CoMA MidWinter Composers Course
Please note: MidWinter Composers Course is currently paused and will not be taking place in 2026.
The most recent edition of CoMA’s MidWinter Composers Course took place in January 2025. Presented in partnership with Allcomers Music, this five-day intensive composition course has an impressive track record in taking early-stage composers onto an entirely new level, providing the technical capacity and confidence to realise more ambitious musical projects.
Award-winning composer Gavin Higgins joined us in residence as the primary tutor, offering friendly and supportive advice to composers at all stages of their development, whilst challenging them to push their skills and knowledge. With a focus on string writing, composers wrote for amateur strings as well as for a professional string trio, with an additional opportunity for all participants to create and perform works together as a composers’ ensemble.
Two 50% funded spaces were reserved and available for composers from the Global Majority* and/or who identifed as disabled who were facing financial barriers.
Course content
The course offered composers:
- Pre-course guidance on writing for mixed ability amateur strings, with the option to write for an orchestra of around 30 players or for smaller sized ensembles. Both options requiring an independent double bass part
- Group tuition classes and one-to-one composition tutorials with Gavin Higgins
- Attendance at all workshops, performing composers’ submitted works with feedback offered by professional string players and by the amateur players
- Sessions with a professional string trio to inspire and develop new musical ideas
- Opportunity to come together as a ‘composers ensemble’ to create a collective work for performance on the final day
- Right to record all composition sessions
- Private concert by the string tutors in the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building