Global Composer Project 3

The third edition of the Global Composer Projects "Café Gherkinforke" brings together 15 experienced composers from around the world with high-calibre saxophone and string quartets for performances of the project in over 15 locations around the world.

“Gherkinforke” is an imaginary café, where music creatives come together to discuss ideas, dream up projects, talk music, sit back for a moment of reflection, and of course enjoy a great cup of their favourite brew.

Project "Café Gherkinforke" invited expressions of interest from mature-age composers around the world to liaise with saxophone and string quartets in Argentina, Australia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Kosovo, The Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, The United Kingdom, and the USA to create a suite featuring 15 three-and-a-half minute pieces.

In keeping with the international flavour of our imaginary café, the diversity of styles ranges from traditional/contemporary Classical and Film music to innovative jazz fusions, experimental, and dance-hall music.

"Café Gherkinforke" follows the ground-breaking Global Composer Project 1 "Towards a Shining Light 50 for 50"

and the far-reaching Global Composer Project 2 "Emocean"

Project 1 explored the notion of a composer’s cultural, ethnic, and artistic identity through a one-minute self-portrait. Project 2 expanded this theme by contemplating and exploring the idea of basic human conditions of happiness, love, fear and grief through two-minute compositions.

Project 3 provides an open forum for composers to explore whatever style and creative aesthetic they wish in one piece scored in 2 versions - one for saxophone quartet and the other for string quartet.

All 15 pieces will be performed and recorded as one continuous suite in quartets’ cities of residence.

The aims of the Global Composer Projects are to:

galvanize, invigorate, and share compositional practices in the international community
showcase cultural and artistic diversity
foster international collaborations between contemporary composers and performers
provide an opportunity for emerging and less-known composers/performers to be heard
provide an opportunity for established composers/performers to enrich and expand their international profile/portfolio
establish an ongoing platform for the global community of composers and performers
inspire local and international music creatives
generate new chamber music works

The performances of "Café Gherkinforke" will commence in the 2nd half of the 2026.

The exact dates will be released soon.

THE COMPOSERS

Mayowa “Ayo” Ajayi (Nigeria) is a composer, music director, and scholar whose work centres on the documentation, preservation, and re-contextualisation of African traditional and folk materials. With over 25 years of experience as a music director, pianist and organist, he has developed a unique voice that draws on the rich indigenous knowledge systems from Africa to advance contemporary art music.

Ajayi has written over 100 works, spanning sacred, secular and theatrical forms, including the setting of Chinua Achebe’s novel ‘Arrow of God’ into an operatic work. Their integration of African pitch organisational systems, complex rhythms, and linguistic nuance characterised these compositions, transforming them into modern compositional frameworks.

He holds a Master of Music in Composition from the University of West London, where he studied composition with Litha Ethymiou. He also has a diploma in piano performance from the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music, ABRSM.

Ajayi is the founder and convenor of the Nigerian Art Music Project, leading initiatives that promote art music in Nigeria through performance, education, and research. Through his work as a composer, director, and cultural advocate, he continues to shape the future of African art music, bringing Yoruba musical heritage into global contemporary discourse.

Lachlan Davidson (Australia) is a musician, composer, teacher and arranger with a notable career in Melbourne, Australia. He has performed on over 60 albums, played live with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra and John Farnham, as a soloist with the Melbourne Symphony orchestra, on TV, in the theatre and in jazz clubs. His published compositions for solo instruments, big bands and saxophone quartets have been played around the world, particularly his music for students. He has arranged extensively for a huge variety of groups, for artists on TV, albums and many live performances. He has taught at secondary and tertiary institutions in Melbourne, focussing on Saxophone and improvisation.

Davidson loves creating and performing music and helping others to do so. He loves sailing his wooden Mini Quest Catamaran, hits a fair tennis ball and can juggle four balls at once.

He is married to fine artist, Ruth Davidson.

