Composing

Trios (2026)

A growing set of trios for strings or other instruments.

‘Grumpy Trio’ for Mishmash Productions

Commissioned by Mishmash Productions for their touring show, Strange Creatures. ‘Grumpy Trio’ is performed using just vocal sounds and body percussion.

Unstartled Bird (2026)

Unaccompanied SATB. Started during Storm Darragh in 2024. Completed 2026.

Carrownagappul (2024)

Commissioned by the Harry Woolhouse Charitable Trust to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Imperial College Sinfonietta. Inspired by one of Europe’s major raised bogs, Carrownagappul, Co. Galway.

Finzi Scholarship piece inspired by Mountain Hares in the Cairngorms. Classical orchestra version (2,2,2,2; 4,2,0,0; timp; strings) and potential chamber version (violin, cello, piano, clarinet). Bill also wrote a travel essay.

The Singing Glacier

For baroque ensemble. Collaborative response to glaciers, commissioned by The Little Baroque Company. In 2016 Bill and the poet Helen Mort climbed in East Greenland.

Icicle

Part of the project, ‘The Singing Glacier’. For violin, viola and glockenspiel.

Circus

SATB, solo piano, solo sop. Commissioned by King’s School, Worcester. On Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, Bill watched white-necked ravens duetting.

Particles 1, 2 & 3 (2017)

Cl, vln, vc, pno. Also in version for solo vln and orchestral sections (dbs, vlas, second vlns). Inspired by the viscosity of air. It sparkles and dances around us, pushes up against the objects we see, or swathes the night with light.

London Life

A suite of five movements for clarinet, violin, guitar, double bass, harpsichord and timpani. Written as sound-tracks for short films produced by Sands Films. Now available as a concert suite.

Lamb (Nashashibi/Skaer)

Short film by Nashashibi/Skaer with sound-track by Bill, mezzo-soprano Olivia Ray and Rosalind Nashashibi. Footage of a lambing shed from the Island of Lewis and Harris shot by Lucy Skaer.