Philip Lawton is a composer living and working in Berlin. He specialises in writing for choir, and is particularly interested in the use of space in music, inspired by composers of the Renaissance and Baroque.
He studied in London with Roger Redgate, and at Durham University with Fabrice Fitch and Martyn Harry. In 2013, his piece “THERE IS NO SOLACE THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON A LONG TIME” was selected as one of three winning submissions in the London Sinfonietta’s R.S.V.P. Call for Works.
Recent commissions include “Isolation”, inspired by the plight of choirs during the Covid-19 pandemic, is the world’s first piece written to be performed live online with commercially-available videoconferencing software. His “Five Vesper Motets” were premiered in 2019, as part of a new version of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 (DE: Marienvesper).
Alongside his composition, he is active as a choral conductor and chorusmaster. He has made instrumental arrangements for Deutsche Oper Berlin and Berlin Philharmonic Education, and the vocal score of a new opera for Bayerische Staatsoper.