Debut Discs

Launched in 2012, the series currently features 21 albums; many have achieved exceptional reviews and awards from media worldwide. This exposure has provided a variety of opportunities for the composers involved, including commissions, performances and residencies.

NMC’s Debut Discs are musical calling cards, crucial for talented composers in the early stages of their careers since they enable promoters, commissioners and audiences to hear their work.

A happy consequence of the UK’s thriving music scene is its continuous flow of new talent; a stream, no, a river of exciting new composers who are building major reputations at home and abroad. If they aren’t recorded, we’ll never get to know them properly. Who has the ability and the know-how to produce these essential Debut Discs? It has to be NMC, of course!

- Judith Weir, Master of the Queen’s Music & Debut Discs Ambassador
NMC Debut Discs

Debut Discs Composers

The series showcases the work of the following composers each receiving their first portrait album, with international distribution and marketing, and professional development support from NMC.

♦  Joanna Bailie                       ♦  Helen Grime

♦  Charlotte Bray                      ♦  Larry Goves

♦  Mark Bowden                       ♦  Sam Hayden

♦  Linda Buckley                       ♦  Emily Howard

♦  Richard Causton                  ♦  Joseph Phibbs

♦  David Fennessy                    ♦  Mark Simpson

♦  Edmund Finnis                     ♦  Philip Venables

♦  Ben Foskett                           ♦  Huw Watkins

♦  Dai Fujikura                           ♦  Kate Whitley

♦  Martin Suckling                     ♦  Ryan Latimer

♦  Ailís Ní Ríain

We're currently seeking support for the third phase of Debut Discs, which will see 8 further album releases between 2021 and 2024. Click below to find out more about our appeal and how you can help.

Debut Discs Appeal
Hear the work of our Debut Discs composers