Publicity Photos
Edward Tait
Composer
Edward Tait is an emerging British composer, currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music, under the tutelage of Gareth Moorcraft and Louise Drewett.
His music has received performances at the Royal Festival Hall, St John’s Smith Square, and Westminster Abbey, as well as by award-winning ensembles like the London Sinfonietta, Carducci Quartet, Orion Orchestra, and Lloyd’s Choir.
Edward previously studied with Jacques Cohen at the Purcell School of Music, and upon graduation, received the school’s Tim Stevenson Prize for Outstanding Composition. He also recently won 1st Prize in the Composition category of the Tiziano Rossetti Competition, and he is currently working on a symphonic suite, which was commissioned by the Chorleywood Orchestra.
Click here to view his full biography...
Whitchurch Recital Series: Fridays at One
1pm ▪ September 20th 2025
St Alkmund’s Church, Whitchurch (UK)
Premiere of Glitter Is Not Gold for solo cello
Chorleywood Orchestra
September 27th 2025
St Andrew’s Church, Chorleywood (UK)
Performing in Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No. 1
Music for You: Lunchtime Concert
1pm ▪ October 2nd 2025
United Reformed Church, Beaconsfield (UK)
Performance of Glitter Is Not Gold for solo cello
B2/B3 Composers Concert
November 6th 2025
Royal Academy of Music (UK)
Premiere of NEW WORK for flute and guitar
Undergraduate Composition Workshop
November 19th 2025
Duke's Hall, Royal Academy of Music (UK)
Workshop of NEW WORK for String Orchestra
Harrow Symphony Orchestra
7pm ▪ November 29th 2025
Hatch End High School, London (UK)
Programme TBA
Heatherton Singers: Christmas Tree Festival
10am ▪ December 6th 2025
St Michael & All Angels, Amersham (UK)
Programme TBA
Heatherton Singers: Christmas Concert
7:30pm ▪ December 15th 2025
St Mary the Virgin, Old Amersham (UK)
Accompanying Rutter The Colours of Christmas, Malcolm Archer A sound of singing fills the air, Michael Head The Little Road to Bethlehem, and more...
Rush-Hour Recital No. 1
8am ▪ January 28th 2026
Euston Station Piano, London (UK)
Programme TBA
Commuting Phases YouTube Release
9am ▪ February 5th 2025
Online Film Premiere of Commuting Phases
Edward’s cello octet Ecstasio, performed in a workshop by the Royal Academy of Music.
Premiere of Fleeting Manhattan at St John’s Smith Square, conducted by Nicholas Daniel.
Classical Commissions:
Taking on commissions for new works of music, for any instrument or voice, ranging from operas and ballets, to solo, chamber and orchestral concert pieces.
Film & Media Scores:
Composing original soundtracks for short and feature films, television shows, documentaries and games, all according to commission.
Music Teaching:
Offering 1-to-1 lessons in Piano, Theory & Composition, including GCSE and A-Level, locally in the Chilterns and nearby. Available for slots of 30 minutes, 45 minutes or an hour, and able to come round to houses to teach. Can be found through agency MusicTeacher.com or through direct message.
Percussion & Keyboard:
Playing Timpani & Percussion in orchestral, operatic and chamber settings, as well as accompanying on the Keyboard, including Piano and Harpsichord.
Website Development:
Building professional websites for individuals and small businesses, on-demand, relating to any industry, product or service. Either just the one-off charge for building the website, or an additional monthly charge for regular maintenance and updates, based on the number of hours required. We also offer bonus services, including digital design and biography/CV writing.
Arranging & Copyist Work:
Offering skills in using the music notation software Sibelius, including the typing up of music from handwritten scores, and re-arranging music for any instrument or group of instruments. Click here to view an example of work.
Concert Management:
Independently-managing concerts, on a freelance basis, including planning, preparing programmes, recruitment, organising, stage management and presenting, with extensive experience in that field. Additionally, extra concert business services can also be provided, through his concert team, including poster and programme design, stewarding, filming, audio recording and video editing.
