We are pleased to welcome Ben Nobuto and Bushra El-Turk to the teaching staff of the Composition Department.
Ben and Bushra will join our world-leading department teaching on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. They will help students develop their compositional technique and orchestration, exploring sound and music through classical and contemporary practice.
Head of Composition, Dominic Murcott, welcomed the two new appointees: “We are delighted to welcome Bushra El Turk and Ben Nobuto to our teaching team. Many people will already be aware of their work: Bushra is featured in this year’s Proms and Ben was featured last year. Between them they encompass a wide range of artistic and technical brilliance, from Bushra’s work with Wayne McGregor to Ben’s integration of electronic music and orchestral and choral traditions. They join a thriving department and add to the diversity of interests, skills and personalities already represented. In Trinity Laban style they are also, of course, lovely people too!”
Ben Nobuto is a British/Japanese composer based in London. His music explores themes of attention and fragmentation, drawing from internet culture and popular idioms in a playful, ironic and surreal manner. He often combines acoustic with electronic sounds, and his interest lies in how processes from one can be applied to the other, and the relationship between the ‘human’ and ‘non-human’ in the context of a live performance.
Ben has previously written music for the BBC Proms, Manchester Collective, Nonclassical, National Youth Choir, BBC Singers and Colin Currie Quartet, and is currently working on a debut album. The Ivors Classical Awards described his work as ‘luminous and inventive’ and the RPS Awards described it as ‘sonically dazzling’.
Ben said: “I’m excited and honoured to be joining the department at Trinity Laban and to become part of this lovely, thriving community. There’s an open-mindedness and excitement for all kinds of music, and a genuine curiosity for teaching and learning that I’ve really felt and resonated with here. I’m looking forward to it!”
Born in London, Bushra El-Turk has written over 60 works for the concert hall, the stage, TV and live art performance. Her work has been presented by leading ensembles and organisations including the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Proms, Royal Opera House and London Sinfonietta, and at festivals such as Aldeburgh, Aix-en-Provence and Wiener Festwochen.
Her operas include Silk Moth, Woman at Point Zero (Ivor Novello Award for Best Stage Work Composition, 2024, Music Theatre Now Prize 2023) and OUM – A Son’s Quest for His Mother for Dutch National Opera.
Projects Bushra is working on this year (2026/27) include a new opera work for Lucerne Theatre (Lucerne Festival, 2026), a cello concerto for SWR Schwetzingen Festival (May 2026), a stage adaptation of Ka for Wayne McGregor’s Quantum Souls at the Royal Ballet (April/May 2026), BBC Proms performance with the BBC Philharmonic (August 2026), commission for the European Concert Hall Organisation touring major venues across Europe (from September 2026) and a large-scale opera for Deutsche Oper Am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Germany to open the new season 2027/28. She also runs the cross-genre ensemble, Ensemble Zar.
Bushra commented: “I’m so happy to be joining the Trinity Laban Composition community and the wider Trinity Laban family. It’s a real privilege to contribute to such a diverse, creative, and inspiring group of staff and students, working across both the Music and Dance departments. I’m excited to be part of such a multicultural and forward-thinking environment, collaborating with incredible artists and feeling like I’ve found my tribe. I can’t wait for everything that’s ahead!”
Photo credit: Ben Nobuto, ©Manchester Collective / Phil Sharp