The recipient of the Laurence Llewellyn Scholarship for an MMus in Composition at UWL’s London College of Music (LCM), Megan graduated last year after a BMus in the same subject.

This was the second time Megan has worked on the Piano Room, after Head of Composition at LCM Dr Simone Spagnolo put her forward for the 2023 session, where she supported rapper Stormzy and guest vocalist Debbie. This year, the BBC contacted her directly.

For the Elbow session, Megan worked with orchestrator, arranger and conductor Fiona Brice, who regularly tours with the band as a violinist. The rehearsal and live broadcast took place at the BBC’s Maida Vale studios in west London.

For the Piano Room, each artist or group performs two original tracks and one cover arranged for the BBC Concert Orchestra. Elbow performed 'Magnificent' from their Little Fictions album (2017) and ‘Lover’s Leap’, a single from their (at the time) unreleased album Audio Vertigo. Their cover was Louis Armstrong's classic 'We Have All the Time in the World' (1969), which appeared in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

A large part of Megan’s role was to do smaller tasks to help streamline Fiona’s process. This included producing a vocal transcription from a live performance and proofreading the score for errors.

For both the rehearsal and recording, I was an extra set of eyes, ears and hands to make sure as little time was wasted as possible,” 

Megan explains.

Fiona and I conferred with each other on where we heard mistakes in the rehearsal, how things sounded in the control room and where parts might need adjusting.”

I had a fantastic time, Fiona’s arrangements were brilliant and Elbow sounded phenomenal. I’m honoured to have been involved,”

Dr Spagnolo comments,

This is one of those success stories that not only demonstrates the excellence of our graduates, and the opportunities LCM offers, but how from one-off opportunities our composers can build professional bonds that last.” 

• Read more about studying Composition at UWL