More information can be found on his website: www.lachlandavidson.com.au

James Else (UK) is composer, filmmaker and lecturer. He studied music at the University of Glasgow and King's College London, before completing a PhD in composition at the University of York with Nicola LeFanu. He is active as a freelance composer, with his music being performed and recorded around the world, including broadcasts on BBC Radio and Television. Else is currently Head of Postgraduate Studies at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance.

www.jameselse.co.uk

Samuel J. Fettig (USA) is a Milwaukee-based composer whose chamber, wind, and orchestral works have been performed internationally. His music has received recognition in competitions including those of the National Flute Association and the Heartland Symphony, and he was a finalist in the European Recording Orchestra’s worldwide call for scores.

Fettig is a published author for the Hal Leonard Corporation and a contributor to their Essential Elements band method series. An active musician in Milwaukee’s jazz community, he draws on his experience as a performer to shape music that emphasizes musical gesture, clarity, and expressive precision. His work explores the enduring expressive potential of tonal language.

Anders Forslund (Sweden) is based in Estonia. He primarily writes music for acoustic settings, but also works with electronic elements, and teaches composition online. His music often moves in a space between the poetic and the concrete: introspective expressions, but also rhythmic processes with a clear sense of direction and drive.

His work is characterized by a minimalist touch, a focus on gradual development, and an interest in music that leaves a trace. He often works with resonance and a sense of space - where musical elements are allowed to echo and reflect one another.

In his work, light and darkness often meet: the fragile and the unyielding. At times, a sacred stillness emerges; at others, a darker tension or a mechanical pulse drives the music forward.

As a composer, Forslund aims to create works that feel both beautiful and necessary - music that does not simply sound, but lingers with the listener.

Antti Haapalainen (Finland) is a composer and music theory lecturer based at the Turku Conservatory. He is also works as the director of an amateur symphony orchestra and he has made numerous arrangements for it.

Haapalainen has written compositions for solo instruments, ensembles, choirs and

orchestras.

Albert Hannemann (Australia) launched his composing career in 2022 with the Hobart Town Hall premiere of his Piano Quartet. A substantial five-movement work, the quartet represented the culmination of decades of immersive study, translating life's travails into a sweeping, "emotional rollercoaster" that marked a definitive return to the creative stage.

Raised in a household steeped in music, Hannemann began piano lessons at age four. He found himself captivated by the expansive harmonic languages of Mahler and Bruckner, alongside the intensity and drama of the Russian Five. Though he initially trained as a concert pianist, it was only in his late twenties, following a decade-long hiatus from the instrument, that he began to channel these influences into his own original voice. His music is defined by a rich emotional palette and has been noted for a "quirky darkness" and a persistent sense of drama.

Since the success of his debut chamber work, Hannemann has focused on expanding his catalogue, including a major collection for solo piano and several new chamber commissions. Based in Hobart, he balances his creative output by teaching piano, and continues advanced private studies with several notable Australian composers.

Ruth Hertzman-Miller (USA), a physician/composer, enjoys exploring multiple musical styles, sometimes mimicking elements of the physical world such as city traffic or the motion of a bouncing ball. A recent review in the Boston Musical Intelligencer describes her piece “Essence” as “a kaleidoscope of ideas coming in and out of focus in constant counterpoint.”

Hertzman-Miller has written for Mivos Quartet and members of the International Contemporary Ensemble, as well as for soprano Mary Mackenzie and many others. This spring, she looks forward to the premiere of a piece for voice and orchestra based on poems by people with dementia. She is also a prolific writer of choral music, including five educational “science songs” written for the North Cambridge Family Opera’s Science Festival Chorus.

Hertzman-Miller holds a Certificate in Professional Studies from New England Conservatory and a Master's in Music from Boston Conservatory. She has studied with Bert van Herck, Lyle Davidson, Stratis Minakakis, Ti McCormack, Marti Epstein, and Joseph Sowa. Her works have been performed at the Walden School, at Carnegie Hall, and at Jordan Hall in Boston.

