Robert Laidlow’s “gigantically imaginative” (BBC Radio 3) music is concerned with discovering and developing new forms of musical expression through the relationship between advanced technology, scientific collaboration, and live performance.

“My biggest influence is absolutely finding the beauty and drama in other fields, particularly the sciences, and exploring how to translate my emotional responses into music.”

What does being one of Robert’s patrons look like?

Patrons supporting Robert will join him in his studio, backstage at concerts, visiting collaborators’ labs and walking the dog. They will discover his new ways of thinking about sound by drawing on advanced and emerging tech such as AI, AR and video game technology, and insights into how collaborating with scientists impacts his creative practice.

“To me Music Patron means a way of building a community, of sharing and discovering interests and passions with likeminded people, and a vehicle to focus on ideas and artistic interests over a long period of time – that transcend individual musical projects.”

Supporting a composer on Music Patron gives you a first-hand perspective on the many elements within the creative process and an understanding of the authentic journey of a composer. You can learn more about what it’s like to be a patron here.

Biography

A composer and researcher, Robert’s music investigating the intersection of classical music, artificial intelligence, and creativity includes a number of orchestral, chamber, and solo works. Silicon (2022), a symphonic-length work for the BBC Philharmonic and artificial intelligence, explores human music-making in the age of AI and has been featured in the New York Times, the New Scientist, Sky News, Bachtrack, BBC Radio, and international television. Post-Singularity Songs (2023) for soprano Stephanie Lamprea uses AI to invent creation myths and love songs, situating this technology as oracle and worldbuilder. Tui (2024), for International Contemporary Ensemble, examines AI in relation to other non-human intelligence.

Robert’s creative process also frequently involves collaborations with scientists. He is currently beginning work on Exoplanets, a set of orchestral movements developed through collaboration with astrophysicists working with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. He is midway through a long-term project translating each of the four fundamental forces into music, having composed Gravity (2020) for the Echea Quartet and Chromodynamics (2021) for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Compositional projects in 24-25 include the premiere of content, music about the Internet for saxophonist David Zucchi and electronics, PLAY, a partnership transforming video game controllers into expressive musical instruments, and TECHNO-UTOPIA, a concerto for AI-powered digital instruments and orchestra.

Robert’s work has been performed by leading musicians in the UK, including the Riot Ensemble, Psappha, the Britten Sinfonia, the Elias Quartet, Chineke!, and Joseph Havlat. He has been awarded a Royal Philharmonic Society Composer’s Prize, an Ivan Juritz Prize, shortlisted for the International Society of Contemporary Music UK Section, and been nominated for two Ivor Novello Composers Awards along with the RMA Tippett Medal.

Born in London, he read Music at Cambridge University before studying Composition with David Sawer at the Royal Academy of Music. From 2018-22 he was the RNCM PRiSM (the centre for Practice & Research in Science & Music) PhD Researcher in Artificial Intelligence with the BBC Philharmonic. This resulted in a number of orchestral and ensemble works, including Warp for piano and orchestra and Three Entistatios for chamber ensemble. He is currently a Fellow at Jesus College, Oxford University.

Listen Silicon II (Extract) | Robert Laidlow