James Saunders

In 2001, he was a selected composer at the Ostrava New Music Days. He held composition residencies at the Experimental Studio fur Akustische Künst in Freiburg in 2003 and 2007.

Saunders' work explores modular and serial structures and uses open forms. Series such as #[unassigned] (2000–9) and divisions that could be autonomous but that comprise the whole (2009–11) adopt a variable structure, comprising a selection of modules that can be combined in multiple ways to make new configurations for each performance. His music uses extended instrumental techniques and found objects as a means of exploring the sonic properties of materials. It is “predominantly quiet, with sustained tones, often on the edge of inaudibility, interspersed with shorter sounds, all produced by an instrumentarium that mixes conventional musical instruments with a range of low-tech sound sources”. He used interpersonal cueing systems to control the way his music is structured (things whole and not whole, 2011), and made distributed pieces that allow collaborative input from others (distribution study, 2011).

Born in Kingston upon Thames, England, Saunders studied at the University of Huddersfield (1991–94) and then with Anthony Gilbert at the Royal Northern College of Music (1994–96). In 1998, he was a participant at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse where he was awarded a scholarship prize. He participated again in 2000 and 2002.

James Saunders (born 1972) is a British composer and performer of experimental music. He is Professor of Music and Head of the Centre for Musical Research at Bath Spa University.