EUCHAR
GRAVINA

Euchar Gravina (b. 1994) is a composer and artistic director from Malta based in London. His compositions, performed at international festivals and venues, span pieces for soloists and chamber ensembles to choral and orchestral works, as well as compositions featuring electronics. Euchar holds the position of Artistic Director at St John’s Waterloo and Waterloo Festival.

Recent commissions and projects include works recorded and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, a released set of three orchestral pieces with fixed audio for the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, a piece for GBSR Duo (George Barton and Siwan Rhys), a chamber orchestra work for Aldeburgh Festival, a touring opera for children for Teatru Malta (in collaboration with Three Palaces Festival), an interactive dance-theatre piece for Valletta 2018 (European Capital City of Culture) and a concerto for Teatru Manoel and the Valletta International Baroque Festival. Performances of his music have also been given by Christ Church Cathedral Choir (Oxford), Psappha Ensemble, Chroma and mezzo-soprano Marvic Monreal and pianist Gabi Sultana. Upcoming compositions include a work for Southbank Sinfonia and a piece for strings.

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The recipient of the special jury prize at the APS National Composition Competition (2012), Euchar was the composer-in-residence with the young ensembles at Sage Gateshead (2017/18) and a Britten Pears Young Artist (2019/22), ahead of performances at Aldeburgh Festival 2022. He was also awarded a place on the Peter Reynolds Composition Studio 2020/1, as part of the Vale of Glamorgan Festival, working with Solem Quartet and Magnard Ensemble. Similarly, he participated in the Dartington Summer School and Festival, led by Larry Goves and Juliet Fraser, alongside the House of Bedlam. His choral work ‘Soneto XIII’, in memory of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, has received multiple performances in the UK and his score to the documentary ‘Children of the Underground’ has travelled between museums in Malta and the Netherlands.

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Euchar was appointed Artistic Director at St John’s Waterloo in 2019, ahead of a redevelopment project which has transformed the venue into an accessible and inclusive hub for arts and the community. At St John’s, Euchar has built and led several creative projects including residencies, concert series, heritage, educational and outreach programmes as well as residencies. He has forged strategic partnerships between St John’s and Accumulate (the Art School for Homeless People), the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Group society of artists and Streetwise Opera, amongst several others, and attracted the support of Arts Council England, Historic England and the Foyle Foundation.

Alongside being the Director of The Daphne Festival, Euchar has also curated exhibitions that bring the arts and social justice together, including ‘Banned by Beijing’, featuring artists facing transnational repression, and ‘Loving Earth’, a community-textile project focused on climate action. Euchar is Artistic Director at Waterloo Festival, an annual summer arts and community festival in the heart of London which draws inspiration from and celebrates the local neighbourhood. He is also the curator and administrator of Simon Bainbridge, an online archive celebrating the late composer’s work.

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Following studies in piano and organ, Euchar read composition at the Royal Academy of Music (London) with Simon Bainbridge and Edmund Finnis and participated in masterclasses and lessons with Oliver Knussen, Bent Sørensen, Magnus Lindberg and Judith Weir, amongst others. At the Academy, Euchar also took classes in choral conducting with Patrick Russill.

Euchar sings with the London Symphony Chorus, is a London Symphony Orchestra Soundhub Associate and is a member of PEN Malta. He is also a private music tutor.

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Over the years, Euchar has been generously supported by the Janatha Stubbs Foundation, the BOV Joseph Calleja Foundation, Arts Council Malta and is a recipient of Arts Scholarship, financed by the Government of Malta.