Asteryth Sloane

Asteryth Sloane (formerly Xia Leon Sloane) is a British composer of contemporary classical music and a poet. They were the winner of the 2016 Cambridge Young Composer of the Year competition and also one of seven winners of the Classic FM/Royal Philharmonic Society 25th Birthday Commissions in 2017. In 2018 they won the senior category of the BBC Proms Inspire Young Composers’ competition. Composer Sloane began composing music through improvisation at the age of six and started taking formal lessons when they were twelve. Common themes that run through their compositions are those of nature (particularly climate change), philosophy and psychology, taking much inspiration from Buddhist, environmental and synaesthetic imagery. As well as vocal music, they enjoy writing for unusual combinations of instruments and the setting of texts from languages and cultures such as Basque and Mandarin. Sloane sees the arts as a means through which people can reconnect and this is the focus of much of their work. The use and effect of silence in music fascinate them, as does the use of music as a form of deep self-expression. Their compositional method is to strongly imagine the pitches they wish t