Remembering Asteryth Sloane

Everyone at Paraorchestra has been deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Asteryth Sloane. 

We had the honour of working closely with Asteryth during their year in residency with Paraorchestra, and commissioned them to create the piece Prelude to a Beginning to mark the reopening of the Bristol Beacon.

Asteryth held a deep commitment to social and ecological justice, and a compassion for others that underpinned their practice as a composer, poet and therapist.

They studied at RNCM under Professor Emily Howard, graduating with First Class Honours (BMus) and Distinction (MA in Composition and Musicology), and were awarded the RNCM Associate Membership in 2025.

Asteryth won the Cambridge Young Composer of the Year Competition in 2016, the senior category of the BBC Proms Inspire Young Composers' Competition in 2018 for their piece Elegy for Aylan, and received a commission from the Royal Philharmonic Society for Classic FM's 25th birthday. Their music was performed by ensembles such as VOCES8 and the BBC Singers, as well as Paraorchestra.

You can find an archive of Asteryth’s music and writing on their website. We’d encourage you to take some time to explore their work and to listen to Unravellings, the EP they recorded during their year in residency with us.

Read on for some reflections from Paraorchestra team members as we remember and celebrate Asteryth’s incandescent talent, their unique creative voice, and the tenderness and integrity that they chose to live their life with.

Charles Hazlewood, Artistic Director

I got to know Asteryth during their residency with Paraorchestra, and it was a particularly stimulating year. One minute we might be talking about the existential qualities of light, the next about the moreishness of pot noodles. They were funny, fiendishly intelligent, and questioned everything in a really glorious way - a really decent contrarian.

Asteryth was an old soul. I will always remember their demeanour during dress rehearsals for Prelude to a Beginning, their composition for Bristol Beacon’s reopening. There was a sense of wonder, attentiveness and deep contemplation when listening to the orchestra perform the work they’d created that was very moving and very beautiful. That was their approach to composition, and to life.

Lloyd Coleman, Paraorchestra musician and former Associate Music Director

Asteryth was a wonderful human being and dear friend. The music they gifted the world completely befits the person I knew and loved: deeply curious, warm-hearted and luminous in spirit. They approached composing with rigor and intelligence, but above all else wanted their music to sing with sonority and beauty.

I will forever treasure the stimulating conversations I had with Asteryth during their residency year at Paraorchestra - I learnt so much from them about music, literature and psychology. Performing their Paraorchestra commission Prelude for a Beginning (the very first notes to be heard in public performance at the newly reopened Bristol Beacon) will take on an even deeper significance to me in light of their passing.

Helen Edwards, Senior Producer (Artist Development)

I had the privilege of working with Asteryth during their residency with Paraorchestra. In each of our conversations I was constantly inspired and moved by Asteryth's perspective on the world and the music that they created. We worked together to produce an EP of their compositions - Unravellings - from the initial R&D sessions through to recording the music in spring 2024. Each of those pieces is magical and I urge you to go and listen to them.

Alongside their artistic work I will also remember Asteryth's friendship. They were a caring, thoughtful, funny and curious friend and a brilliant listener as well. We shared several joyful moments from buying dungarees together, going for food & taking walks around Bristol during their visits to the city for Paraorchestra work. I am so so sad that Asteryth is gone, but I will treasure the time I got to spend with them & how lucky we are that we have their beautiful music to remember them by.