ABOUT RU
ABOUT RUFUS
Rufus Isabel Elliot is a composer and musician originally from Tower Hamlets, living now in Skye.
Rufus has written funerary music for doomed spaceships and orchestral music about rotting seaweed. It cares about honesty and openness. Its work is concerned with testimony, the conditions in which one speaks out, and how those stories are passed on.
Its music is ‘fluid and ambitious’ (The Wire), ‘stunningly intimate’ (The Quietus), and 'achingly fragile' (The Scotsman).
Since coming ashore a few years ago, Rufus has worked with the likes of The Night With…, sound festival scotland, Red Note Ensemble, The Riot Ensemble, Magnetic North, Knockvologan Studies, ATLAS Arts, Drake Music, and the Nevis Ensemble. Rufus was a Sound and Music Composer-Curator in 2020, and trained in workshop facilitation with Tempting Failure during the coronavirus lockdown.
Rufus' newly commissioned work for upper strings was performed by the BBC SSO and Mayaan Franco at Tectonics 2023.
Rufus’ first album A/am/ams (come ashore, turn over), was released in 2021 in collaboration with Glasgow tape label GLARC, documenting its one-act chamber piece commissioned by OVER / AT. Its second album, Three sexual pieces for solo violin (this and this and this) was released in 2022.
In addition, Rufus produces OVER / AT, a trans, non-binary, and gender-diverse music-making world, which encompasses live touring projects, recording projects, workshops, and more. The first OVER / AT E.P. was released in 2021 – FOLKS' SONGS – and OVER / AT #1 was shortlisted for a Scottish Award for New Music.
Rufus completed a masters degree in composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, studying with David Fennessy. Its postgraduate studies were supported by the EMI Sound Foundation and by a postgraduate scholarship from the RCS Trust. In 2017, Rufus graduated from the University of Oxford with first class honours.
Photo by Jordan of LiveLoveRun
