Alastair Putt

The College has been deeply saddened by the loss of Alastair Putt, who died on 12 August. Our thoughts are with his wife Anyssa, his family, and his friends.

A supremely talented undergraduate and an Academical Clerk in New College Choir, Alastair went on to have a multi-faceted career as a musician, particularly as a composer. This included a period as Composition Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Centre, a residency at the Banff Centre, and commissions for the London Symphony Orchestra, the Brinkburn Festival, EXAUDI, the London Contemporary Orchestra, the guitarist Sam Cave, the viola da gambist Liam Byrne, and New College Choir. 

Recent work included Under the Giant Fern of Night, commissioned to celebrate Finchley Children’s Music Group’s 60th anniversary and premiered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and a BBC Proms performance of his wind quintet Halazuni by members of the Knussen Chamber Orchestra. Alastair’s last visit to the College was to play the guitar solo Ghetto Song to close the 95th birthday concert for Joseph Horovitz, an Honorary Fellow of College, in 2021. You can watch Alastair's performance of Ghetto Song here. 

A further appreciation of Alastair's life and work will appear in the New College Record.