Announcing: Sound Ignited
12 Nov 2025
Be part of the spark that brings new music to...
James is writing a work for ensemble playing side-by-side with young musicians from the North London Music Hub which will be performed on Thursday 11 June 2026 as part of the celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the Southbank Centre. Having previously written a work for a London Sinfonietta schools’ concert, this next commission is for a concert-work that uses musicians of different abilities – challenging the virtuosity of the London Sinfonietta musicians while engaging earlier-career players at their level too.
Supported by Cockayne Grants for the Arts, a donor advised fund held at The London Community Foundation.
This new piece is a kind of meeting place, where the music that shapes me, from the pulse of clubs to the richness of orchestras, is inseparable from how I inhabit sound. Working with The London Sinfonietta and young musicians, I am creating something porous and alive, a jukebox of influences that coexist without apology. James B. Wilson
More About James B. Wilson
James B. Wilson is an award-winning composer of contemporary classical music based in Bedfordshire, England. James' music focuses on the rich textural, timbral and harmonic possibilities of acoustic instruments, and the voice. He is at heart a storyteller. His output is particularly notable for several works that explore visceral stories of contemporary life. James is an NMC Recording Artist and his music is broadcast internationally. Notably, he was the first ever composer commissioned Artist, Chineke! Orchestra.
His landmark work Remnants re-opened the Southbank centre after the covid epidemic. In this work James responds to 2020’s most viral image, depicting Patrick Hutchinson saving a counter protestor. The piece garnered attention worldwide – it is music that dares to tell a vital story of our time. More recently in 2023, over one million people witnessed the premier his new work 1922 that featured at the iconic last night of the BBC Proms. Other works in his output range from intimate music for soloists and duets, to immersive electronic pieces, ensemble music, and works for orchestra. His passion for working with the voice is also apparent in his catalogue.
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