John Cooney

John Cooney is a composer whose music has been performed by a wide range of orchestras, ensembles and soloists, including BBC National Orchestra of Wales, London Sinfonietta, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Nash Ensemble, Allegri String Quartet, Delta Saxophone Quartet, Chroma, Psappha, Simon Desbruslais, Lisa Nelsen, Gwenllian Llyr, Melinda Maxwell, Graham Caskie and Ellen Baumring-Gledhill. His work has featured in the Aldeburgh, Huddersfield, Spitalfields and Vale of Glamorgan festivals, has been recorded for NMC and is published by Composers Edition.

John has received a number of awards for his work, most notably the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize, as well as awards from the Performing Right Society, British Council, Leverhulme Trust, Hinrichsen Foundation, Arts Council and Countess of Munster Trust. He has been Composer in Residence with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Composer in Association with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the Allegri Quartet, and is an Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

Highly regarded as a teacher, lecturer and workshop leader, John is currently Head of Composition at the Yehudi Menuhin School. He has been a Visiting Lecturer in Composition at Royal Holloway, University of London, and has taught at the Royal College of Music and Guildhall School of Music and Drama. John has also led numerous education and outreach projects, including work with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, English National Opera, South Bank Centre, Philharmonia, Brodsky Quartet, Opera North, Glyndebourne, Royal Opera, City of London Sinfonia and ISCM World Music Days.

John’s own studies were at the Royal College of Music and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where his teachers were Simon Bainbridge, George Benjamin and Robert Saxton. He also undertook private study with Magnus Lindberg, as well as courses and masterclasses with Oliver Knussen, Colin Matthews, Péter Eötvös and Per Nørgård.