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Veryan Weston

About Me

VERYAN WESTON - PIANIST

Born in 1950, moved from Cornwall to London in 1972 and began playing as a freelance jazz pianist as well as developing as an improviser at Little Theatre Club.

1975 – 85: Residency & fellowship for Digswell Arts Trust (Hertfordshire). Activities included: ~ Work on written theoretical material, commissioned by The Digswell Arts Trust. ~ Co-ordinating music workshops, supported by Eastern Arts Association. ~ Co-founded and composed for young local group - Stinky Winkles, voted ‘Young Musician of 1979’ by Greater London Arts Association and won first prizes in France, Spain and Poland. ~ Collaborations with Lol Coxhill, music for Derek Jarman Film. First released recordings.

Throughout 1980s and early 90s worked with Eddie Prévost Quartet, Trevor Watts’ Moiré Music and Lol Coxhill and Phil Minton. Major festivals have included Zurich, Berlin, Nickelsdorf, Karlsruhr, Warsaw, Wroclaw, San Sebastian, Bombay, Vancouver, Nancy, Aukland, Nevers, Washington, Lille, Houston, Le Mans, Strasbourg, Bologna and Victoriaville.

ENSEMBLE PROJECTS WITH PHIL MINTON HAVE BEEN: ~ Duo – Ways, Ways Past, and….Past – diverse songs, originals & improvisation structures.

~ Songs from a Prison Diary – French commission for 25 singers (Cardew comp. Prize 1991).

~ Naming the Animals – a quartet with Lianne Carol and Ian Shaw, words by Adrian Mitchell.

~ Mouthfull of ecstasy – with John Butcher, Roger Turner, texts from Joyce’s Finnegans wake.

~ Makhno – for chamber choir – commissioned by Taktlos Festival 1997.

~ 4Walls – a quartet with Luc Ex and Michael Vatcher.

~ 'Ways for an Orchestra'. Orchestral arrangements of selected 'Ways' material. Commissioned and recorded by AngelicA - Bologne (Italy)

ENSEMBLE PROJECTS WITH TREVOR WATTS HAVE BEEN:

'Dialogues' ongoing duet improvisations have been described by Sara Villa as “Growing together as masters of the British free jazz scene….” and has included several CD releases

~ Quantum Illusion project with Watts includes theexplrations of their duets using a keystation.

~ 'Dialogues with Strings' (including cellist - Hannah Marshall and violinist - Alison Blunt)

~ 'The Real Intention' - a quartet that includes Mark Sanders (drums) and John Edwards (double bass) recorded in London 2019

OTHER COLLABORATIONS HAVE BEEN WITH:

~ Caroline Kraabel – duets that explore acoustic phenomena related to two instruments and how these sounds interact in specific acoustic spaces.

~ Jon Rose - improvisations using different acoustic keyboards and violins with selected tunings derived from science, history and the imagination.

~ Hugh Metcalfe - Films by Hugh, images of objects, animals, humans, holidays, journeys, unfold, transform, collide and provide the basis for accompanying duet improvisations.

~ Satoko Fukuda & Hannah Marshall - “Trio of Uncertainty”. Richard Barrett writes “Almost all the ingredients of classical (and 'modern') chamber music are there ..... completely and naturally incorporated within an improvisational mode of composition”

~ Luc Ex - Sol6 – Songs and Improvisations with Ingrid Laubrock, Hannah Marshall, Mandy Drummond and Tony Buck.

~ Hannah Marshall & Ingrid Laubrock - Haste – a highly interactive trio – a 1st CD recording to be soon released by EMANEM.

CURRENT PERSONAL PROJECTS ARE:

~ Tessellations I for solo piano, supported by Peter Whittingham Foundation. 1. TonArt Festival (for Swiss Radio in Basle), 2. Bordeaux, and talk to undergraduates at Bordeaux University Maths Faculty, 3. Brussels Museum of Musical Instruments on only original Lutheal Piano and 4. Granada, presentation of published paper titled New Pentatonic Scale Relationships with Visual Parallels at Joint Meeting of The International Society of the Arts, Mathematics, and Architecture and Bridges: Mathematical Connections in Art, Music, and Science.

~ Tessellations II for 9 singers. Composition for Vociferous Choir, using cyles and layers that can be found in the polyphony of Renaissance contrapuntists and the Pygmies of Central West Africa. Broadcast on BBC Radio3 2010.

~ Make (Tessellations IV). A collaborative project with Christine Duncan and jean martin, based on Weston's original score. The composed material is based on 52 quotations sung on a five-note (pentatonic) scale. each scale changes by one note when the word 'make' is sung. 'The Make Project ' was recorded in May 2015 and included six instruments, one 10 piece choir called Hidden Meanings and a 45 - voice improvising choir.

~ As You Hear with percussionist Bei Bei Wang and violinist Pei Ann Yeoh (recoded London 2019 - released by SLUCHAJ)

~ Crossings. 9 Pieces for cello, drums/percussion and keystation (Hannah Marshall, Mark Sanders and Veryan Weston) released on Hi4Head records 2020.