Music Director, CoMA London Ensemble

CoMA London is CoMA’s resident ensemble in the capital. It is a mixed ability group of about 25 musicians – including strings, woodwind, brass, percussion and piano – who are passionate about making and supporting new music. We take inclusivity very seriously and have a range of ages, experiences and musical abilities in the ensemble. You will need to design repertoire and rehearsals to keep very good players interested while supporting all musicians to perform to their best.

The ensemble performs three or four concerts a year and often works directly with the composers. Recent collaborations have included Edward Nesbit, Lloyd Coleman, Heloise Werner and nonclassical associate composers. We have performed at venues such as Iklectik, King’s Place and St John’s Smith Square, and have appeared at national festivals.

The aim is always to create a compelling event that excites and challenges our audience. This requires a mix of high expectations, careful allocation of parts, energetic rehearsals and clear direction on what and how to improve.

We have two composers in residence in the ensemble every year, undertake projects with student composers and support more established composers to write for amateur groups. You will need excellent communication skills to motivate the next generation of composers and give feedback with diplomacy.

You will have a lot of opportunity to explore creative programmes. Alongside our usual rehearsals we will often have workshops on improvisation and group composing, and we run evenings in which members have the opportunity to try out their own compositional ideas with the ensemble.

Job details

Rehearsals
Every Tuesday 7pm-9.15pm during term times (35-40 rehearsals each year)

Location
Queen Mary University, Mile End, London, E1 4NS

Pay
£110 per rehearsal
£300 per concert (expect 3 a year)
£200 termly admin fee (3 a year)

Job to begin
September 2025

Job duration
Permanent contract, with a minimum term of one year