Sam Hayden pursued his studies in composition under notable mentors such as Martin Butler, Jonathan Harvey, and Michael Finnissy at the University of Sussex. He further honed his skills at Columbia University in New York with Joseph Dubiel and David Rakowski, and learned from Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag.
Throughout his career, Hayden has garnered numerous accolades, including first prize at the 1995 Benjamin Britten International Competition for his orchestral work composed in 1991/92, and the composition prize at the 4th Gaudeamus International Young Composers’ Meeting in 1998. In the summer of 2000, he was awarded a residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center in Umbria, followed by a Fulbright Chester Schirmer Fellowship for Music Composition in the autumn of 2001, which allowed him to collaborate with Brian Ferneyhough and Chris Chafe at Stanford University. Additionally, he received a three-year Fellowship from the Arts and Humanities Research Board. His orchestral work, Sunk Losses, created during a residency at the Akademie Schloss Solitude Stuttgart in 2002, won first prize in the second Christoph Delz Foundation Composers’ Competition and premiered with the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Musik im 21. Jahrhundert festival in May 2003.
Hayden's compositions have enjoyed widespread performances across the UK and Europe, featuring groups such as the Asko Ensemble, Ensemble Antidogma, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Canto Battuto, Ensemble Cattrall, ELISION, De Ereprijs, Ensemble Ernst, Ensemble Exposé, Gruppe für Neue Musik Baden, IGNM Zürich, Kokoro, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Mosaik, NYYD Ensemble, RNCM Wind Orchestra, Steamboat Switzerland, Ensemble Surplus, and Orkest de Volharding.
His music has been showcased at numerous international festivals, including Aldeburgh, Bath, Brighton, ‘Meltdown’ and ‘State of the Nation’ at the Southbank Centre London, ‘The Cutting Edge’ in London, BBC Proms, HCMF Huddersfield, ISCM World Music Days, Gaudeamus Music Week, ‘Ultima’ in Oslo, BIG Torino Biennale Arte Emergente, Tage für Neue Musik Zürich, Rumor Festival in Utrecht, Gaida Festival in Vilnius, ‘Time of Music’ in Viitasaari, NYYD Festival in Tallinn, Ars Musica in Brussels, Bludenzer Tage für Zeitgemässer Musik, MaerzMusik in Berlin, and the Warsaw Autumn.
His work dB [i-vii] for Hammond organ/synthesizer, bass guitar, and drum kit, performed by Steamboat Switzerland, is available on the German label GROB, while a recording of Partners in Psychopathology by the Composers Ensemble can be found on NMC. A portrait disc featuring works performed by Ensemble Mosaik, ELISION, Mieko Kanno, and other soloists is scheduled for release by NMC in 2012.
Recent performances of Hayden's commissioned piece for the Faber Music Millennium Series, Collateral Damage (1999), were presented by the Ensemble Intercontemporain at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the London Sinfonietta at the Bath Festival. In 2001, he was commissioned by the London Sinfonietta and Braunarts to create 3D Music, an interactive work that combines music and computer graphics in collaboration with digital artist Eduardo Carrillo.
Subsequent commissions have included Le Retour à la Raison for solo percussion and live electronics for the Ictus Ensemble, Emergence for solo accordion, ensemble, and electronics for Frode Haltli and the Oslo Sinfonietta, Relative Autonomy for the London Sinfonietta, system/error for Anne la Berge, Mieko Kanno, and Claire Edwardes, Impetus for solo percussion for Claire Edwardes, Substratum for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, schismatics for solo electric violin and live electronics for Mieko Kanno, Die Modularitäten for Ensemble Mosaik, Permutazioni / a caso for amplified ensemble for RepertorioZero, and misguided for four players, which premiered by ELISION at ABC’s Iwaki Auditorium in Melbourne in March 2011. His most recent work, surface / tension for solo oboe and ensemble, was performed by Christopher Redgate and CIKADA at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in November 2012.
In October 2013, Hayden was appointed Reader in Music (Composition) at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. He is represented by Graham Hayter of Contemporary Music Promotions (CMP), an agency that represents both composers and performers.