Social Media Management:
Building and maintaining public profiles online, with previous directly-related experience, managing the Instagram accounts for Expericademy and Classical Future Music Management, as well as supervising their online image and affairs.
Edward was born in Ruislip, London, and initially took piano lessons with James Kellas, before starting lessons in composition and music theory with Andrew Melvin. During this time, he grew an extensive knowledge of repertoire and compositional technique, and quickly went on to win the Beacon Young Musician of the Year Award.
He enrolled at the Purcell School of Music in 2017, under a Scholarship from the UK Music and Dance Scheme, where he studied with Deborah Pritchard, Brian Elias and Jacques Cohen. He was also invited to attend seminars by Judith Weir, Robert Saxton, Zoe Martlew, Julian Anderson, Errollyn Wallen, Grace-Evangeline Mason, Daniel Fardon, Dru Masters, Simon Speare, Tonia Ko, Sylvia Lim, and Michael Small. While at Purcell, he received performances of several of his earliest orchestral works, at leading London venues like St John’s Smith Square, Hatfield House, and the Constance Pilkington Hall, and was especially fortunate to have his arrangement of Waltzing Matilda performed at Westminster Abbey, at the pre-service to the Commonwealth Day in 2023.
In the Sixth Form, he was an active member of the school’s awarding-winning Creative Ensemble. He was made Principal Pianist in the second year, and contributed additionally as a conductor and composer. In their final concert in 2024, he received a performance of his ensemble piece Ash Grove, as well as also conducting a new work by award-winning composer Yfat Soul Zisso. Other highlights during his Purcell years include Nicholas Daniel conducting one of his orchestral works at St John’s Smith Square, a collaboration with Peter Sheppard Skærved on a solo violin suite, and a workshop and performance by the Carducci Quartet, at the Chiltern Arts Festival.
Edward has won prizes at a number of well-respected composition competitions, most notably at the North London Festival. Other awards include the Berlioz International Music Competition, Tiziano Rossetti Competition, and the Chesham Arts Festival, as well as being shortlisted for the Benslow Music Trust. His orchestral work Fleeting Manhattan was also shortlisted in the European Recording Orchestra’s 2024 Call for Scores, through which he received masterclasses with esteemed Hollywood composers Conrad Pope and Christopher Young, as well as resident composers of the Film Scoring Academy of Europe, Arthur Brouns and Francisco Rios.
He is the Timpanist at the Chorleywood Orchestra, and has also performed on Percussion with the Essex Chamber Orchestra, Opera Greenwich, City Wind Orchestra, Wycombe Festival Orchestra, Bridgewater Sinfonia, Rose Opera, Chalfont Wind Band, and the Hillingdon Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also previously sung with local choirs like the Chorleywood Choral Society, RAM Sings, and AmChor. In 2024, the Chorleywood Orchestra, under the baton of Daniel Hogan, premiered his orchestral work Crenark Hill, to great acclaim.
Edward is an active musical entrepreneur, having planned and organized dozens of successful concerts, since the age of 17, including regularly at the Purcell School and Amersham Free Church. These concerts have seen the premieres of his own works, as well as countless premieres of new works by other living composers. He was the Music Director of the Purcell School’s award-winning outreach trip IMPULSE in 2023, and, in the same year, conducted their chamber ensemble Philomel. He was invited by the London Sinfonietta to contribute his skills to their ‘Sound Out Schools’ outreach project. As part of the same project, he received a commission for a piece which incorporated musical material composed by young students, which went on to receive numerous performances at both the Royal Festival Hall and Dugdale Arts Centre. Upon graduating from Purcell in 2024, he was awarded the Tim Stevenson Prize, for his outstanding compositional and entrepreneurial work throughout his time at the school.
Edward has a growing reputation as a pianist, having given performances at the Amersham Free Church, Constance Pilkington Hall, and St Alkmund’s Church, Shrewsbury, specializing in the music of Ravel and Prokofiev. He continued his study of the piano under Lidia Amorelli, during his time at the Purcell School, and he receives current mentorship from Edward Harris-Brown and James Mayhew. He is also the Pianist in the Vigneron Piano Trio, which he set up in 2024, giving their debut in April that year.
