Gordon Downie studied music at York University, UK, and completed his MA in composition and analysis at the University of Durham, where he worked extensively on computer music composition. This period culminated in attendance at the Centre Acanthes workshops with Pierre Boulez in Avignon, France, and research at the Institut de Recherche et coordination acoustique/musique (IRCAM) Paris, both supported by study grants from the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust. He then completed research in artificial intelligence in the Department of Computing Mathematics, Cardiff University and gained a PhD in Computer Science in 1994, subsequently taking up the position of senior lecturer in computer science in the Faculty of Computing, Engineering, and Mathematical Sciences at UWE, Bristol, leading programmes in AI, machine learning, programming, algorithm design and complexity analysis, software design, and object orientation, pursuing research into the algorithmic formalisation of music composition.

Downie made his London debut at the South Bank Centre in the performance of his Ground State for ensemble and electronics. Subsequently his music has been featured in festivals in continental Europe including Nuovi Spazi Musicali, Nuova Consonanza, and Musica Scienza, Rome, the Transit Festival, Leuven, and the Saarbrücken Festival, Germany. His music has been broadcast on German and Italian radio, and he has been an invited composer at the Darmstadt Summer School. The majority of Gordon Downie’s music has been performed on BBC Radio Three, full profiles of his music having been featured on Hear and Now in 2001 and 2008. His BBC commissioned work, forms 6: event aggregates, was premiered by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales on BBC R3’s pre-Hear, under the direction of Grant Llewellyn, and forms 7: non-mediated forms for 24 instrumentalists, supported by Arts Council Wales, was premiered on BBC R3’s Hear and Now in 2008. His forme 8: azione - reazione - interazione for orchestra, will receive its premiere in 2026 by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and his forme 9 : aggregati - disaggregati per sette gruppi strumentali for orchestra, will appear during the 2027-28 season. Downie is artistic director and conductor of the Contemporary Music Ensemble of Wales which has regularly recorded for BBC R3.

Downie’s critical writings have been published in several sources including Perspectives of New Music, Critical Composition Today, New Music and Aesthetics in the 21st Century, and Open Space Magazine. A monograph on his work in conversation with the Italian musicologist Zita Fabbri, Reflections, Critiques, and Engagements, is currently in preparation.

Downie divides his time living and working in the UK and Italy.