Cydonie Banting

Cydonie Banting is a composer and ethnomusicologist from the UK. Her works have been performed by groups including the BBC Singers, Cavaleri Quartet, Aurora Trio, Canterbury Chamber Choir and Oxford’s Ensemble Isis at various music festivals and for radio, where she recently featured in the BBC’s Composer of Tomorrow series on Radio 3. Under the guidance of Robert Saxton, she read Music at Worcester College, Oxford, graduating with a first-class degree, before studying an MMus in Composition (Distinction) with Gary Carpenter at the Royal Academy of Music, London. Following ethnographic research in the rural south-western Uganda, Cydonie developed an interest in the cross-overs between composition and ethnomusicology; a formative project with the CHROMA ensemble, achieving commendation in the Alan Bush Composition Prize 2015, uses Bakiga folk songs as the basis, drawing from fieldwork experiences in Uganda. In furtherance of these interests, she is undertaking doctoral study at King’s College London with Frederick Moehn on a scholarship from LAHP/Arts and Humanities Research Council examining the role of musical creativity in poverty alleviation. Current commissions include a piano trio for the Mila Trio at Romsey Music Festival 2018 and a three-movement work for solo piano for Presteigne Festival 2018.