New original soundtrack from Blair Mowat

Dewar Awardee Blair Mowat has composed the music for the new ITV drama ‘Nolly’, created by Russell T. Davies and starring Helena Bonham Carter.

Blair Mowat received a Dewar Arts Award in 2008 to help support his postgraduate studies at Bristol University. He graduated from the university with an MA in Composition for Film and Television and his career has gone from strength to strength since then.

A prolific composer of scores for film, theatre and television, he now has well over two hundred credits. His clients include the BBC, Channel 4, the English National Ballet and Royal Shakespeare Company. Most recently, he has worked on the ITV mini-series Nolly, created by Russell T. Davies and starring Helena Bonham Carter. The soundtrack album is now available to purchase on digital platforms, or you can stream a track below.

Congratulations Blair – we can’t wait to see what you do next!

Read Blair’s Awardee Profile

2021 Awardee: Rylan Gleave

Rylan Gleave headshot

"Receiving the Dewar Arts Award meant that I could pause my hospitality job in order to focus on my Masters studies. This additional time was absolutely invaluable, and enabled me to graduate with The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Composition Prize, and The Craig Armstrong Prize. Reaching my full potential was an incredible feeling, and I am overwhelmingly grateful to Dewar Arts Awards for their support."

Biography

Rylan Gleave is a Leith-based composer and vocalist whose musical practice involves mending the unfeigned gaps in his classical study with the healings of imaginative neuro-/gender-divergent kinship. As a composer/performer, his work has explored the instrumental qualities of his late-breaking trans-masc voice through queer auto-ethnography and autistic-specific notation. His compositions have been praised as ‘haunting’ by The Herald, and ‘rapturous’ by The Scotsman. The Scotsman also named Rylan ‘One to Watch’ in 2021, describing him as ‘one of the brightest lights in Scotland’s new music scene’.

Rylan’s commissions include pieces for the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Composer Programme / Presteigne Festival, Crossing Borders Music / Momenta Dance Company, Shadwell Opera, newEar Chamber Ensemble / KC No Divide, Red Note Ensemble, soundfestival, CRIPtic Festival, and Nevis Ensemble. Other projects have included new notes; better days, for which he worked with Cox’s Bazar Rohingya Refugee Musicians in Bangladesh after receiving a British Council Unlimited Micro Award: and KITH, nominated for Forecast Edition 6, Berlin, where he was mentored by composer/performer Sofia Jernberg.

Rylan studied with Linda Buckley, Oliver Searle, and David Fennessy at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, supported by a Dewar Arts Award, The Kenneth Barrett Scholarship from the RCS Trust, The Glasgow Educational and Marshall Trust, and The John Mathers Trust.

How the Award Helped

Rylan’s Award supported him through an MMus Degree with Dr. Linda Buckley at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he won the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Composition prize.

Rylan Gleave headshot

"Receiving the Dewar Arts Award meant that I could pause my hospitality job in order to focus on my Masters studies. This additional time was absolutely invaluable, and enabled me to graduate with The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Composition Prize, and The Craig Armstrong Prize. Reaching my full potential was an incredible feeling, and I am overwhelmingly grateful to Dewar Arts Awards for their support."

2018 Awardee: Joseph Stevenson

"With the help of an extremely generous Dewar Arts Award I was able to afford the tuition fees...I would have really struggled without the financial assistance I received"

Biography

Joseph grew up in the small town of Moffat in Dumfriesshire, where he taught himself guitar from a young age. He began playing in bands and then went on to write and record his own music.

Having released his first original progressive rock EP in 2013, Joseph was accepted to study at the University of Edinburgh the following year. During his time at university, he wrote and recorded three more albums ranging from rock to traditional music.  As his skills progressed, Joseph began to focus on a career in music for film, TV and video games.

Joseph applied to the highly competitive Composing for Film and TV course at the National Film and Television School in London, and was one of only eight people accepted to start in 2019.

Joseph has shown himself to be an ambitious and innovative composer, who demonstrates originality, passion and profound talent.

How the Award Helped

Joseph’s Dewar Arts Award supported his studies at the NFTS.

Since the Award

In 2021, Joseph’s compositions appeared on the NFTS film Night of the Living Dread.  The film was nominated as a finalist for a BAFTA Los Angeles Best Student Film Award.

"With the help of an extremely generous Dewar Arts Award I was able to afford the tuition fees...I would have really struggled without the financial assistance I received"

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"

2017 Awardee: Calum Paterson

"I feel very honoured and privileged that the Dewar Arts Awards have decided to support my talent."

