Bushra El-Turk

Bushra El-Turk’s practice — spanning concert hall, musical theatre, opera, and trans-disciplinary performance — brings together diverse musical traditions grounded in her Lebanese heritage to create bold, musical narratives which confront societal norms and share unheard stories. Her work has developed a distinct compositional language within contemporary music theatre, bringing together diasporic narratives, hybrid musical forms, and interdisciplinary collaboration, and evolving beyond conventional operatic frameworks toward more fluid, trans-disciplinary forms that integrate movement and installation.

Selected by the BBC as one of the most inspiring 100 Women of today, her pieces have been performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Proms, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Opera House, London Sinfonietta, Manchester Camerata, Opera Holland Park, National Opera Studio, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Montpellier Opera Orchestra Latvian Radio Choir, Atlas Ensemble (Netherlands), percussionist Vivi Vassileva, mezzo Wallis Giunta and flautist Wissam Boustany. Her current and forthcoming projects include a commission for Lucerne Theatre for Lucerne Festival August 2026, a cello concerto commissioned by SWR Schwetzingen Festival (Germany) for cellist Lionel Martin, a commission for the European Concert Halls Organisation (ECHO) touring twenty major concert halls across Europe, and an upcoming stage adaptation of Ka for solo percussion and strings in collaboration with choreographer Wayne McGregor at the Royal Ballet and Opera. Her orchestral piece, Mosaic, was performed by the BBC Philharmonic at the BBC Proms this year.

El-Turk currently teaches at the Royal College of Music Junior Department. She has also mentored on young composer schemes including Tŷ Cerdd (Wales), National Concert Hall Ireland Creative Lab Programme, London Mozart Players and Nonclassical Associate Composers Scheme (London), and is co-director of The Alternative Conservatoire. Her services to music have included adjudicating the British Composer Awards (now Ivor Composer Awards) and the Commonwealth Young Composer Awards, and serving on the board of directors of the Independent Society of Musicians (2018–2021). She is now on the board of trustees for the ISM Trust. Bushra is published by Composers Edition and is the artistic director of the cross-genre Ensemble Zar.