Adam Possener | Composer, Violist & Researcher
Adam Possener


About:

Adam is a British composer, violist and anthropologist working across contemporary classical, experimental and electronic music. His research focuses on the anthropology of music and sound, and he has undertaken ethnographies of rave culture in Tbilisi and Jewish musics in New York City.

In 2022, he founded Komuna Collective — a group of musicians, DJs, and artists known for genre-blurring performances that have appeared at London Fashion Week, Riposte Queer Art Raves, the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building, and across the UK. His debut album with the collective, Views from the Real World, was released in 2024, toured the UK and will be showcased at the 2025 Classical:NEXT in Berlin.  

Adam’s music has been performed by the Castalian Quartet, Consone Quartet, Trio Farben, Spółdzielnia Muzyczna, and RLPO’s Ensemble 10:10, with broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio Oxford. He is a winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society Duet Prize for Composition, the National Centre for Early Music’s Young Composer Award, and the Geddes Prize for Most Promising Undergraduate Journalist at the University of Oxford.

He studied Music at the University of Oxford, graduating with the Gibbs Prize and as a Student Prize Winner at Encaenia, before completing an MRes in Anthropology and Music at UCL under the supervision of Professor Georgina Born. He studied composition with Jennifer Walshe and Matthew Shlomowitz. 

He is a Student Research Fellow at the Institute for Jewish Policy Research and a Research Assistant at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, working on music and Parkinson’s. His work has been supported by Arts Council England, PRS Foundation, The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities, and the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust. 





CONTACT
CV

Education Master of Research in Anthropology
University College London. September 2023 – September 2024

Thesis: ‘Not in whose name? An ethnography of three Jewish music scenes in New York City’

Supervisor: Professor Georgina Born

Scholarships and Grants: UCL Masters’ Research Bursary, UCL Global Mobility Bursary, Sir Phillip Reckett Trust, UCL Turing Fund

Bachelor of Arts in Music
St Anne’s College, University of Oxford. October 2020 – July 2023

Dissertation: ‘The Rabbi’s Sitting Shiva ‘cuz Punk is dead’: Religious Identity as a Vector of Difference in a Musical Scene

Supervisors: Professor Samantha Dieckmann (dissertation), Professor Jennifer Walshe (composition)

Awarded Gibbs Prize for highest overall performance in cohort and Student Prize Winner at Encaenia



Employment  Research Assistant
UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London. 
April 2025 – Present

Student Research Fellow
Institute for Jewish Policy Research. 
September 2023 - Present

Freelance Researcher
The Ivors Academy, London.
April 2023 – September 2024  




Recent Creative Work and Performances

Views from the Real World - 40 min work for String Quartet and Electronics performed by: Komuna Collective, Theatreship, London 23.1.2025, Jericho Tavern, Oxford 28.1.2025, Voodoo Daddy’s, Norwich 05.02.2025, Kater Blau, Berlin, May 2025.

Music for Moths Who Like Dancing - 8 min work for Flute, Piano, Violin, Viola, Electronics performed by: Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Limina Festival, Salzburg 30.11.2024.

Short Cycle - 12 min work for soprano, tape and video filmed and recorded by Mimi Doulton, September 2024.

Time4Tea - 8 min work for String Quartet and Electronics, performed by: Komuna Collective, Tap Social Oxford, February 2024, The Bullingdon, June 2024.

Infinity Kettle - 10 min fixed media work (Kettle and Video), shown in Modern Art Oxford, January 2024.

Brush - 5 min work for Solo Harp performed at Darmstädter Ferienkurse as part of Studio Class with Sarah Nemtsov and Gunnhildur Einarsdóttir.

52ºN 20.5ºE - 8 min work for String Quartet, performed by: Consone Quartet June 2022, Castalian String Quartet July 2023.





Publications

Articles

Possener, Adam, Carli Lessof, and Jonathan Boyd. Numbers of Jewish Children in Jewish Schools: Statistical Bulletin for 2021/2 to 2023/24. Institute for Jewish Policy Research, London 2025 

CDs

Views from the Real World. A 45-minute album of music for string quartet and electronics. Self-released, funded by Arts Council England and PRS Foundation.

Review Articles

Devenish, L., & Hope, C. (Eds.). (2023). Contemporary Musical Virtuosities (1st ed.). Routledge. Tempo, (2025) [forthcoming]

Uri Agnon, Antisemitism: A (((Musical))) Camden People’s Theatre, London. Tempo 78, no. 308 (2024).

Other Publications

"The introduction of VAT on private school fees will have a disproportionate impact on Haredi families in the UK" Institute for Jewish Policy Research, September 2024.

