RPS Young Artist Biography
Steven Daverson
2010 RPS Composition Prize Winner
Born in Northampton in 1985, Steven read composition at the Royal Northern College of Music with David Horne, graduating with first-class honours in 2007. Awarded a scholarship to the Masters course at the Royal College of Music by the Leverhulme and HR Taylor Trusts, he studied with Jonathan Cole and Mark-Anthony Turnage, supported by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Vaughan Williams Scholarship, graduating with distinction in 2009. He is currently a doctoral student at the RCM under Jonathan Cole, generously funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
In 2007, Steven attended the Britten-Pears Contemporary Course in Aldeburgh, studying with Oliver Knussen, Colin Matthews and Magnus Lindberg. He also received the prestigious Mendelssohn Scholarship in 2008, allowing him to study in Europe with Brian Ferneyhough, Misato Mochizuki and Wolfgang Rihm, at the Darmstadt Ferienkürse, among others; and with Beat Furrer, Brice Pauset, Vladimir Tarnopolski and Enno Poppe in Graz.
Steven’s music has been performed in the UK and in Europe by ensembles including the Arditti Quartet, the Danel Quartet, the BBC Singers, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Contemporary Orchestra, Klangforum Wien, and the Moscow Studio for New Music. In July 2009, Steven was a winner of the Fifth Jurgenson Competition for New Music at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with his piece, Elusive Tangibility IV: Tsukimi for female voice and ensemble. His work has also been broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Recent projects have included a work for violinist Ashot Sarkissjan entitled Face of Blades, performed in Darmstadt in July 2010. Steven is also working toward a cycle of instrumental and vocal works under the umbrella of Elusive Tangibility, and a long-term opera project entitled The Othniel Machine.
(Updated July 2010)