Biography
Erin Thomson (b. 2000) is a Scottish composer from the outskirts of Glasgow whose work has been performed by renowned orchestras Britten Sinfonia and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Martyn Brabbins. She was awarded the Musicians’ Company Silver Medal in 2022 at their installation dinner in Goldsmiths Hall, London and was commissioned by the Malamatina Quartet, premiered with the Glasgow Barons in March 2023. This was kindly supported by the PRS Foundation's Open Fund and included concert tours and recording projects in the UK and Canada.
Erin thrives for education and community outreach projects. This passion was sparked by her participation in Sir James MacMillan's Cumnock Tryst Festival, supporting Advanced Higher pupils to create their own compositions which were publicly performed by Mr McFalls Chamber. Erin was selected as one of the participating composers on the Engaged Composer Professional Development opportunity with Sound and Red Note, where she worked alongside 6 other UK based composers to enhance their knowledge and skillset and further curate their own community project in early 2022. Maintaining a close relationship with both Sound and Red Note, Erin has continued to work alongside the individual organisations in numerous of their outreach programmes, supporting their work across Aberdeen, Methil and Edinburgh. Erin has now utilised the skills learnt in this course having now spearheaded a Primary School composition project for the City of Edinburgh Council, supporting pupils to curate their own compositions inspired by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. She has been commissioned by Sound Scotland and CoMA to compose a new graphic score for the Get Creative Youth Orchestra, to be premiered at CoMA Festival in March 2024.
Alongside her achievements with the BBC SSO and the Musicians’ Company, Erin was also awarded first prize for the 2021 Walter and Dinah Wolfe Memorial Composition Award for her work ‘Linger to Sea’ and she is the 2022 recipient of the Kimie Composition Prize, where she composed a new work, “The Graceful Art of Walking on Stilts” for the Campus Trio with support from Live Music Now and the Kimie Trust. This piece brought together her passions for composition and community work and was composed for children with additional support needs. Erin’s work has been performed across Scotland, in the prestigious Glasgow City Halls, Edinburgh's Usher Hall, in Aberdeen, St Andrews and Orkney. Erin's work has also received international acclaim, having collaborated with soprano Stephanie Lamprea to create “Dúthchas” which was performed at Roulette Intermedium in New York City in 2022. Erin was on the Cheltenham Music Festival's Composer Academy in Summer 2023 and worked with the Britten Sinfonia on their Opus 1 scheme, where they premiered her work "Three Miniatures" for bassoon, trumpet and celesta in September 2023 in Cambridge.
Erin has obtained both a first-class honours degree with an endorsement of Music Education with Distinction, and a Masters in Music in Composition from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under the tutelage of Dr. Linda Buckley and Dr. Colin Broom respectively. Graduating in July 2023, Erin’s Masters degree was kindly supported by the Scottish International Education Trust, the Cross Trust, the Caird Trust and an RCS Scholarship.