Lindsay Wright

Conservatoire graduate Lindsay Wright studied BMus (Hons) Music Technology and built up an impressive portfolio before going on to complete a Master’s in composition for film, television and games at the National Film and Television School.

Lindsay started playing the violin at aged five, then switched to the viola. She quickly grew to love playing in orchestras and chamber ensembles, but was always making up her own tunes and plucking away on the viola when she was supposed to be practising scales. Lindsay’s teacher encouraged her to take piano lessons, which led to trying out the harpsichord and playing in Baroque ensembles, and bass guitar, which led to playing and singing in various rock and soul bands as a teenager. Lindsay was writing little pieces for herself and songs with her band, but it was only once she got to Royal Birmingham Conservatoire that she seriously considered composition as a career.

Lindsay applied for the BMus (Hons) Music Technology degree because she was looking for a course that would cover all the areas that she was interested in – recording, mixing, composing, musicianship etc. – and that would let her keep up viola playing as a second study. The constant access to recording studios, one-to-one composition lessons and having a range of fantastic musicians as her peers were also key factors in Lindsay’s decision to join Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

During her time there she produced EPs for jazz students; recorded classical albums in the wonderful concert halls; recorded and mixed a charity gospel album benefitting the local Food Bank – all alongside writing, recording and producing her own work. Lindsay wrote and produced an electro acoustic album; a singer/songwriter EP; a short film score and a premiere of one of her pieces live over a 24 channel surround system, as well as writing orchestral, chamber and solo work for live instruments and tape. She also had the chance to study abroad for a semester, taking jazz arranging, film music, electronic composition and piano performance classes at the Crane School of Music in New York.

Lindsay’s ability to orchestrate, transcribe, record, mix, create bespoke sounds through synthesis and sampling, work with DAWs (and many more) are all skills that she honed while a student at the Conservatoire. She was encouraged to develop her own voice and explore ideas in an organic way, while being equipped with the technical tools needed to support her creativity. Lindsay’s teachers were extremely knowledgeable, dedicated and supportive throughout her time as a student, which helped her to grow in confidence and absorb as much as possible from their expertise.

The strength of her composition portfolio once she graduated saw Lindsay accepted at one of the world’s most prestigious film schools – the National Film and Television School – to study a Master’s in Composition for Film, Television and Games. She immediately began applying what she had learned during her undergraduate degree to the craft of scoring to picture. She was then fortunate enough to work as an assistant and music editor with various established composers who already had distinguished careers in the industry. Lindsay's career highlights so far include working on season 3 of Netflix’s The Crown; season 5 of BBC’s Line of Duty; The Feed for Amazon Studios and Netflix’s The Innocents, amongst others. As a composer, she has scored numerous films, adverts, documentaries, games and series – highlights include the four-part BBC series 21 Again; an upcoming feature documentary for BBC and HBO; The Bind for BBC Films; Entitled for Channel 4’s Random Acts; additional music for the Sky Atlantic series The Tunnel; Stan Lee’s Lucky Man and for the feature film The Aftermath. 

For anyone aspiring to have a career as a screen composer, Lindsay would recommend trying to balance developing your identity and sound as a composer with being able to write fluently in a variety styles and for a range of media. Lindsay also recommends finding other students who you can collaborate with – film makers, theatre directors, choreographers, artists as well as other talking to composers whose work you admire.