Saurabh Shivakumar is a composer, guitarist and improviser whose work moves between notated music, free improvisation and live electronics. Born in India and raised in Singapore, he lives in London, where his practice centres on listening as a shared, embodied act: feedback systems built from electric guitar, modular synthesis and the room itself, in which performers, sound and space shape one another in real time. With singer and electronic musician Anastasija Stanojevic he forms the improvising duo Red on Gold. A PhD candidate and Manson Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music, he researches experimental, improvised and electronic practices within composition. His music has been performed by Riot Ensemble and The Hermes Experiment, and he has collaborated with choreographers Adhya Shastry and Jessica Ridge, Neil Luck and Ushara Dilrukshan. He has performed at LSO St Luke‘s, Music We’d Like to Hear and the 840 Series, and won The Musicians' Company Priaulx Rainier Composition Prize in 2026.

Last updated October 2026