8.00pm - Grand Hall

Things Are Against Us (UK Premiere)

GBSR Duo piano and percussion
Laura Bowler vocalist
Ilan Volkov conductor
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

I was introduced to Lucy Ellmann’s writing by the theatre director, Katie Mitchell, who knew how much Lucy’s writing would align with my compositional approach. The sense of insistence and sometimes relentlessness creates an almost ecstatic state of mind for me in which the words and their rhythm become a musical experience. I’m also drawn to Lucy’s excavation of the political through the personal and the intimate. This is something I have explored extensively in my own work too. Lucy and I shared thoughts over the phone about what we were drawn to as creatives and there were so many elements and thought processes that aligned. Still, I wanted to ensure that the creative process wasn’t one of pure harmony, as I always need something to push up against. This came with my decision to set the entire text from this chapter of her book within a 24 minute work. Not only does this come with compositional challenges but also comes with performative ones; getting your mouth around that much text in this space of time is certainly tricky!

The trio of soloists are interlinked, almost like a representation of the intimate, the personal, the single human being, and the orchestra as the environment becomes increasingly dominant throughout the work, with moments of false security presented prior to the end of the work. The work is propulsive, unrelenting and overwhelming for the soloists as they battle through the eventually overwhelming surroundings.

Overwhelm is a significant part of my compositional language, and exists in many of my works; FFF, SHOW(ti)ME, The Blue Woman, The Sad Album amongst others. I suspect it relates to how I experience the world, and it is why I’m drawn to text like Lucy’s which have this sense of overwhelm written into them.

Laura Bowler.