YCAT is delighted to announce that Fergus Hall has been selected as the recipient of the 2025-26 YCAT Composer Fellowship, in memory of Hans Keller.

The Fellowship, launched in 2024 in collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic Society and supported by the Cosman Keller Art and Music Trust, broadens YCAT’s mission to nurture emerging musical talent, and is dedicated to fostering and supporting composers at a crucial stage in their careers. Hans Keller, whom the Fellowship remembers, was involved with YCAT at its beginning in 1984,
having been for the previous thirty years one of the most significant supporters of young composers in Britain, both through his own teaching and his work in charge of new music at the BBC.

Each year, the YCAT Composer Fellow receives a commission to compose two short chamber works tailored to specific YCAT artists. Throughout the fellowship, the composer collaborates closely with the performers, cultivating meaningful artistic relationships that can extend beyond the Fellowship itself. These newly commissioned works will be showcased in regional performances across the UK, culminating in a YCAT Wigmore Hall lunchtime recital, where they will be professionally recorded for promotional use.

For the second year of the fellowship, YCAT is proud to appoint British composer, Fergus Hall. Fergus’s artistic practice centres on the natural environment, ecologies, sustainability, conservation and our relationship with the environment, particularly the seas and coastlines of Scotland. 

Fergus comments: 

"I feel incredibly fortunate to have been given this opportunity to develop my artistic practice through collaborations with esteemed YCAT musicians. The support of YCAT is truly invaluable in this critical stage of my compositional career."

Following in the footsteps of the inaugural fellows, Electra Perivolaris, and James B. Wilson, Fergus will work closely with YCAT artists James Morley (cello) and the Fibonacci Quartet, to create new compositions that highlight both his unique musical voice and the exceptional talent of the performers.

We look forward to supporting Fergus in this exciting journey and sharing his music with audiences across the UK during the 2025-26 season!

Learn more about Fergus

     

Photography © Lea Shaw