John Cooney is a composer, teacher and lecturer based in London. His music has been performed by a wide array of orchestras, ensembles and soloists, including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, London Sinfonietta, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Nash Ensemble, Allegri Quartet, Delta Saxophone Quartet, Chroma, Psappha, Simon Desbruslais, Lisa Nelsen, Gwenllian Llyr, Melinda Maxwell, Graham Caskie and Ellen Baumring-Gledhill. His work has featured in the Aldeburgh, Huddersfield, Spitalfields and Vale of Glamorgan festivals, has been recorded for NMC and is published by Composers Edition.

John has received a number of awards for his work, most notably the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize, as well as awards from the Performing Right Society, British Council, Arts Council, Leverhulme Trust and Hinrichsen Foundation. He has been Composer in Association with the Allegri Quartet, Composer in Residence with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and is an Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

John is well known for his work in education and is Head of Composition at the Yehudi Menuhin School. He has been a Visiting Lecturer in Composition at Royal Holloway, University of London, an Associate Lecturer at Cardiff University, and has taught at the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music. He has also led numerous education and outreach projects across the UK and beyond, including work with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, English National Opera, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, South Bank Centre, Philharmonia, Brodsky Quartet, Opera North, Glyndebourne, Royal Opera, City of London Sinfonia and ISCM World Music Days.

John’s own studies were at the Royal College of Music and Guildhall School of Music, where his teachers included Simon Bainbridge, George Benjamin and Robert Saxton. In addition, John undertook a period of private study with Magnus Lindberg, as well as courses and masterclasses with Oliver Knussen, Colin Matthews, Péter Eötvös and Per Nørgård.