To celebrate five years of PRXLUDES’ work supporting early-career composers, in 2025 we launched our “5 for 5” Commissioning Initiative: our commitment to commissioning five emerging or early-career composers from across the UK, to celebrate five years of PRXLUDES’ work supporting new voices in composition.
PRXLUDES is thrilled to unveil their “5 for 5” Commissioning Initiative: an initiative run in conjunction with The Hinrichsen Foundation’s Multi-Year Partnership to commission five early-career composers at the forefront of contemporary music in the UK from 2025-28 – giving a vital platform to new voices in composition, and boosting their professional profiles at a critical time in their careers.
PRXLUDES’ “5 for 5” Commissions receive their world premieres at our prx.live gatherings, in London and on tour across the UK – in collaboration with our ensemble partners Standard Issue, and our production partners Stomping Ground.
Our “5 for 5” Commissions have thus far been gratefully supported by The Hinrichsen Foundation’s Multi-Year Partnership 2025-28 – an initiative to boost creative momentum in contemporary and experimental music. Our “5 for 5” Commissions have also been supported by grants from the Vaughan Williams Foundation, alongside being supported by public funding from Arts Council England.
Are you interested in supporting our “5 for 5” Commissioning Initiative? Drop us an email!
Learn about our “5 for 5” Commissioned Composers below…
Rebecca Galian Castello
“This is one of my most ambitious projects to date. It brings together elements that have long been central to my practice in a form I’d never attempted before. The most challenging and rewarding part of any composition, for me, is figuring out how to make things as straightforward as possible. This is certainly true of this piece. I also wanted it to feel engaging, connective and exciting. Turns out, doing all that is quite easy when working with the brilliant Standard Issue, PRXLUDES and Stomping Ground.”
We’re thrilled to announce our second “5 for 5” Commissioned Composer, Rebecca Galian Castello – whose new work Peach Fuzz will premiere at PRX.LIVE at Chats Palace, London, on Friday 16 October 2026, and tour to Chichester on Saturday 7 November.
Get your tickets to PRX.LIVE #2 at Chats Palace, London – available now!
Rebecca Galian Castello is a French-born, London-based composer. Drawing from contemporary classical and punk music, her work is characterised by layered textures, abrasive timbres and extreme dynamics. Interested in intensity, immediacy and kinetic energy, she creates highly charged musical environments shaped by collaboration and DIY experimentation.
Her music has been performed across the UK, Europe, Asia and North America by groups such as Bang on a Can All-Stars, Explore Ensemble, and the Bergamot Quartet. Recent projects include: self-released album The Undernetting; Wait in the Car for magnetic resonator piano; PILEUP, commissioned by orkest de ereprijs and featured at Gaudeamus Festival; and the upcoming Peach Fuzz, commissioned as part of PRXLUDES’ 5 for 5 initiative.
Millicent’s commission for PRXLUDES’ “5 for 5” Commissioning Initiative was generously supported by The Hinrichsen Foundation’s Multi-Year Partnership, additionally supported by public funding from Arts Council England.
Learn more about Rebecca Galian Castello
Millicent B James
Our first “5 for 5” Commissioned Composer, Millicent B James, composed Snow Sprites for flute, viola, and cello, which premiered at our PRX.LIVE launch party at Folklore, Hoxton, on 5 February 2026.
Millicent B James is an award-winning composer, arranger, performer and artist who combines gospel, jazz cinematic and afro-futurism to create a myriad of sonorities in her music. Millicent’s music has been commissioned by Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sister Music, NMC Recordings, and Spitalfields Music Festival, among many others; she was a National Youth Choir Young Composer in 2023-24, and she recently performed her new commission ‘Come Show them the River’ with the CBSO at Birmingham Symphony Hall, receiving high praise from the Guardian and the Telegraph. Millicent studied at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, graduating in 2021 and being awarded the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Composition Prize; she is currently studying for a Masters at the same institution.
Millicent’s commission for PRXLUDES’ “5 for 5” Commissioning Initiative was generously supported by the Vaughan Williams Foundation.