To celebrate the selection of this year’s New Voices cohort, we caught up with all the selected artists and composers for a quick chat.

Here, we speak to New Voices 2021 composer Ben Nobuto. Ben is a British/Japanese composer, pianist and producer from Kent. His music explores themes of attention and fragmentation, often drawing from internet culture and popular idioms in a playful, ironic and surreal manner.

Can you tell us about your musical influences?

My music tends to be a collage of avant-garde techniques, jazz, electronic music, internet culture and surreal humour. I try to create worlds where everything is playful, saturated, and geared towards maximum emotional impact, like advertising. I use notated music but often leave room for improvisation and controlled chaos, sometimes combining electronics with acoustic ensembles. 

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m working on a piece for strings, percussion and electronics for Manchester Collective. It’s part of a programme called ‘Heavy Metal’ and it’ll be premiered at the Southbank Centre in early December. 

What are you looking forward to most about New Voices?