Music for Guitars, Bass Clarinets & Contrabasses

"He burrows into the inner life of sound and extracts elemental qualities that capture and convey its intrinsic dynamism."

Julian Cowley / The Wire

Thanos Chrysakis is a Greek composer, musician, producer and sound-artist. He is best known for his work in electronic and contemporary music, improvisation, and electro-acoustic music.

With several albums to his name his work has appeared in festivals and events in numerous countries, including CYNETart Festival, Festspielhaus Hellerau - Dresden, Artus Contemporary Arts Studio – Budapest, CRUCE Gallery – Madrid, Fylkingen – Stockholm, Relative (Cross) Hearings festival – Budapest, Festival Futura – Crest - Drôme, FACT Centre – Liverpool, Association Ryoanji – Ahun - Creuse, The Center for Advanced Musical Studies at Chosen Vale — Hanover - New Hampshire, Areté Gallery — Brooklyn - New York, UC San Diego – California - San Diego, Berner Münster – Bern, Fabbrica del Vapore – Milan, Grünewaldsalen – Svensk Musikvår — Stockholm, Splendor – Amsterdam, Logos Foundation – Ghent, Palacio de Bellas Artes – Mexico City, Műcsarnok Kunsthalle – Budapest, Spektrum – Berlin, Susikirtimai X – Vilnius, Festival del Bosque GERMINAL – Mexico City, ДОМ – Moscow, Oosterkerk – Amsterdam, KLANG ! – Montpellier, Nádor Terem – Budapest, Utzon Centre – Aalborg, New Stage of Alexandrinsky Theatre – St. Petersburg, Center for New Music – San Francisco, Västerås Konstmuseum – Västerås, Störung festival – Barcelona, BMIC Cutting Edge concert series at The Warehouse – London.

His music was among the selected works at the International Competition de Musique et d'Art Sonore Electroacoustiques de Bourges 2005, in the category oeuvre d'art sonore électroacoustique, while received an honorary mention in 2006 at the 7th International Electroacoustic Competition Musica Viva in Lisbon (the jury was constituted by Morton Subotnick (USA), François Bayle (France), and Miguel Azguime (Portugal).

He operates the Aural Terrains record label since 2007 where he has released part of his work until now, alongside releases by Kim Cascone, Franscisco López, Tomas Phillips, Dan Warburton, Szilárd Mezei, Michael Edwards, Wade Matthews, Dganit Elyakim, Edith Alonso, Luis Tabuenca, Jeff Gburek, Philippe Petit, Steve Noble, Milo Fine, Liam Hockley and David Ryan among others.

He has written music for musicians of the Hyperion Ensemble, the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, the Hermes Ensemble, the Nemø Ensemble, the Konus Saxophone Quartett, and the Shadanga Duo among others. Close collaborations with Tim Hodgkinson, Vincent Royer, Chris Cundy, Yoni Silver, Lori Freedman, Jason Alder, Julie Kjaer, Henriette Jensen, William Lang, Wilfrido Terrazas, Philippe Brunet, Wade Matthews, Ernesto Rodrigues, Ove Volquartz to name but a few.

Tim Hodgkinson  is an English experimental music composer and performer, principally on reeds, lap steel guitar, and keyboards. He first became known as one of the core members of the British avant-rock group Henry Cow, which he formed with Fred Frith in 1968. After the demise of Henry Cow, he participated in numerous bands and projects, eventually concentrating on composing contemporary music and performing as an improviser.

David Ryan is a visual artist and musician.  He has long been associated with experimental music and improvisation, having performed with many distinguished musicians including Anton Lukoszevieze, John Edwards, Ian Mitchell, Alberto Popolla, John Tilbury, Luca Venitucci, Gianni Trovalusci amongst others.  In the 1990s/early 2000s he curated many concert series featuring both improvisors and composers, including Bunita Marcus, Kaija Saariaho, Ken Vandermark and many others as well as concert collaborations with Earle Brown, David Behrman, Phill Niblock and Christian Wolff.  In 2016 he was an Abbey Fellow at the British School at Rome, and in 2020 was a judge for the Franco Evangelisti prize in composition, Rome.  Recent pieces have been broadcast on Radiophrenia, CCA Glasgow and also at the Video Poetry festival, Athens (Institute of Experimental Arts). He is currently Associate Professor in Fine Art at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. 

