About Jesus College/Our community/ People
Dr Robert Laidlow

Roles and subjects

Career Development Fellow in Music

Contact

robert.laidlow@jesus.ox.ac.uk

Academic Background

PhD in Composition (2022) at the Royal Northern College of Music, in association with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra & RNCM PRiSM.

PhD thesis entitled “Artificial Intelligence within the Creative Process of Contemporary Classical Music”.

MMus in Composition (2018) at the Royal Academy of Music.

BA (MA) in Music (2015) at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

Awards include a 2019 Royal Philharmonic Society Composers Prize, 2022 Ivan Juritz Prize and shortlisting for the 2018 & 2020 Ivor Novello Composers Awards (formerly British Composer Awards).

Undergraduate Teaching

Free Composition; Stylistic Composition; Contemporary Music; Music & Advanced Technology

Research Interests

I compose music that explores the role of advanced technology within the creative process. My work focusses on the integration of technologies such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and video games into contemporary classical music.

 

I frequently collaborate on my music with scientists, mathematicians, and engineers. Previous examples of collaborations include the Alan Turing Institute, Google Magenta, OpenAI, Cambridge Design Partnership and RNCM PRiSM, with whom I undertook my PhD.

 

I am also interested in the translation of physical science into sound. Work in this area has resulted in an ongoing series of pieces translating the four fundamental interactions into music in addition to music incorporating scientific apparatus as a live instrument.

Selected Compositions

  • Silicon (2022) for symphony orchestra & artificial intelligence
  • Warp (2021) for solo piano & symphony orchestra
  • Gravity (2021) for string quartet
  • Chromodynamics (2020) for chamber ensemble
  • Aroha (2019) for string quartet
  • Alter (2019) for mezzo-soprano, ensemble, and 3D-printed Lovelace Engine

Links

See also Dr Laidlow’s personal academic website.

Subject notes for courses taught at Jesus College:

See also the Faculty of Music website.