Hear more of her work at hertzmanmiller.com

Paul Kopetz (Australia) is an award-winning composer and a multi-instrumentalist, arranger, conductor, and teacher. He is a graduate of The University of Melbourne, The Victorian College of the Arts, The Rotterdam Conservatorium, and Monash University. His works have been performed in the USA, Asia, Europe, and Australia. His music has been described as “a highly emotive and colourful mix of poly-stylistic soundscapes where Contemporary Classical forms provide a springboard for personal journeys of reflection, social commentary, explorations of the natural world and above all artistic integrity”.

Kopetz's music has been awarded numerous prizes in composition contests around the world. He has been commissioned and performed locally in Australia, and internationally at festivals and in concert series by acclaimed international artists. His creative output includes music for symphony orchestra, chamber ensembles of various sizes and instrumentation, strings, choirs, wind orchestra, solo instruments, and voice.

Kopetz is the founder and curator of the global composer projects “Towards a Shining Light 50 for 50” (2023), “Emocean” (2025), and “Café Gherkinforke”.

He is a dedicated and passionate music educator as well as a woodwind examiner with the Australian Music Examination Board.

Vlada Kupriyanova (Ukraine) is a composer and pianist working in the field of contemporary neoclassical and new age music. Her artistic language combines emotional clarity with abstract musical thinking, where simplicity of material and transparency of sound become tools for exploring memory, inner states, and lived experience.

She received her early professional training as a pianist at the Kharkiv Music College, where her interest in composition gradually took shape. She later continued her studies in composition at the Saint Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, studying with Professor A. Mnatsakanyan, a distinguished composer and a direct student of Dmitri Shostakovich.

After completing her studies, Kupriyanova moved to Kyiv, where she taught piano and music history at the Kyiv Academy of Performing and Circus Arts.

Kupriyanova's music has been presented at the International Composers Festival (UK) and featured in films, art installations, and interdisciplinary projects. She has collaborated with international cultural institutions, including the Goethe-Institut and HIAP – Helsinki International Artist Programme. As an Artist-in-Residence at HIAP (2022–2023), she composed the project Diaries of Hope, recorded in Finland and presented in Helsinki as part of an exhibition supported by the Goethe-Institut.

Since 2023 Kupriyanova has been based in Berlin.

Agnes Ida Pettersen (Norway) works within the field of contemporary concert music, where her work contributes a distinct voice to the Norwegian music scene. Her works have been performed by leading ensembles and musicians in Norway and internationally. Many of her pieces are recorded and released by the ensembles.

Pettersen’s music is characterized by a refined attention to sound and structure, often exploring subtle variations in texture, tuning, and timbre. Her work reflects a measured and exploratory approach to composition, with an emphasis on listening as a central artistic element. Working with an idea of music as cultural heritage, she often investigates how internalized musicality can function as material in new compositions, drawing both on the vast classical tradition and on imprints from contemporary life.

https://agnesidapettersen.com/

https://www.facebook.com/agnesidapettersen

https://www.instagram.com/pagnesida/

Pablo A. Rago (Argentina) is a composer, professor, and guitarist, holding a degree in Composition from the Conservatorio Provincial de Música Luis Gianneo. His work demonstrates a sustained trajectory within the contemporary music field, with performances across the United States, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Taiwan, among others. Nearly all of his works have been professionally premiered and recorded, reflecting a sustained and active compositional output.

His catalogue includes works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, string quartet, mixed ensembles, and large ensembles, reflecting a broad engagement with diverse instrumental formats. His compositions have been selected in several international calls for scores, including those organized by Interensemble Padova, Distat Terra Festival and Vox Novus, and have been presented within curated concert series and festival worldwide. His participation in international initiatives such as the “50 for 50” and “Emocean” Global Composer Projects has led to premieres across multiple continents.

