Taking place from 27–29 October in Aberdeen, the Composers' Lab offers an intensive opportunity for four emerging Scotland-based composers to develop their work alongside internationally acclaimed Canadian string quartet Quatuor Bozzini.
Known for their original voice and strong advocate in new, experimental and classical music since 1999, Quatuor Bozzini will lead three days of workshops focused on writing for strings. Participants will receive dedicated feedback as they refine nearly completed works, developing both their technical skills and creative ideas in an open, collaborative environment.
The Lab will culminate in a public sharing on Thursday 29 October, where audiences can hear the works in progress performed as part of soundfestival 2026.
Congratulations to this year's selected composers. We look forward to welcoming them to Aberdeen this October and sharing the results of their exciting creative collaboration.
Aidan Lochrin (they/them)
Aidan Lochrin is a sound artist, composer, and experimental musician based between Glasgow & Edinburgh. Their work is heavily steeped in improvisation and the drone, and they are deeply fascinated with the sonic ontology of place, the disintegration of the self in the modern world, and the reflection of stasis in the environmental. This revolves around producing long-form sonic & visual material - often realized through the process of live improvisation to ensure that the idea of temporality survives within any work, as well as involving taking recorded material and running it through ‘disintegration’ processes; to create intense and unique audiovisual textures.With a love of reading, weird films, and good coffee, Aidan currently lives in Edinburgh with their cat, Misty, as well as far too many houseplants.
I'm most excited about coming up to collaborate with the incredibly talented players of Quatuor Bozzini, being in a space of open exploration to create some interesting sounds. Being able to open a dialogue with the players and the other composers to try things out is exciting – and despite being a string player myself for many years, this will be my first time writing for a string ensemble in any meaningful capacity!
Darlene Zarabozo (she/her)
Darlene Zarabozo is a Cuban-American composer and musician based in Glasgow. Inspired by glimpses of vulnerability, rumination, and deep-seated emotions, Darlene's music is an amalgamation of her own voice, electronics, instrumentals, and improvisation. Although her work often leans towards electroacoustic and contemporary composition, Darlene also explores various genres under the alias Misread as well as with her indie-pop band Sister Maps.
I'm looking forward to working with Quatuor Bozzini in creating a new piece that reflects my love for strings and unstable sounds.
Kristain Rasmussen (he/him)
Kristain is a Composer, Conductor and Music Director based in Aberdeen. He is the cofounder of Aberdeen’s latest new music group ‘Ensemble Haar’ alongside Lliam Paterson. Currently Kristain is studying a PhD at The University of Aberdeen, studying with Dr John De Simone and Dr Jonathan Hicks, working on researching empathy machines and their use for contemporary machines. Kristain has had works premiered across Scotland - and has worked closely with sound for a number of years - , the Netherlands, Northern Ireland and New York and has been a part of a delegation team representing Scotland at UNM Finland 2025.
I am very excited to work with Quatuor Bozzini, they are world class musicians with an extreme passion for contemporary music and experimentation. As a composer, I love working with a string quartet as a musical force. The range of colours, timbres and the range of extended techniques create the perfect toolbox for a composer.
Lucy Callen (she/her)
Lucy Callen is a composer-conductor based in Scotland. Lucy’s work for voice, theatre and dance, chamber ensemble, and larger orchestral forces often reimagines medieval material, early music and folksong. She is completing her practice-based PhD in Composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and through a portfolio of new works, Lucy is looking at the intersection of music and ecology.
Lucy is co-founder and Music Director of Sing Porty. Lucy has previously been Music Director of CoMA (Contemporary Music for All) Sussex Ensemble, City Wind Orchestra, One Tree Hill Choir and Harrow Youth Philharmonic and has conducted the West of England Youth Orchestra, Horsham Symphony Orchestra, Bloomsbury Music Festival’s GoodEnsemble, and assistant conducted the Scottish Ensemble, Ensemble Resonanz, Trondheim Soloists and the PLMF Music Trust.
Lucy works closely with the musicians she writes for and often collects material through creative workshops that she devises and conducts. Thrilled to spend three days in Aberdeen with the quartet, this is one of the reasons she is so looking forward to working with Quatuor Bozzini and to be setting out on this opportunity with soundfestival 2026.
This opportunity is part of sound’s soundcreators programme focusing on nurturing creative talent. soundcreators is currently funded by Creative Scotland, Aberdeen City Council, the Hinrichsen Foundation, the William Syson Foundation and through the PRS Foundation’s Development Network fund supported by PPL.
This particular opportunity is in addition funded by The Garrick Charitable Trust.
