Biography

Fergus Hall is a musician, composer, multidisciplinary artist and music educator from the west of Scotland, currently based in Glasgow. He has undertaken a range of work which includes classical chamber music, large collaborative projects with community groups, electronic work and a jazz/folk album. 

With a fairly eclectic background as a musician, Fergus is interested in the role of the composer in cross-practice collaboration and is happiest navigating the intersections of musical practices, particularly those of jazz, sound art, Scottish traditional music, free improvisation and contemporary classical music. He creates frameworks which accommodate the creatives voices of contributing musicians, allowing space for spontaneous interaction and for those involved to be on equal footing as collaborators. Much of Fergus' work focuses on the natural environment, ecologies and conservation, particularly around the coastlines and seas of Scotland.

As a composer, he has been commissioned by Glasgow New Music Expedition, Nevis Ensemble, Sound and Music, Making Music UK, An Tobar, Sound Festival and CoMA. In 2023 Fergus was selected to take part in the Royal Philharmonic Society Composer Program for which he is writing a new piece for The Hermes Experiment. His work has been performed by Sequoia Duo, Hebrides Ensemble, The Edinburgh Quartet and Mr McFall's Chamber. Fergus has also taken part in creative residencies hosted by Taigh Chearsabhagh in North Uist, An Tobar in Mull and the Argyle Hope Spot Snorkelling Artist Residency. 

April 2021 saw the release of his debut album Shores. Self-produced during his postgraduate studies, Shores is a setting of poetry by Sorley McLean for folk singer, jazz quartet and string orchestra. The release was supported by the Sorley McLean Trust.

In 2022 Fergus was invited to collaborate with artist, Mhairi Killin as part of On Sonorous Seas, a multidisciplinary project bringing together art, science, poetry and music to examine the complex relationship between the militarisation of Scotland's seas and their existing ecosystems. Fergus produced a 45 minute sound composition in collaboration with vocalist Lea Shaw and used hydrophone recordings provided by the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust. The sound work was part of an exhibition that opened in An Tobar in Mull in the Summer of 2022 followed by showings in Glasgow (November 2022) and North Uist (August 2023). The music was also released as a full length album. 

In September 2022, Fergus released Isola, an album of new music for violin and cello, recorded in collaboration with Sequoia Duo. The album features large works for violin and cello by Fergus alongside work by other emerging Scottish-based composers, Aileen Sweeney, Rylan Gleave and Sonia Killmann. The album also features poetry and narration by Alexander McCall Smith and Hamish Henderson. 

Fergus is part of the duo, Long Green Jaws alongside fellow artist and musician, Sarah McWhinney. Together they create immersive performances inspired by ocean ecologies and folklore, bringing together elements of live improvised ambient soundscapes, puppetry, storytelling and visual theatre. They have undertaken creatives residencies supported by Taigh Chearsabhagh in North Uist and An Tober in Mull. They developed a full length show, Into the Long Green Jaws in 2023 supported by Puppet Animation, Taigh Chearsabhagh and Creative Scotland. They are currently working to develop the show further with the aim to perform the show widely to audiences in Scotland. 

Fergus graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2018 with a bachelors degree in music with honours of the first class and graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with a Masters degree in composition in 2020. During this period he studied with Dr Jane Stanley, Dr Drew Hammond, Dr Thomas Butler, Prof William Sweeney, Dr Stuart MacRae and Prof Alasdair MacDonald. 

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Fergus is also active as a music educator both as a piano and theory teacher, and as a conductor with the Inverclyde Music Service supporting the delivery of extracurricular music in schools in Inverclyde. 

When he is not composing, playing or teaching music, Fergus enjoys bikepacking, swimming, photography and cooking.