Born in New-York, Leyla McCalla is a classically-trained cellist, banjo and guitar player of Haitian descent. After years of freelancing and teaching the cello, the musician’s decision to move to New Orleans, Louisiana in 2010 proved decisive for her career. The outcome of five years of research and financed through a very ... [Continue Reading]
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Richard Anthony Jay: Written in the Ground
A British sound engineer and record producer, Richard Anthony Jay has also been discreetly ploughing his own furrow as a modern classical composer since 2009. After working in London for more than twenty years in the pop music and advertising industry producing and writing for other artists, the musician relocated to rural ... [Continue Reading]
Piers Faccini & Vincent Ségal: Songs of Time Lost
Being the descendant of Italian, Irish, Ashkenazi and Gypsy immigrants, I don’t have a big claim to represent British or Irish Folk traditions any more than I do those of West Africa but what I do feel I can stake a claim to is the right to blend styles just as my blood has been blended with the trace of so many different ... [Continue Reading]
Stefano Guzzetti: Ensemble
Having worked extensively on electronic and ambient soundscapes in previous projects, modern classical Italian pianist Stefano Guzzetti has signalled a renewed interest for a more simple and acoustic sound in recent times. Releasing his first solo piano collection At Home - Piano Book Vol.I on Home Normal in 2014, the musician ... [Continue Reading]
Erik Satie et les Nouveaux Jeunes Version 2
Modern classical composer Max Richter’s introduction to “Erik Sleeping”, his “recomposition” of Erik Satie’s “Gnossienne n°1” for the newly released Erik Satie & les Nouveaux Jeunes - Version 2 on Arbouse Recordings (2015) perhaps epitomises best the overall spirit of the project: I learnt to perform the score backwards and ... [Continue Reading]
Keaton Henson: Romantic works
Perhaps echoing Hans Christian Andersen’s adage that “when words fail, music speaks”, English folk singer, poet and visual artist Keaton Henson released last year a surprise but nonetheless splendid all-instrumental album of piano and cello-based compositions following two previous collection of songs, the self-released [amazon ... [Continue Reading]
Birds on a Wire
Birds on a Wire is an enchanting voice and cello duo formed by French-American singer Rosemary Standley (with multinational France-based alt-folk band Moriarty) and young Brazilian singer, songwriter and cellist Dominique Pinto aka Dom la Nena. Initiated by Rosemary Standley in 2011 as “Rosemary’s Songbook”, the project evolved ... [Continue Reading]