William Crosby is a composer and musician from the UK. His artistic practice incorporates guitar playing (electric and acoustic), compositions, sound works, film, performance, text, installation, and thematically considers ecologies in their various forms, from the micro-ecologies of day-to-day interactions and archives, to posthuman sound practice and larger issues around climate emergency. He is a member of the video/performance ensemble Opera Aperta, and art/geology group MUD Collective, and also teaches improvisation/sound art as a visiting lecturer at University of the Arts, London.

Dominic Lash is an improviser and composer. The musicians he has worked with include Cristián Alvear, John Butcher, Tony Conrad, Angharad Davies, John Edwards, Jürg Frey, Matthew Grigg, Elizabeth Harnik, James Ilgenfritz, Charlotte Keeffe, Paul Lytton, Joe Morris, Steve Noble, Evan Parker, Éliane Radigue, Mark Sanders, Roger Turner, Lisa Ullén, Fay Victor, Alex Ward, and Jason Yarde.

“swirling around the songs was bass clarinet player Chris Cundy, like a birdsong interrupting an argument” -  Los Angeles Times                                                                                                                         

Playing bass clarinet and rarified woodwind instruments Chris Cundy is a composer and performer with a practice rooted in experimental and improvised settings. His work also crosses over into popular music and he has worked with a variety of songwriters and groups including Timber Timbre, Cold Specks (aka Ladan Hussein), Thor & Friends, Baby Dee & Little Annie, and Guillemots.

Growing up in the Medway towns Chris became friends with artist and punk musician Billy Childish who introduced him to the exploits of homemade music-making at an early age. This led to a lasting DIY attitude and by the time he was 12 Chris had already started out as a street performer and busker. After hearing Eric Dolphy's music he took up the bass clarinet. He remains self-taught.

Also a visual artist, Chris studied painting at Cheltenham where he discovered a synergy between drawing practices and improvised music. This led to self-developed playing techniques using multi-phonics, circular breathing, exploring micro tonality and generally speaking a more tactile approach to the instrument. Chris also performs contemporary classical music and has premiered works by Greek composer Thanos Chrysakis. He performs as a soloist and as a member of The Set Ensemble.

He is also involved with theatre music, and recently contributed to an original soundtrack for Florian Zeller's stage play The Mother starring Gina McKee. Chris has performed at Shakespeare's Globe and toured with circus companies NoFit State, and Imagineer.

One off sessions have seen Chris performing alongside Moby, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Lol Coxhill, Vieux Farka Touré, Fatoumata Diawara, Alexander Hawkins, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Lisa Hannigan.

He has released three solo albums, Gustav Lost in 2016 (FMR Records), The Disruptive Forest in 2017 (Confront), and the mini-album Crude Attempt in 2020 (Pressing Records). A further album of acoustic bass clarinet compositions is expected in 2021 titled Of All The Common Flowers.

Originally from Somerset, Hannah is a clarinet/bass clarinet specialist, woodwind doubler and arranger based in Brighton. Hannah is a BG France, RATstands and DEBUT Classical Horizon Artist. Hannah is a pioneer of the bass clarinet as a solo instrument, and has recently published her arrangement of Debussy’s Cello Sonata arranged for bass clarinet and piano, with Alea Publishing.

Hannah has performed alongside musicians such as Grammy award winning jazz pianist Bill Laurance, and with ensembles such as the European Union Chamber Orchestra and the Hastings Philharmonic.

Gwen works regularly as an improviser, session musician, with contemporary music projects, large orchestral performances, new and classic musicals, as well as in small chamber settings.  Gwen has performed throughout Europe and the United States with ensembles such as the London Contemporary Orchestra, the Phoenix Symphony, Chineke! Orchestra, Plus-Minus Ensemble, Hyperion Ensemble UK, as well as acting as a founding member of Ensemble x.y.  She is a regular performer at the London Contemporary Music Festival and the BBC Proms. Gwen can be heard on popular albums by Thom Yorke, as well as cast recordings for the Stephen Schwartz musical Working!, Joanna Bailie’s Artificial Environments, and various film soundtracks.

Jack is a musician born and based in London, UK. As Artistic Director of The Listening Project, Jack is pushing himself to perform a more contemporary repertoire and invite people in to a re-imagined world of live performance.

