Megan Gillett is one of the UK’s most prolific emerging composers. Specialising in classical scores with a Celtic influence, her music has often been described as reflective, spiritual and deeply emotive. Her approach suits her well to film, video game and TV soundtrack composition.
At only twenty years of age, Megan’s devotion to music composition and improvisation has already garnered widespread recognition. She has worked personally with the Ivor Novello nominated film composer Chris Roe, whilst on work experience. Megan also received a coveted place on the Sound and Music Summer School 2021, placing her in the top 60 young composers nationally. Furthermore, she was selected for the ORA Singers’ Apprenticeship scheme and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s Young Composer’s Project.
Megan is an excellent improviser and multi-instrumentalist, ensuring that emotion and intuition is at the heart of her composition process. She currently produces a weekly improvisation series on her social media, titled “Improv Monday”. Each week, she improvises to a different theme or prompt, exploring varied instrumentation and genres.
Megan was raised in her family’s ancestral home in the Kentish countryside. She has possessed advanced aural abilities from a very young age, often heard singing back the pitches and melodies of the world around her. At the age of four, she urged her parents to let her take piano lessons, marking the beginning of her classical training. The piano would become her primary instrument and the basis of many of her compositions.
While exposed to folk throughout her childhood, it is only more recently that Megan has discovered her passion for traditional Irish and Celtic music. During lockdown she picked up the tin whistle. Now with a growing collection of whistles, Megan regularly attends local sessions.
Megan is currently studying a BA in Music at the University of Southampton, where her focus lies in composition and ethnomusicology. She plans to spend a year abroad in Ireland before she graduates, where she wishes to learn how the play the uilleann pipes. Alongside music, Megan is a keen hiker and can often be found up a mountain or in a country pub.
