photo by Ellie Koepke photo by James Sharif
about
Zahrah Hutton is a guitarist, artist, and composer from London, based in Birmingham.
With a practice including zine-making, voicenoting, collecting, film, and making music with friends, her work often explores communication, navigation, and the relationship between form and sound.
Zahrah was a Britten Pears Young Artist 2025-26, for Composition, Alternative Performance & Performance Art (CAPPA). In 2025 she participated in the guitar/electric guitar studio at the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt. From August 2024 to January 2025, Zahrah was an Artist in Residence at Stirchley Printworks, a print studio in South Birmingham.
Zahrah plays guitars, keyboards, and objects as part of DIY, semi-improvised project body loud, and various plucked strings with theatre company A Book of Portraits.
As a member of the Mela guitar quartet, Zahrah has performed across North America, Europe, and the UK, including live on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune. In 2025, the quartet released an album of original arrangements, Overtures & Dances, with contemporary classical label TRPTK, and completed an eight-week tour of America and Canada as winners of the Guitar Foundation of America international ensemble prize. This tour included the US premiere of Anthony Burgess' Concerto Grosso for four guitars and orchestra with the Stanford Philharmonia.
Zahrah graduated from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2023 with first-class honours and the Guitar Prize. Zahrah is also trained in the Kodály Method, holding Level 8 Kodály Musicianship.