Edward currently studies Composition at the Royal Academy of Music, under the tutelage of Gareth Moorcraft and Louise Drewett. He has received further 1-to-1 mentorship from Eleanor Alberga and Rubens Askenar, and has benefited greatly from seminars with Nicola LeFanu, Huw Watkins, Augusta Read Thomas, Anna Meredith, and Ryan Latimer. He has also had the opportunity to have his music workshopped by Aaron Holloway-Nahum and Philip Cashian. He is a founding member of Expericademy, an experimental music ensemble, which he set up during his first year at the Academy, to which he has contributed extensively as a composer, pianist and conductor.
Recent highlights outside of the Academy include his carol setting of In the Bleak Midwinter being performed at the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music, under the baton of Alastair Carey, in 2025, after being selected in their Call for Scores. He subsequently received a 1-to-1 seminar with their resident composer Phillip Cooke. Similarly, his piece Shifting for string trio was performed at the Cambridge Summer Music Festival, in Churchill College Chapel, following a workshop with Professor Ewan Campbell and members of the Ligeti Quartet. In addition, he has received performances at the York Late Music Festival and Amersham Concert Club, and by ensembles including the Rotherham Symphony Orchestra, Lloyd’s Choir, Trio Amabile, and the Arquia Duo. Current projects include a symphonic suite, commissioned by the Chorleywood Orchestra, for a performance in 2026, and a song cycle for voice and violin, based on an original cycle by Mollie Mardel.
In addition to his concert music, he also composes film and electronic music, most notably rescoring the 1902 silent film Le Voyage dans la Lune, by Georges Melies. He was an active participant in the 2025 Composition course at the National Film and Television School, curated by Mathias Nielsen. He has also done a lot of arranging, having written the first complete arrangement of The Planets suite by Gustav Holst, for solo piano, which premiered in 2023. He is currently in the process of producing similar arrangements of orchestral works by Debussy and Mahler.
Edward has a sideline career building professional websites for individuals and small businesses, having founded the web development company, EPT Websites. He is also the founder of Eskonfilm Pictures, directing their debut film Amersham Summer in 2024, as part of an ongoing film series accompanied by musical improvisations. He also writes the creative blog At Home with the Craft, and works as the Concert Marketing Manager at Classical Futures Music Management.
He is currently residing in Amersham, and in his free time, he enjoys creative writing, reading, taking photos, cycling, running and playing football, and is a regular member of the RAM Football Club.
Last Updated: 13th June 2025
Symphonic Transcriptions
Edward and several other composers are in the ongoing process of re-imagining and arranging the greatest orchestral works for the accessibility and convenience of the solo piano. They plan to have concerts roughly twice a year, with one concert having already taken place in December 2023, featuring Edward's arrangement of The Planets suite by Gustav Holst, the first of its kind.
Composers Parallels
This project saw two chamber works by Dmitri Shostakovich being performed alongside two new pieces by Edward Tait and Antonia Zadrag, both of which were strongly influenced by him in different ways. In the next installment of the project, titled Triple Sonata, Jacques Cohen, and his former students Samuel Kemp, Josh Gearing and Edward Tait each write a movement of a full suite, each taking influence from Bach Prelude in C major. The Sonata will receive its full premiere in later 2025.
ImprovForty
After experimenting with large-scale improvisation in his film Amersham Summer, Edward initiated a project, in which he recorded a new improvisation every day on the piano, for 40 days straight, with the aim of improving his pianistic fluency over that time. These improvisations were uploaded to YouTube every day. This project inspired a spin-off project, Edward Harris-Brown's ImprovFifty, following a similar model to the original. Tait himself followed with his own spin-off, a series of improvisations called Scriabi-visations, focusing on improvising in the style of Alexander Scriabin, one of his favourite composers.