New interview with composer Graham Fitkin.
Recent works by Graham Fitkin include Double Concerto for two Pianos and Orchestra - CIRCUIT, commissioned by the BBC and featuring soloists Kathyrn Stott and Noriko Ogawa, and KAPLAN, a sixty minute piece for keyboards based on the central character from Hitchcock's North By Northwest.

C:T talks to composer Ross Lorraine, whose music has been performed throughout the world at many major music festivals. It ranges in style from extreme experimentalism to accessible songs for music-theatre. within what changlessness can be heard in this season's BMIC Cutting Edge Series, performed by Ensemble Exposé on 9 December at The Warehouse.

Most composers do other work to supplement their income. In the first of an ocassional series, C:T talks to a freelance editor at Universal Edition who has worked on the scores of Harrison Birtwistle and Morton Feldman.

C:T talks to composer Gabriel Jackson. Gabriel's music has been performed and broadcast throughout Europe and the USA and an interest in visual arts has led to performances at Tate Britain and elsewhere. Gabriel says his pieces are "not about conflict and resolution; even when animated, they are essentially contemplative".

New Interview with Julian Grant. Julian's operas include: The Skin Drum (winner, 1988 National Opera Association of America's biennial chamber opera competition: produced at Banff, New Mexico, Oberlin and the ENO Studio), Out of Season (ROH Garden Venture, 1991 - Olivier Award nominee), A Family Affair (Almeida 1993), Jump Into My Sack (Mecklenburgh 1996) and works for Tete a Tete.

C:T talks to Paul Griffiths, acclaimed author on new music, writer, librettist, critic and much more. His textbooks 'Modern Music' and 'Modern Music and after' are classics in their field. His work as a librettist includes on Elliot Carter's first opera 'What Next?'.

C:T speaks to Bill Bankes Jones, artistic director of Tête à Tête. The company has produced three highly acclaimed shows of new opera, and is currently developing a new full length piece with composer Julian Grant.

C:T talks to David Bruce, composer and founder of CompositionToday. David is currently under commission to Genesis Opera Foundation for a full-length opera, Push!, and has recently completed the score for leading theatre company Trestle’s latest success, The Smallest Person.

So an ensemble or player has contacted you and want to commission a new piece. Many composers are so happy even to be asked they sell themselves short. We look at the guidelines from the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters as to the fees you should really be asking for.

Paul Driver talks to Sir Peter Maxwell Davies about the role the String Quartet has played throughout his career.