Biography

Calum Paterson is a sound designer, composer and theatre artist of exceptional talent.  When working on a production, he shows rigorous commitment to the ideas of the team, as well as contributing true flair, imagination and innovation.

A graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Calum has worked extensively across Glasgow, Edinburgh and beyond.  After designing the sound for a sell-out run of ‘Chess The Musical’ at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre, he was hailed as a ‘rising star of the creative industries’ by The Lighting and Sound Industry Magazine.

Calum made his Off West End of London debut, as Sound No.1 for ‘Working A Musical’ at the Southwark Playhouse. The show received three nominations for Offies Awards including Best Musical Production.

Outside of theatre, Calum can be found producing music and sound for a variety of new media, including voiceovers and sound effects for film, tv and radio.

How the Award Helped

Calum’s Award allowed him to purchase essential new equipment, enabling him to develop his artistic form, create new and exciting work with collaborators across the UK, and offer an even greater range of sound design and compositional services.

"I feel very honoured and privileged that the Dewar Arts Awards have decided to support my talent."

2017 Awardee: Matthew Grouse

"This was a vital learning experience and one I feel has created a very tangible sense of forward momentum in my musical career"

Biography

Matthew is a musician with exceptional credentials, exhibiting skills in a wide variety of settings from large scale compositions involving electronics and voices to delicate chamber works.

His work regularly combines media and is often concerned with human frailties and finding the remarkable in the seemingly ordinary aspects of everyday life. Activities include selection for Yaron Deutsch’s Electric Guitar Etude Project at Darmstadt; an EP release on New York based label, Not Art Records and being shortlisted in two categories of the 2018 Scottish Awards for New Music.

Matthew’s music has been showcased across the UK and internationally, in Germany, Italy, Egypt, USA, Canada and Ireland. His music has been performed or workshopped by artists including: Royal Northern Sinfonia; Hebrides Ensemble; Red Note Ensemble; The Assembly Project; DeCoda Ensemble; Gildas Quartet; Dohnányi String Trio; Sinae Lee (pianist) and Lewis Banks (saxophonist).

His work has featured at or is programmed for future performances at festivals such as Darmstadt; The Cumnock Tryst; St Magnus International Festival; Cottier Chamber Project; Leeds Lieder Festival; EviMus Festival and Sound / Image Colloquium.

Matthew is also passionate about inclusivity within new music. This has been reinforced by being awarded the 2017 Kimie Composition Prize, which resulted in Live Music Now Scotland commissioning an interactive string trio for performances in dementia care homes and traditional concert hall settings. Further to this, Matthew received an orchestral commission for the Nevis Ensemble’s inaugural tour, which will take in 70 performances in public and community settings around Scotland as part of Glasgow2018.

How the Award Helped

Industrious and dedicated, Matthew studied composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and whilst there was offered a place on the prestigious St Magnus Festival Composer’s Course. His Award supported him in accessing this exceptional opportunity to further develop his already commendable skillset.

"This was a vital learning experience and one I feel has created a very tangible sense of forward momentum in my musical career"

2016 Awardee: Magnus Green

"I am profoundly grateful to The Dewar Arts Awards [for] this extraordinary opportunity to continue to realise my ambitions and keep progressing along this hugely exciting journey."

Biography

Brought up on a deer farm near Elgin, Magnus is a keen composer and a highly proficient multi-instrumentalist, playing piano, violin, and accordion. In 2016, he won a highly coveted place at the Royal Academy of Music to study Composition with Christopher Austin.

Magnus began learning the piano accordion and violin at the age of 6 and began teaching himself the piano around the same time, developing the skill of improvisation which ultimately lead to his interest in composition. Whilst at school he played violin with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, as well gigging regularly as a pianist. In tandem with his classical pursuits, he is also a keen Jazz musician, and performs regularly both as a solo pianist and as part of his jazz trio.

Magnus is very involved in traditional Scottish music, and appears regularly as an accordionist with his ceilidh band. Composition is his foremost passion, and it is his ambition to become a composer for film and television as well as for the concert stage.

Magnus says:

“For the last four years of my Grandpa’s life he struggled with severe dementia, and during this time, I discovered that through music I could communicate emotionally with him, even though he was otherwise unable to respond coherently. It is this potential for emotional communication which gives me an unbeatable thrill and is the primary factor driving me to compose. I love presenting my work to an audience and observing how they respond and interpret the music individually.

