Alex Wilson is a musician with a passion for the unusual, new and unexplored: a versatile pianist with interests ranging from cutting edge new music to fascinating repertoire by forgotten composers. Alex is renowned for his performances of the piano music of composer, pianist, rower and war hero F.S.Kelly: a CD of first recordings of the solo piano music was released in 2020, with a second recording - featuring Kelly’s works alongside new music by composer Sadie Harrison - due later in 2023.
Alex is a former British Contemporary Piano Competition finalist, Park Lane Group Young Artist and performer of new music across Britain and Europe as soloist and chamber musician. He has performed at venues including Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Cadogan Hall, and at the Rachmaninov Hall, Moscow, and has appeared on both BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 6 Music as a champion of contemporary music. Recent self-promoted solo concert tours of the forgotten piano music of WW1 (‘Banks of Green Willow’) and celebrating the European traditions associated with Christmas (Noël: a concert by candlelight) have enjoyed large audiences and received critical praise.
Alex performs with Trifarious Ensemble and The Sound World Group, and is a 'Live Music Now’ artist as one half of ‘Duo Tutti’, alongside flautist Ruth Molins. As an orchestral pianist Alex works with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, BBC NOW, UPROAR new music ensemble and London Sinfonietta. Alex directs, manages and performs with the Dr K. Sextet, curated the inaugural Cheltenham Music Festival Composer Academy and co-founded the music and visual arts collaboration ‘The Pierrot Project’.
Alex believes strongly in taking professional, ambitious music projects out of the big cities and enjoys performing in the south-west (his home region) with local professional musicians. He teaches piano at Colyton Grammar School, Devon. Alex studied for a music degree at York University, and graduated from the Royal College of Music with a MA (distinction) in piano performance in 2011, following studies with Andrew Ball.
Alex is a former British Contemporary Piano Competition finalist, Park Lane Group Young Artist and performer of new music across Britain and Europe as soloist and chamber musician. He has performed at venues including Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Cadogan Hall, and at the Rachmaninov Hall, Moscow, and has appeared on both BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 6 Music as a champion of contemporary music. Recent self-promoted solo concert tours of the forgotten piano music of WW1 (‘Banks of Green Willow’) and celebrating the European traditions associated with Christmas (Noël: a concert by candlelight) have enjoyed large audiences and received critical praise.
Alex performs with Trifarious Ensemble and The Sound World Group, and is a 'Live Music Now’ artist as one half of ‘Duo Tutti’, alongside flautist Ruth Molins. As an orchestral pianist Alex works with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, BBC NOW, UPROAR new music ensemble and London Sinfonietta. Alex directs, manages and performs with the Dr K. Sextet, curated the inaugural Cheltenham Music Festival Composer Academy and co-founded the music and visual arts collaboration ‘The Pierrot Project’.
Alex believes strongly in taking professional, ambitious music projects out of the big cities and enjoys performing in the south-west (his home region) with local professional musicians. He teaches piano at Colyton Grammar School, Devon. Alex studied for a music degree at York University, and graduated from the Royal College of Music with a MA (distinction) in piano performance in 2011, following studies with Andrew Ball.
Sadie Harrison is a composer and performer known particularly for the socio-political aspects of music-making with several works challenging stereotypes of marginalised peoples - refugees, Afghan women, the deaf, the homeless - celebrating their creativity and individuality with powerful expressions of musical solidarity. For several years, Sadie also pursued a secondary career as an archaeologist. Reflecting her interest in the past, many of her compositions have been inspired by the traditional musics of old and extant cultures with cycles of pieces based on the folk music of Afghanistan, Lithuania, the Isle of Skye, the Northern Caucasus and the UK.
Supported by Arts Council England and PRSF (including Women in Music and Composers Fund grants), she has been Composer-in-Residence with Cuatro Puntos (USA), Kunstler Bei Wu Sculpturepark (Germany), and Composer-in-Association with the Afghanistan National Institute of Music. Her symphonic work Sapida-Dam-Nau for the Afghanistan Women’s Orchestra (Ensemble Zohra) was premiered at the Closing Concert of the World Economic Forum, Davos in January 2017 with subsequent performances in Geneva, Weimar and Berlin. Sadie was appointed as Visiting Fellow to Goldsmiths College, London in recognition of her unique compositional research work on Afghanistan.
Sadie has recently been working on 4 large projects. Pasture&Storm (PRSF Composer’s Fund, Hinrichsen, Ambache Charitable Trust & ACE funded) with virtuoso left hand pianist Nicholas McCarthy, Sophia Benton, Tomas Klement, Peyee Chen and the Bristol Ensemble, has seen the creation of 8 new works for disabled pianists, from solos to a chamber concerto - the recording will be released on Prima Facie in early Autumn 2022 with premieres at St. George’s Brandon Hill in September. Collaborating with Alex Wilson, Sadie has written a 30 minute work for the FSKelly Project, celebrating the life and music of Australian composer and Olympic rower Frederick Septimus Kelly premiered in Southwark Cathedral in October 2021. The substantial piano cycle Portraits from the Place of the Yew-trees with Duncan Honeybourne was released by Prima Facie in Summer 2022 and was premiered in Howden Minster in October 2021. Songs of the Golden Path was recorded by the Odora Trio for Nimbus in June 2022. Further recordings for 2022/3 include Lunae: Four Nocturnes with Roderick Chadwick on Divine Art, To dear Cleg with Alex Wilson on Prima Facie and Ad infinitum for multi-tracked violins for Steve Bingham.
Sadie’s music is published by UYMP and ABRSM with works on ABRSM and Trinity examination board repertoire lists.
Supported by Arts Council England and PRSF (including Women in Music and Composers Fund grants), she has been Composer-in-Residence with Cuatro Puntos (USA), Kunstler Bei Wu Sculpturepark (Germany), and Composer-in-Association with the Afghanistan National Institute of Music. Her symphonic work Sapida-Dam-Nau for the Afghanistan Women’s Orchestra (Ensemble Zohra) was premiered at the Closing Concert of the World Economic Forum, Davos in January 2017 with subsequent performances in Geneva, Weimar and Berlin. Sadie was appointed as Visiting Fellow to Goldsmiths College, London in recognition of her unique compositional research work on Afghanistan.
Sadie has recently been working on 4 large projects. Pasture&Storm (PRSF Composer’s Fund, Hinrichsen, Ambache Charitable Trust & ACE funded) with virtuoso left hand pianist Nicholas McCarthy, Sophia Benton, Tomas Klement, Peyee Chen and the Bristol Ensemble, has seen the creation of 8 new works for disabled pianists, from solos to a chamber concerto - the recording will be released on Prima Facie in early Autumn 2022 with premieres at St. George’s Brandon Hill in September. Collaborating with Alex Wilson, Sadie has written a 30 minute work for the FSKelly Project, celebrating the life and music of Australian composer and Olympic rower Frederick Septimus Kelly premiered in Southwark Cathedral in October 2021. The substantial piano cycle Portraits from the Place of the Yew-trees with Duncan Honeybourne was released by Prima Facie in Summer 2022 and was premiered in Howden Minster in October 2021. Songs of the Golden Path was recorded by the Odora Trio for Nimbus in June 2022. Further recordings for 2022/3 include Lunae: Four Nocturnes with Roderick Chadwick on Divine Art, To dear Cleg with Alex Wilson on Prima Facie and Ad infinitum for multi-tracked violins for Steve Bingham.
Sadie’s music is published by UYMP and ABRSM with works on ABRSM and Trinity examination board repertoire lists.
The Frederick Septimus Kelly Project is generously supported by the following organisations:
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