Biography

Winner of the NCEM Composers Award (2012) and Leeds International Film Festival Best Documentary Soundtrack (2013).

Ben Rowarth, known for his ​“cutting edge polyphony” (Classical Source), has received commissions and performances from leading choirs and institutions including I Fagiolini, BBC Singers, The Marian Consort, Merton College Oxford, York Minster, The Tower of London, Huddersfield Choral Society and The London Festival of Contemporary Church Music. His choral works are regularly performed overseas, including by Atlanta Master Chorale (USA), The New Consort (USA), Fabercantus (Italy), Capella Dorestad (Netherlands), Divisi Singers (Australia).

Rowarth also composes soundtracks for live theatre, documentaries, fine art exhibitions, and short films; most recently, composing and arranging for BBC’s The Travel Show.

Rowarth’s music has featured on recordings by The Marian Consort, Helen Charlston, ORA, The Rodolfus Choir, Fieri Consort and Khoros. His piece The Short Walk of a Madman was used for the soundtrack to the silent film The Short Walk, directed by Sophia Carr-Gomm. Rowarth’s work has also received regular broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, notably by The Tallis Scholars.

Upcoming projects include a commission from Siglo De Oro for a large-scale choral work entitled The Fall, premiering at Wigmore Hall in July 2025. Directed by Patrick Allies, and with a libretto by writer and film director Sophia Carr-Gomm, The Fall will use voices, cello and electronics to bring to life the myth of the Trojan horse and the self-destructive nature of humanity.

Rowarth has also written the soundtrack for Carr-Gomm’s new film Return, which will be released in 2025.

Following the premiere of a work for award winning mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston and lutenist Toby Carr at Purbeck Music Festival 2024 (with repeat performances at York Early Music Festival and Barnes Music Festival), the 2025/26 season features a new commission for Charlston and ECSE.