2018 Awardee: Aidan Teplitzky
"I cannot describe how grateful and appreciative I am to receive such support from the Dewar Arts Awards. Without their incredible generosity, I would not have been able to continue my studies...it means the world to me that they saw value in my work and were willing to support me and my artistic development. I cannot thank them enough"
Biography
Aidan was born in Australia and was raised in his parents’ restaurant in Sydney before moving to Scotland at age 4. He began learning music on his ‘fluorescent green recorder’ at age 6, and went on to learn the saxophone, piano and double bass, all of which he performed on as a student at the Junior Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. It was here that he came to find an interest in composition under the tutelage of Audrey McPherson and Gareth Williams, which he then pursued by studying at the RCS under Dr Gordon McPherson.
Aidan has worked with organisations including the BBC SSO, the SCO, RCS MusicLab, the Glasgow New Music Expedition, the Glasgow Barons Orchestra, the Brodick Quartet and has worked with world-renowned performers Sinae Lee, Pascal Gallois, and traditional singer/songwriter Ainsley Hamill. Aidan is also an associate member of the LSO’s Soundhub and is the artistic director for the new music ensemble, The Hadit Collective.
Current projects include writing “Moving On”, a new work for Sinfonietta as part of winning the Craig Armstrong Prize in Composition from the RCS, planning a number of new concerts for The Hadit Collective, and working as the composer for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s production of A Midsummer Nights Dream directed by Ali De Souza.
Aidan is interested in drag, identity and pop culture.
How the Award Helped
Aidan’s Dewar Arts Award supported his postgraduate studies – an MMus in Composition – at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He writes:
“As an artist I want to make work that expresses my identity and can make people feel that they are not alone. Within my time studying at the RCS, I have come to understand my personal artistic voice and have begun intensively exploring the reasons why I write, the nature of my compositional language and how I can enable this greater sense of depth within my artistry.”
Since the Award
Update 2020:
Aidan continued to flourish at the RCS, and also took on the role of vice-president of the RCS Student’s Union.
Update 2024:
Aidan is currently completing an AHRC funded PhD at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire exploring working-class identity and experience in new interdisciplinary compositions.
"I cannot describe how grateful and appreciative I am to receive such support from the Dewar Arts Awards. Without their incredible generosity, I would not have been able to continue my studies...it means the world to me that they saw value in my work and were willing to support me and my artistic development. I cannot thank them enough"