Patrick Ellis (b. 1994, UK) is a composer, performer and curator based in London. His music has been described as being "focused, intense and unrelenting" (Gaudeamus Jury, 2024), with much of his work utilising limited musical materials, small developments and juxtapositions.
In recent years, he has worked with several esteemed ensembles that include Terra Invisus (UK), Ensemble Klang (NL), collective lovemusic (FR), XTRO (NL), The Tantrum Saxophone Quartet (NL), KIRKOS (IE) and 315 Ensemble (US), and has collaborated with soloists such as Huw Morgan (organ), Alfian Emir Adytia (cello), Dauphine Van der Velphen (saxophone), Chris Cresswell (electric guitar) and Carson Cooman (organ).
Upcoming projects include a new multimedia work exploring burnout within the classical music industry for the ensemble Standard Issue, a new piece featuring accordion, an audiovisual piece for To Your Ear Collective, as well as a new collaborative work with the cellists Laurence Gaudreau and Audréanne Filion.
Patrick's music has been presented at numerous festivals and concert series across Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia, which includes Gaudeamus Festival (NL), Festival Dag in de Branding (NL), November Music (NL), Rainy Days Festival (LU), Mittelfest and Mittelyoung Festival (IT), De Link Tilburg (NL), Lilium SoundArt (IT), Sundays at The Hugh Lane Gallery (IE), AżTak Festival (PL), New Music Now NL's Dag van de Componist (NL), Click Fest (US), Sounding Here (NL), Union Musicale (IT), Mainly Slow Organ Music (UK), Kammer Klang (UK), the Frequency Series Chicago (US) and the Harmos Plural Festival (PT).
In 2024, Patrick was nominated for the Gaudeamus Award and in 2022, he was the Artist in Residence for the AMPA Fontys/De Link Residency programme in Tilburg, The Netherlands. He has also been a part of the Psappha Composing For Piano Scheme in 2019-20, the 25th Edition of Orkest de Erepijs’ Young Composers Meeting and Kathryn Williams' innovative Coming Up for Air Project.
His music has been broadcast on the Dutch radio stations NPO Radio 4, NPO Klassiek, Concertzender and Stranded FM, as well as on the US station WCNY, and has been featured on releases from Birmingham Record Company and Huddersfield Contemporary Records.
Patrick is also the artistic director of Open Union, an electric guitar and modular synth duo with composer-performer colleague Peter Bell. Described as being 'sometimes subtle and unstable; sometimes rich and dense', by Howard Skempton, the duo aims to build up strong collaborative relationships and create new works. Their current collaborators are Christine Cornwell, Wilson Leywantono, May Chi, Paolo Griffin and Seán Clancy. The duo have performed across the UK at events such as SAOM, Ealing Extranormal, AMOK, Don't Mind Control, Birmingham Modular Organisation and CODA Festival. In 2025, they co-hosted a portrait concert with saxophonist David Zucchi featuring music by Paolo Griffin at the Hundred Years Gallery; earlier in the year, they supported Passepartout Duo at Centrala Space, Birmingham, as part of their UK Tour, and in 2023, they undertook a mini tour of The Netherlands as part of the Sounding Here concert series. A new set of concerts are planned for the Autumn of 2026.
Alongside composing and performing, Patrick serves as the creative director of PRXLUDES, an online contemporary music magazine, platform, and resource dedicated to promoting emerging and early-career composers. Together with the artistic director Zygmund de Somogyi, the creative producer Georgie West and a team of contributors, they have written about more than 150 composers, ensembles and music organisations from the UK and abroad. In the summer of 2025, PRXLUDES were awarded a multi-year partnership with The Hinrichsen Foundation to help platform emerging and early-career composers through a series of concerts, conversations and commissions throughout the UK from 2025 to 2028. Partnering with Standard Issue and Stomping Ground Collective; the first of these events took place on the 5th of February at Folklore Hoxton in London, which featured a commission by Millicent B James, the first in PRXLUDES' '5 for 5' initiative. The next set of events takes place throughout the autumn of 2026 in London, Oxford and Chichester and features the second '5 for 5' commission with Rebecca Galian Castello.
He holds a Masters degree in composition from the Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag (Royal Conservatoire of The Hague) and a Bachelor's degree from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. His principal tutors have included Martijn Padding, Guus Janssen, Andrew Hamilton, Seán Clancy, Ed Bennett, Howard Skempton and Michael Wolters.
