Liam Mattison (b. 1990) is a London based composer, originally hailing from Leeds. Having started his musical life as a clarinet player in local wind bands and orchestras, Liam naturally progressed to orchestrating music for the musical theatre revues his school annually produced and found a true passion in composition soon after. After moving to London in 2008, he began to form a strong and individual artistic voice, often employing physical space to nurture harmonious relationships between the musical objects that he creates, whilst always striving to create the most beautiful sounds he can imagine.

Drawing on a variety of inspirations, from subverting narrative tropes found in cinema to musical caricatures and with keen interests in the miniature form and the vocalise, his music has been commissioned, performed and often toured by the London Symphony Orchestra, London Contemporary Orchestra Soloists, Gaglianos Ensemble, CHROMA, Psappha, Crouch End Festival Chorus, Alex Woods, Richard Watkins and Huw Watkins, members of the Riot Ensemble and the English National Opera Orchestra, and Apartment House amongst others, and under conductors Elim Chan, François-Xavier Roth and Jonathan Berman.  His music has been heard at venues such as LSO St. Lukes, Queen Elizabeth Hall (Southbank Centre, London), St. John Smith’s Square, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Snape Maltings, Jubilee Hall, Dora Stouzke Hall (RWCMD), Dartington Hall, Conservatori Licieu (Barcelona) and as part of Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Buxton, Voices of London, Ether (Southbank Centre) and Impossible Brilliance: The Music of Conlon Nancarrow (Southbank Centre) festivals.

Liam attended the Advanced Composition course at Dartington International Summer School in 2013, having being selected by Johannes Maria Staud to study with Francesco Antonioni generously supported by the Dartington Hall Trust. He was selected as a Britten-Pears Young Artist for 2015-16, taking part in the Composition & Performance course and in 2016, Liam participated on the London Symphony Orchestra’s Panufnik Scheme, after which he gained a commission for the LSO’s 2018-19 Barbican season. He also taken part in the Cheltenham Music Festival’s Composer Academy (2016) with Michael Zev Gordon and Psappha’s ‘Composing for…’ scheme (2017). In 2018, Liam was a recipient of a Royal Philharmonic Society award, gaining him a commission for the 2019 Presteigne Festival.

Liam studied at TrinityLaban Conservatoire of Music and Dance where his principal teachers included Gwyn Pritchard and Edward Jessen, and then at the Royal Academy of Music with Philip Cashian, supported by the Countess of Munster Trust, working closely with Oliver Knussen and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Liam has also studied free improvisation with Mark Lockheart and collaborative practice with Ian Mitchell and Lizzi Kew Ross.

Liam currently divides his time between composition and working for Opus Arte at the Royal Opera House, as well as working as a freelance engraver and orchestrator. His work in this field has been heard and used at the Cambridge (Willemijn Verkaik in Concert), Apollo (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie), and Garrick (RSC’s Don Quixote) theatres, the Other Palace (The Wild Party) and for groups such as the Gabrieli Consort & Players.