Robin Haigh is a composer from London. In 2017, he became one of the youngest ever recipients of a British Composer Award for his recorder quintet, In Feyre Foreste, at the age of 24. His opera, The Man Who Woke Up, was premiered in London in 2015, and went on to receive further performances in 2016 with Thompson Street Opera Company in Louisville, with additional performances planned for 2019 in Chicago. Other theatrical works include his 1936 for two narrators and large ensemble, commissioned by East London Music Group, and the site-specific Die Nächte in Berlin for the Art of Chaos Festival in the basement of Shoreditch Town Hall. Much of his work has involved writing for historical and lesser-used instruments, having received performances from Elizabeth Kenny (lute), Tabea Debus (recorder), and Duo Ex Libris (quarter-tone pianos). His piece Zorthern for Luke Carver Goss (accordion) and the Royal Northern Sinfonia was premiered in January 2018, and features on a release by NMC Recordings.
Robin studied at Goldsmiths University of London with Dmitri Smirnov, and then at the Royal Academy of Music with Edmund Finnis and David Sawer. While at the Academy, he was awarded the Eric Coates Prize for his orchestral piece Movado, and participated in lessons and masterclasses with Magnus Lindberg, Bent Sorensen, Oliver Knussen, Judith Weir, and Michael Finnissy. He has been selected for the London Symphony Orchestra’s Soundhub scheme, the PRS Accelerate scheme, and Sound and Music’s Next Wave 2.