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Performance

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Overview

I am an improvising cellist, currently working on Moody Loops and projects with Hugh Lupton (storyteller), Juliet Russell (vocalist), Andrew Christie Quartet and Bristol Ceilidh Quartet.


Until very recently, I fundraised, managed, composed and performed with The Devil’s Violin storytelling and music company where, between 2006 and 2023, we created 6 shows, reaching 29,000 people in 375 performances. 

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I have written and performed music for BBC radio dramas and various films including A Year in a Field.

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My career began in 1994, when a group of us university graduates set up Clout Theatre Co. Since then I have sung and played cello, whistles, oboe and accordion (also dilruba, hurdy gurdy and bass viol) whilst suspended on a hoist (Julian Clary filming 1995), being towed in a bicycle trailer (Kilter Theatre 2008), leading audiences through London parks (London Bubble 2002), Plymouth docks (Wildworks’ The Beautiful Journey 2009) and Hampton Court (All the King’s Fools 2011), appearing in a Bollywood film (2003), playing clarinet in a brass band in Kampala (1999), playing under Concorde (Bristol Ceilidh Quartet 2024), performing in a blow-up dome (Interplay’s Sita & Rama 2003) as well as at the National Theatre, London, Spoleto Festival, Charleston, USA (Kneehigh’s Tristan and Yseult 2005/6) and The Getty, Los Angeles (Orpheus 2012).

My approach 

I have a broad range of influences. Western classical and English folk are my bedrock but I am influenced by Eastern European, klezmer, Arabic and American folk traditions.​​


I gravitate towards playing rhythmic bass lines or off beat chords but do also launch into a solo improvisation or melody line if the occasion arises.

As a live musician on stage I love making a scene come alive through the interplay between performer and musician and the in-the-moment responsiveness to an unfolding narrative.

 

I like to make use of the delicious silence after a note or sound has died away.

 

I like to ask the question; why am I adding music to this scene/moment? Is it needed or is it better without music?

 

When composing I enjoy finding ways to subtly change a musical theme to reflect a character or narrative development. A favourite of mine is for two musical themes to fit together in a duet at a show’s culmination.


My love of live instruments has resulted in an extensive instrument collection which has enabled me to record live rather than use midi when composing. Responding to the diverse range of musical styles that theatre, film and storytelling demand has built up an eclectic mix of original, characterful compositions, many of which are in the film, A Year in a Field

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