"Music of Resistance: Warsaw Autumn and the Politicisation of the Avant-Garde." Oxford Review of Books, April 2023.

"Punk and Postvernacular: A New Face for Yiddish." Oxford Review of Books, April 2022.

"This New Album Celebrates Mizrahi Jewish Music." Hey Alma, April 9, 2024.

"This Queer Yeshiva Is Radicalizing the Study of Talmud." Hey Alma, April 4, 2022.

"‘Different Trains’ Weaves Holocaust Testimonies Into Music." Hey Alma, February 8, 2022.

"Zusha Resists the ‘Jewish Music’ Label." Hey Alma, December 20, 2021.

"How to Be a Punk Jew." Hey Alma, October 12, 2021.





Conferences and Presentations

"Kleztronica, Jewish Anti-Zionism and Postvernacular Yiddish" Royal Musical Association and British Forum for Ethnomusicology Research Students’ Conference, Cardiff University, January 2025. (Awarded best paper prize)

"'Yidden don't shukkle like that': Identity, Authenticity, and Peoplehood in Popular Jewish Music in New York City" Royal Musical Association and British Forum for Ethnomusicology Research Students’ Conference, Cardiff University, January 2024.

"Transvocality and Screaming in Brooklyn’s Queer Rave Scene" Darmstädter Ferienkurse Open Space, August 2023.





Grants and Awards

Awards & Grants

British Forum for Ethnomusicology and Royal Musical Association Research Students’ Conference      Student Paper Prize, 2025.

International Showcase Fund, PRS Foundation, 2025.

Open Fund Grant for Music Creators, PRS Foundation, 2024.

Student Prize Winner (one of two students from the Humanities Division recognized for outstanding academic achievement), Encaenia, University of Oxford, 2024.

Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust, Commission Award for Komuna Collective/Oxford Research Centre for Humanities, 2023.

Gibbs Prize for highest performance in Final Honours School of Music, University of Oxford, 2023.

Sir Peter Kirk Research Scholarship, Trinity College, University of Oxford, 2023.

Developing Your Creative Practice Grant, Arts Council England, 2023.

BBC Radio 3/National Centre for Early Music Young Composers’ Prize, 2023.

Phillip Geddes Prize for most promising student journalist, University of Oxford, 2022.

Academic Scholarship, St Anne’s College, University of Oxford, 2021, 2022, 2023.

Royal Philharmonic Society Duet Prize for Young Composers, 2018.











Last Updated 24.10.31
SELECTED WORK


1. 1 L0V3 Y0U L1G3T1 from Views From The Real World Performed at our album launch tour: at Theatreship (London), Jericho Tavern (Oxford) and Voodoo Daddy’s (Norwich) in January and February 2025.


2. VIEWS FROM THE REAL WORLD

    for string quartet and electronics  
Digesting everything from Bach to Beyoncé and Critical Psychiatry to personal rejections, the maximalist sound world of Views from the Real World offers a tongue-in-cheek approach to the digital age. Having found their home in fashion shows, raves, nightclubs, and the occasional concert hall, Komuna Collective are thrilled to release their debut album.    

credits:

All tracks composed & produced by Adam Possener
  Mixing Engineer: Toby Wood
  Mastering: Toby Wood and James Collins @ Tangent Studios
  Recorded at: Lightship 95 Studio, London

Performed by:
  Violetta Suvini – violin
  Amalia Young – violin
  Adam Possener – viola
  Gabriel Francis-Dehqani – cello

Artwork by Gala Hills

With support from Arts Council England and PRS Foundation


3. Short Cycle 

for Solo Performer and Tape
First performance: by Mimi Doulton, Darmstädter Ferienkurse 2023
Voice: Mimi Doulton
Music, Concept, Video: Adam Possener
Videography: Oliver Bradley-Baker
   

This piece is an exploration of the sonic world of washing machines. Using an electronic circuit diagram of a washing machine as a basis, I created a graphic score where each symbol represents a sound typical of a washing machine – sounds that vary depending on the specific machine. The performer must familiarize themselves with the particularities of their own washing machine to understand the score, fostering a deep connection to the machine's sonic life.

The score is formatted as an instruction manual, printed using the same printer that produces Bosch manuals. The safety instructions were translated into seven languages by friends and acquaintances. An optional video part accompanies the piece, featuring washing machine commercials from each year between 1959 and 2001, presented in counterpoint.

The score is non-linear and has no specified duration, other than the requirement to align with a washing machine cycle. 





4. 52ºN 20.5ºE 
for String Quartet
First performance: Consone Quartet, National Centre for Early Music, June 2022







5. Infinity Kettle  Exhibited as part of EMPRES at Modern Art Oxford, June 2023