In our Alumni Spotlight series, we highlight the bold and diverse practices of artists who have taken part in our programmes. This month, we’re shining a light on Rylan Gleave, a genre-defying composer and vocalist who joined our New Voices programme in 2021.
He works in experimental and divergent fields, merging classical craft with an experimental edge. From orchestral commissions to jazz-punk and dark folk, Rylan’s boundary-crossing music is rooted in live performance, collaboration and a deep commitment to inclusivity.
His work has been described as “haunting” by The Herald and “rapturous” by The Scotsman, who named him ‘One to Watch’ in 2021, praising him as “one of the brightest lights in Scotland’s new music scene.” A passionate collaborator, Rylan frequently works across disciplines, particularly in dramatic live contexts, exploring everything from chamber and orchestral music to jazz-punk with class-work ensemble, and avant-garde metal with Ashenspire.
© All Men Unto Me / Rylan Gleave
New Voices and beyond
In 2021, Rylan joined the New Voices programme, where he developed Requiem, the sophomore album under his moniker All Men Unto Me.
Written for voice, organ, electric guitar, bass guitar, drum kit, and cello, Requiem was produced and mixed by Scott McLean at Neon Fable Studios and mastered by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road Studios.
Requiem was created across both Sound and Music’s New Voices and Paraorchestra’s Musician in Residence programme (2022–23), with support from create:inclusion, Shaper/Caper and The Make It Happen Fund. It was also selected for PRS Foundation’s New Music Biennial 2025, presented in partnership with BBC Radio 3 and NMC Recordings, with support from Arts Council England.
All Men Unto Me – REQUIEM, 2025
Rylan will premiere Requiem at Bradford’s New Music Biennial on 7 June 2025, followed by a performance at the Southbank Centre on 4 July as part of Summer Time and New Music Biennial. The work was also awarded the Paraorchestra Musician in Residence Alumni Commission.
Reflecting on his time with Sound and Music, Rylan said:
“On the New Voices programme, I was able to work in the way that was best for me, and to prioritise the things that were important to the project.
The impact that this framework had meant that the art itself was allowed to unfurl in the way that it needed, and I believe this is audible in the music.
Sound and Music’s support has been deeply meaningful as I’ve embarked on this new path, and I’m really grateful for it.”
Recognition and recent projects
In addition to Requiem, Rylan’s recent output spans a wide range of contexts and forms. His debut album In Chemical Transit (2023) was described by The Wire as “a brave, fascinating, and triumphant view of transition.” The project, released as All Men Unto Me, reworks Cherubino’s aria from Le Nozze di Figaro, layering over a decade of vocal recordings to interrogate the “trouser role” and explore the transformation of his mezzo-soprano voice.
He has performed with All Men Unto Me alongside artists such as Maud the Moth, Burd Ellen, Jozef van Wissem, and Helen Money. His collaborative work with producer and musician Scott McLean continues to inform this body of genre-merging output.
© All Men Unto Me / Rylan Gleave
As a member of Paraorchestra, and former Musician in Residence (2022–23), Rylan’s orchestral commission Straylight premiered at the Bristol Beacon during the Association of British Orchestras Conference, with two repeat performances at the Southbank Centre. The piece will see its European premiere at Holland Festival in 2025. His performance of Scott Walker’s The Drift was also featured on Sky Arts, recorded at Abbey Road Studios with Oliver Vibrans and Pulled by Magnets.
He was commissioned by pianist Zubin Kanga and Royal Holloway to create Gulf, a new piece for piano and motion-control technology in 2025. Other recent works include commissions for Hebrides Ensemble, The Sunday Boys (setting text from The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven by Jo Clifford at Manchester Cathedral), and FormidAbility Opera (Song in Sign UK tour).
Rylan has also performed extensively with Ashenspire, including appearances at Supersonic Festival, Roadburn Festival, Soulcrusher, Amplifest, ArcTanGent, and Islington Assembly Hall (Perpetual Flame Ministries), as well as with class-work ensemble at Leipziger Jazztage, Industriesalon Schöneweide, and Stadtgarten Köln.
Practice rooted in participation
Deeply committed to inclusive and participatory practice, Rylan leads workshops for organisations including Sonic Bothy, The Musicians’ Company, and Manchester Pride—supporting young people with Additional Support Needs, LGBTQIA+ communities (with a focus on trans voices), and rural schools.
He works closely with Crossing Borders Music and the Rohingya Cultural Center in Chicago, collaborating on a project to platform traditional Rohingya folk music and stories. This initiative, supported by a British Council and Unlimited award in 2021, culminated in new string quartet arrangements.
© All Men Unto Me / Rylan Gleave
Rylan is also an advocate for youth-led music education, serving on ABRSM’s Music Education Advisory Committee and acting as their Youth Voice Lead. He was an Embedded Musician with Chamber Music Scotland from 2022 to 2023. He holds both an MMus and BMus in Composition from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he received the Craig Armstrong Prize and the RCS Composition Prize, supported by several key scholarships and awards.
Listen: Requiem (All Men Unto Me)
Released on 27 June 2025, Requiem is the second album by All Men Unto Me—a visceral and expansive collection of genre-defying work for ensemble and voice.
“All Men Unto Me’s sophomore album Requiem re-imagines an ancient mourning in a real, contemporary setting, scaling the broad emotional arcs of the Missa pro Defunctis.
These structures pave way for new songs, ruminating on patriarchal power systems and the conditions of transmasculinity within them, through the haze of Queer reverence and forgiveness.
Marrying experimental/noise rock and doom metal with traditional Anglican soundworlds of electro-pneumatic church organ and stacked choral vocals, Requiem invokes a great and terrible transcendence.”
This work was made possible through Sound and Music’s New Voices programme, with support from Arts Council England, PRS Foundation, with additional support from create:inclusion, Shaper/Caper and The Make It Happen Fund.
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We are proud to have supported Rylan Gleave through New Voices, helping nurture his bold and transformative artistic voice. Programmes like New Voices and In Motion empower music creators across the UK to bring radical new music to life and realise ambitious work.
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