Job title: Principal Lecturer: Postgraduate Studies
Courses taught: MA Music
Specialisms: Instrumental composition, electronic music, cross-disciplinary practice, multisensory experience design
Jacob Thompson-Bell is a composer, curator and researcher based in the United Kingdom. His eclectic output spans electronic music, concert works, graphic scores, installations and exhibitions. Jacob frequently works in close collaboration with other musicians and artists, often playing on connections between music and other media. He is a founder member of multi-sensory collective Unusual ingredients, and a Principal Lecturer at Leeds Conservatoire, U.K.
Jacob’s music has been programmed in venues including Le Delta (Namur), Tramway (Glasgow), Kings Place (London), Purcell Room (London), LSO St Luke’s (London), Iklectik (London), Howard Assembly Rooms (Leeds, and BFI Southbank (London). He has written for and worked with The Vegetable Orchestra (Vienna), London Sinfonietta, Nonclassical, London Symphony Orchestra, the Debussy Trio, the Orchestra of Opera North, Ligeti Quartet, Lontano and CoMA; and artists including Matthew Bourne, Philip Thomas, Ben Gaunt, Joely Koos and Joel Bell. Commercial collaborations include commissions for multisensory soundscapes from Pink Lady and Magnum UK, through Unusual ingredients.
Grants and awards include Arts Council England: Artists’ International Development Fund (2018) and Grants for the Arts (2017, 2016); Creative Scotland Open Project Fund (2017); Sound and Music Composer-Curator (2017), Compose-Create-Engage (2017) and Embedded (2013).
Jacob has held residencies hosted by Eyemouth Hippodrome, Scotland, (Creative Scotland, Leeds College of Music 2017); Somerset House, London (Sound and Music Embedded Artist in Residence, 2013-15); and LSO St Luke’s, London (LSO Soundhub 2012-14).
As a researcher and writer, Jacob’s work has been published by leading journals, including Leonardo, International Journal of Food Design, and British Journal of Music Education. He is also a member of the Leonardo reviews panel. He has presented at numerous international conferences, such as the 2022 REACT Symposium – Reflective and critical approaches to teaching and learning of music performance (Lulea University of Technology, Sweden).
Jacob is the Principal Lecturer for Postgraduate Studies at Leeds Conservatoire, and has developed education resources with Sound and Music (Minute of Listening), and Britten-Pears Foundation (Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra iPad app 2013). Jacob has also lectured and delivered workshops for students at conservatoires around the UK, and in Austria, The Netherlands, Iceland, Sweden and China.