It is my ambition to become a composer for film and television, as well as the concert stage. For a young composer, I cannot possibly overstate what an extraordinary opportunity being able to study at the Academy is. The truly outstanding feature of my studies here is the vast array of performance opportunities offered to composers, providing second-to-none practical experience of writing for world-class musicians.“

How the Award Helped

Magnus’s Award supported his musical studies on the four year BMus (Hons) at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he gained one of only 4 places.

"I am profoundly grateful to The Dewar Arts Awards [for] this extraordinary opportunity to continue to realise my ambitions and keep progressing along this hugely exciting journey."

2014 Awardee: Paul Devlin

Being part of that creative process is an experience I find both exhilarating and exciting, and one that compares to no other.

Biography

Paul is a talented composer with a distinctive voice. Having grown up in Scotland, he gained a First Class Honours Degree in Music from Strathclyde University and recieved their Stone Award for excellence in his composition portfolio.

After graduation, Paul was awarded a commission from Glasgow City Council (on behalf of Glasgow Celtic FC) to compose a piece in remembrance of the Jewish Holocaust. He went on to gain a coveted place to study an MMus in Screen Composition at the Royal College of Music in London.

Paul has a genuine passion for the creative process and the art of taking music from page to performance. He apires to become a professional composer for screen with a broad range of knowledge across many musical styles and genres. His studies at the RCM have provided an invaluable foundation from which to shape his ambitions.

How the Award Helped

Paul received a Dewar Award to support his second year of MMus studies, enabling him to fully benefit from the opportunity to flourish as a composer.

Being part of that creative process is an experience I find both exhilarating and exciting, and one that compares to no other.

2012 Awardee: Peter Longworth

With the help of a Dewar Award, I will be able to attend an institution as prestigious as the Royal College of Music, which [will] increase my possibilities as a composer and enable me to work with some of the UK's most talented young musicians.

Biography

A former principal trumpet of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, Peter gained a scholarship in 2008 to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.  He has since become an outstanding young composer working at the very highest level, and has been offered a scholarship to study an MMus in Composition at the Royal College of Music (RCM).

Peter music has been performed in many venues across the UK, Europe and Canada.  He has received an impressive number of commissions from a wide range of organisations and groups, including NYOS Futures (the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland’s contemporary music ensemble), the Edinburgh Incidental Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Scottish Schools’ Orchestra Trust, Bella Tromba and Trio d’ART.

Peter’s ambition is to become an important figure in Scottish contemporary music.  He believes that through studying with the world-class professors working at the RCM, he can fully realise his potential as a composer.

How the Award Helped

Peter’s award will help to fund his masters in composition at the RCM.

Premier of Peter Longworth’s Colori di Roma at the Caledonian Club in 2009, performed by Bella Tromba. It has since been performed in Poland, Canada and Scotland.

With the help of a Dewar Award, I will be able to attend an institution as prestigious as the Royal College of Music, which [will] increase my possibilities as a composer and enable me to work with some of the UK's most talented young musicians.

2011 Awardee: Timothy Cooper

I will endeavour to use the opportunities you have made possible to the best of my ability. I am extremely proud that your fantastic organisation has chosen to support me and would like to thank all of the trustees for their generosity.

Biography

Originally from Darlington, Timothy moved to Scotland in 2006 to complete his undergraduate music studies in Euphonium performance. He continues his studies in music and composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland working towards a postgraduate master of composition degree.

His first year was successful in that his work was performed both in Australia and in the UK. Timothy’s particular passion is to work across art forms and he has completed the sound design for Joshua Armstrong’s The Sounding, for the National Youth Theatre’s workshop production Razia Sultan and for a short film by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland students working in film and TV. He has also been selected by the Conservatoire to compose a piece for a group at the Paris Conservatoire. The piece will be performed in both Paris and Stuttgart.

Timothy is admired by performers and mentors for his combination of great talent and energy in making things happen. He co-founded the successful group edit point which is making great headway in Scotland and further afield.

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Awards will provide the financial support Timothy needs in order to complete his masters degree.

Friction: Commissioned by Diaphonique, Franco-British Fund for Contemporary Music De Profundis, trombone, tuba and percussion ensemble Clément Carpentier, conducting recorded at Saint-Louis des Invalides, Paris, February, 2. 2012 sound engineer : Alice Legros

Shimmering: Performed by Jonathan Morton

I will endeavour to use the opportunities you have made possible to the best of my ability. I am extremely proud that your fantastic organisation has chosen to support me and would like to thank all of the trustees for their generosity.