SPIRIT OF PLACE

Spirit of the River - Creative tides and light reflected in the beautiful music of Frances Shelley, Stephen William Hodd and Peter Hepworth, with words of Julia Jones and more.

Pianoday was set up by Nils Frahm in 2016, and on or around the 88th day of each year piano lovers the world over hold concerts with the pure intention of celebrating this wonderful life enhancing instrument! .  This year Im celebrating with wonderful violinist from London Anna Phoebe at Butley Priory.

I will be supporting Ell Kendall who launches his new beautiful album

Im so excited to be playing alongside Ed Carlsen, a talented composer and producer from Italy who I have admired for several years. Prepare for rhapsodies with intimate piano and strings, electronic beats and ambient soundscapes

Im so pleased to announce I will be playing with Pianofield in a beautiful lakeside location at the 6th 'ALSO' Festival which runs 5th - 7th July 2019 and offers you over 200 experiences: Pianofield are scheduled to play at 15:00 on Saturday 6th July.

Im thrilled to announce that I will be playing as support for the amazing Ceeys brothers at Butley Priory. A magical evening is guaranteed.

Saturday 7th Oct 

SOLAR POWERED GRAND PIANO INSTALLATION - 'TALKING TO REED BEDS'
The Marshes, Snape Maltings
We wrapped up warm for this one, and played my outdoor solar-powered grand piano (get your mind around it!). Matthew processed the sounds of the reeds, wind and weather.

'Intuitive inspiration meets technical wizardry as Pianofield give voice to the subtle and ineffable human relationship with the natural world--from earth, sea, sky, thunder, and rain to gravity and the movement of reeds and clouds. Read More

Friday 6th Oct

Jerwood Kiln, Snape Maltings 
Using computer vision software specially written for this event, we analysed the movements of a banana tree in San Paulo where the Flip Festival originated. This data was used to generate the soundscape which we then improvise to - live!

'A live performance of raw human emotions, electronic walls of sound, and delicate piano-led melody in which one of the musicians is a tree in Itaipava, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.' Read More

March 26th 2017

Join us for a walk around the ancient site of the Augustinian monastery Butley Priory and then inside by the fire for tea and performances from  www.pianofield.com to celebrate Pianoday!

An informal but fabulous afternoon, beginning with a short walk around the grounds punctuated by poetic musings amid wildflowers. After exploring the woods and its words, we headed for a surprise grand piano installation with guest artists performing to the wind and clouds, wood pigeons and our specially invited audience.

Together with the Aldeburgh Beach Arts Club, artist Caroline Reekie and I had an informal Salon du The

Caroline showed some of her new work, best selling author Meg Rosoff gave a reading and there was piano music by myself and by Lewis Barham.

Film maker Jason Gairn (photonimage.co.uk) and I spent a week living and making this film in the Lookout tower on Aldeburgh beach (aldeburghbeachlookout.com). Long obsessed with the idea of playing a piano on the beach, when I was offered the ‘Foreign Model’ (an 170 year old Chapels upright beyond repair and bound for the skip) I was decided. I took it down to the beach, recorded its last sounds and mixed this in with new music I composed from the tower. Everyone concerned (including the 4 lifeboatmen who carried the piano down to the beach) thought it would be submerged by the high tide. It seems we underestimated the power of our principal characters - the sea and the piano - who had other ideas.

So where is the Foreign Model now? living a life of adventure on the high seas? Get it touch if you have a sighting.

Commissioned by the National Trust at Sutton Hoo - in connection with the Great British Walk

To start, a walk with novelist Pauline Moore on a journey through the mythic past of the Anglo-Saxons to Sutton Hoo's atmospheric barrows. Followed by a performance of improvised music in Mrs Pretty's house by Frances Shelley and Matthew Bickerton, in response to the dramatic landscape and Anglo Saxon legends.

Commissioned by Reverend Alexandra Wilson