Rago is a two-time recipient of Argentina’s Fondo Nacional de las Artes Creation Grant and has received national funding from the Instituto Nacional de la Música (INAMU). His academic engagement includes participation as a speaker in musicological research forums across Latin America.

Dr. Heather Spence (USA) is a marine biologist, musician, and composer based in Arlington, VA. Her unique blending of science and music has led her to be featured on National Geographic, funded by the National Academy of Sciences, and chosen as a TEDx editor’s pick for her talk on how to listen like a fish. She pioneered the use of underwater recordings to monitor coral reefs in the Mexican Caribbean, and composes music inspired by and directly incorporating field research recordings. Dr. Spence's discography includes three entirely original albums, spanning sung environmental messages from biblical texts with modern and early strings, to solo piano meditations, to Whale Electronica. She co-founded the Ocean Memory Project and Ocean World of Sound, initiatives that integrate arts, sciences, and community‑based coastal conservation.

Max Wilson (Scotland) is a prize winning, London-based Scottish composer whose work spans concert music, theatre, television, and film. He won first prize in the Composing for and by All Open Score Composition Competition Berlin 2025, with the winning work premiered at Klangwerkstatt Berlin, Festival for New Music.

His music has been performed internationally across the United States, Australia, Europe, and Asia, including Berlin, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Greece, Estonia, and Taiwan, and has been featured in several BBC documentaries and radio broadcasts.

He has composed scores and sound design for over twenty theatre productions across the United Kingdom, often serving as musical director and pianist.

Born in Glasgow, Wilson studied composition with John McLeod before winning an entrance exhibition to the Royal Academy of Music, where he trained with Steve Martland and received the William Elkin Prize. Selected concert works are published by Divine Art Edition and Southern Percussion.

Dafina Zeqiri Nushi (Kosovo) is an internationally acclaimed Kosovar composer and a prominent figure in contemporary music. She serves as an associate professor at the University of Pristina. Zeqiri Nushi’s music has received international recognition through numerous awards, including the Theodore Front Prize (USA), PRE ART (Switzerland), and multiple honors at the Çesk Zadeja Competition. Her compositions have been performed at distinguished events worldwide, such as Gaudeamus Music Week (Netherlands), blurred edges (Germany), Vox Feminae (Israel), and the Women Composers Festival of Hartford (USA). She has engaged in creative research collaborations with Skt. Petri-Kyrka & Musikhögskolan i Malmö, Lund University, University of London, and University of Wisconsin. Notable collaborative projects include the “Knowledge Exchange Violin” supported by Research England and the Royal Academy of Music, Vanderbilt University's “A Music in the Real World Colloquium,” Zagreb Academy of Music's “Facing the Past,” and the Israel Music Institute's “Feminatures.” Beyond her native Kosovo, her music has been extensively performed across Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. She is an active member of the Kosovo Society of Composers, Neo Musica, and the International Alliance for Women in Music. Her musical works are officially published by Donemus Publishing (Netherlands) and Magmus Publishing.

THE ENSEMBLES

BriosOrchestra String Quartet (UK)

The Melbourne Saxophone Quartet (AUSTRALIA)

November 8, 2026 at St George's Anglican Church in Travencore

Delta Sax (UK)

Ancora String Quartet (USA)

Saksofonikvartett Quattro Quarti (ESTONIA)

Finnish Navy Saxophone Quartet (FINLAND)

Vision Quartet (USA)

Boston University DMA Sax Quartet (USA)

Armonia Quartet (AUSTRALIA)

Isabella Olivia Branco Strings (GERMANY)

Current Saxophone Quartet (NORWAY)

Vale Cuatro (ARGENTINA)

Nebula Quartet (USA)

Contempora String Quartet (KOSOVO)

Kosova Saxophone Quartet (KOSOVO)

(Scotland, France, The Netherlands to be confirmed)