James O'Sullivan is a London-based experimental guitar player and improvisor who employs a playful but meticulous approach to the instrument through the bringing-together of physicality, resonance, detail and dynamics. He seeks to co-create a rich, layered and engaging music that entwines the excitement of the moment with a creative, focused exploration, shaping an enduring document of the guitar's potential.

His interest in improvisation, recording and performance has led him to record and perform across the UK and internationally, both solo and with numerous improvised music groups. More long-standing groups include Muster, with Dan Powell (electronics), a duo with Paul May (percussionist), the improvising trio Found Drowned, and, most recently, LUFT, a trio with Chris Hill and Alan Newcombe. His playing also features on several releases on the Aural Terrains imprint. He has released three solo albums, feed back couple, (2011), IL Y A, (2017) and Lovely Error (2022). Recent releases include Repetition Disguises, an electric guitar duo with Nathan Moore, CHORD, with Ross Lambert, Nathan Moore and Eddie Prévost, and the eponymous LUFT (Hill/ Newcombe/O'Sullivan), released in March 2024.

Leo Geyer is a composer, conductor and presenter. He began his career at the Royal Opera House as a Cover Conductor for The Royal Ballet and is now the Founder and Artistic Director of Constella OperaBallet.

As a guest conductor, Leo has collaborated with the BBC Concert Orchestra, English National Opera, Birmingham Contemporary Music Ensemble, the National Theatre and other ensembles. Leo has received various accolades for composition the most recent of which is the Lord Mayor’s Composition Prize. 

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Leo’s music has been described by The Times as “imaginative and beautifully shaped”, and has received performances by ensembles including the English Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Rambert Dance Company and Opera North. Leo is currently working on his first major film commission, creating a soundtrack for the Ukrainian silent film Man with a Movie Camera. Leo is studying for a doctorate in opera-ballet composition as the Senior Music Scholar at St Catherine’s College, Oxford and is an Associate Lecturer in Composition at Plymouth University.

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Following his traineeship with the BBC, Leo has presented for BBC Radio 3 and Sky Arts TV and is currently creating a major TV documentary with Two Rivers Media. In addition, Leo has also appeared as an artist on BBC Radio 3 and 4 and discussed musical matters on BBC News.

Jason Alder is a low clarinet specialist and holds degrees in clarinet performance (Michigan State University- US), bass clarinet performance (Conservatorium van Amsterdam- NL), creative improvisation (Artez Conservatorium- NL), as well as post-graduate study in the application of the advanced rhythmic principles of South Indian Karnatic music to contemporary Western classical and jazz music (Contemporary Music and Improvisation through Non-Western Techniques). He is currently conducting PhD research on the sonic possibilities on the contrabass clarinet (Royal Northern College of Music- UK). He is well-established as a performer of contemporary music and frequently works with composers to develop and premiere new works either as a soloist, with his flute-clarinet Shadanga Duo, the Four New Brothers Bass Clarinet Quartet, or in a variety of other formations. As well as composed music, Jason regularly performs internationally as an improviser, electroacoustic musician, and in world music and jazz bands. He is often found performing, lecturing, or on panel discussion at festivals around the world, including the International ClarinetFests, European Clarinet Festivals, Istanbul Woodwind Festival, American Single Reed Summit, Netherlands Gaudeamus New Music Festival, Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, Havana Festival of Contemporary Music, and Leeds International Festival of Artistic Innovation. He is also sought after as a recording engineer for many classical and jazz musicians around Europe. Originally from metro-Detroit, Jason has lived in Europe since 2006 and is an endorsing Artist for Selmer clarinets, D'Addario reeds, Behn mouthpieces, and Silverstein ligatures.

Michelle Hromin is a Croatian-American multidisciplinary artist, specializing in contemporary clarinet performance, writing, and curation. She uses mediums such as spoken word, electronics, and improvisation in her artistic practice to explore her identity, heritage, and human relationships. Recent engagements include touring "A Steve Reich Celebration" with the Colin Currie Group in Japan and across the US and performing at the BBC Proms. As an in-demand clarinetist, she has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Tokyo Opera City, Iklectik, and Cafe Oto and worked with groups such as eighth blackbird, English National Opera, London Mozart Players, Fifth House Ensemble, Lisa Bielawa's Broadcast from Here series, Audentia Ensemble, and International Contemporary Ensemble.