Ben Gaunt, a Yorkshire-based composer and artist, will be performing his work ‘Local Mosaics and Graffiti’ for electronics and improviser(s),drawing inspiration from public art and ever-changing graffiti in the underpasses near his home in Leeds. This is a great opportunity for music enthusiasts and aficionados alike to experience an event off the beaten track and to discover our Pianodrome. Feel free to drop by to experience innovative music in a unique setting and you can bring an instrument if you feel like joining in!
Maki Sekiya and Ilya Chetverikov will also be performing Saint Saëns Carnival of the Animals on Saturday 7th September!
You will get to hear the Marsyas Trio, 2-4pm on 14th September and Square Music, 2-4pm 21st September
Ben Gaunt
Ben Gaunt is a composer, sonic artist, and improviser. He has written for the London Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Grimethorpe Colliery Band, and many other lovely people. He has been nominated for an Ivor Novello Award, a British Composer Award, and is Professor in Composition at Leeds Conservatoire. Recently, Ben’s pieces have explored the city of Leeds (including Originally From Another Cross about Leeds Minster, Clad in Fire-Resistant Armour about the cladding on his flat in Leeds, and Goodbye Bins and Benches about his local park).
Ilya Chetverikov Piano
Ilya is a musician of international reputation, who was brought up in the rich tradition of Russian piano school, and has been living in Oxford since he moved to the UK in 2011. After completing his post-graduate course as a pianist, he went on gaining another qualification as a choral master of Orthodox church services, and has embarked in choral conducting in Moscow for several years before moving to UK. As a highly sought after chamber musician, he has toured in many cities and has made world premier recordings. His recent performances include world premier performance of solo piano composition and Piano Trio by Jeremy Arden in Holywell Music, and in King’s Place. As a duo recitalist, he has also been featured in concert series by Orchestra of St John’s, in Dorchester Festival, and played in a sold out Piano Duo concert with Maki at Hay Festival in 2022, returning in May 2025. For details, please visit www.ilyachetverikov.com
Maki Sekiya Piano
A Japanese born pianist, Maki moved with her family to Oxfordshire in 2011 from Russia. As a resident in the village, she was performing at Dorchester Festival fringe for the first time when John Lubbock OBE, Director of Orchestra of St John’s, walked in by chance. After the encounter John invited Maki to perform solo with his orchestra and this event led her to next events in Oxford, where she is now established as one of the most sought after solo pianists in town. She has been featured in BBC Radio 3 In Tune in an interview with Sean Rafferty, has given a solo recital at Wigmore Hall, and regularly gives solo recitals across the UK. She is producing a concert series Tête-à-Tête with composers, and future projects include concerts with Jeremy Arden, Maryn Harry, and Ben Nobuto. Maki Studied at Purcell School of Music, later in Moscow Conservatoire, and holds many accolades from international competitions. She lives in Oxford with her husband Ilya and their son Ivan. For details, please visit www.makisekiya.com
Marsyas Trio
The Marsyas Trio, formed of graduates of the Royal Academy of Music - Australian flautist Helen Vidovich, Canadian cellist Valerie Welbanks and Belarusian pianist Olga Stezhko - is one of the UK’s foremost mixed chamber ensembles.
The Trio champions the vast body of historic repertoire for flute, cello and piano and continues to develop this genre through commissioning and recording projects, offering audiences a fascinating perspective on gender, societal and political themes.
Recent concert highlights include performances at Kettle’s Yard, Conway Hall, University of Leeds Summer Festival, Britten-Pears Arts in Aldeburgh and a Northern tour, taking in two full-house concerts at Skipton Town Hall and the King’s Hall in Ilkley.
Their latest album ‘Alternative Readings’ featuring music by Michael Finnissy was released on the Métier | Divine Art Recordings in March 2024, in collaboration with award-winning mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean. The CD received rave reviews and was selected as the Chamber Choice by the BBC Music Magazine, with a 5-star review.
The Marsyas Trio are the current FUAM Ensemble in Residence at the University of Leeds and Artist By-Fellows at Churchill College, University of Cambridge.
Square Music
James M. Creed (he/him) is a composer and guitarist based in Leeds. His music is concerned with the playful presentation of simple materials, even simpler processes, and the ways that people then meet and articulate these elements. More generally, his music is slow-changing and quiet(ish). Recent major projects include being featured at Co-Incidence Festival 2023 (Neufelden, AT), Klangraum 2022 (Düsseldorf, DE), being a visiting artist-in-residence for Lower Austria (Krems an der Donau, AT), and album releases with Sawyer Editions (Dallas, TX, USA) and NCtMMRN (Melbourne, AU).
Clare Spollen (she/her) is a pianist, accordionist and arts producer based between Leeds and London, working primarily in experimental contexts. A frequent collaborator with young composers, she has particular interests in quiet or delicate sound-worlds, long or slow-moving forms, and process-driven music. She holds an MMus with Distinction in Performance from Goldsmiths, and is a regular performer within DIY scenes in both Leeds and London. Recent and upcoming highlights include a solo set at the Daylight Music series; playing works by Tim Parkinson at the Music We’d Like to Hear series (also broadcast on BBC New Music Show) and recordings released on Sawyer Editions records. As an arts producer, she is currently working with national charity Sound and Music to produce a new artist development programme for young music creators in partnership with the University of Huddersfield, and also produces a community music programme centring around Union Chapel’s historic Henry Willis pipe organ.
Maya-Leigh Rosenwasser (they/them) is a performer, improviser and composer and researcher specialising in performing and composing new works for piano (solo and chamber), live electronics and multi-disciplinary ensembles. Their PhD research at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance explores how we can create and use queer processes in experimental music, with a focus on electroacoustic music and improvisation. Notable performances, compositions and broadcasts include Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2023, BBC Radio 3’s Freeness: Circular Wanderings (‘Harbringers of Change’- Florence Anna Maunders, Lara Jones, Amy Bryce), Cafe Oto (One Orchestra New performance), Sound and Music podcast (Queerness, A Kinder SocietyStiftung Kunst and Musik für Dresden), Made at the Red House residency with Wild Plum Arts (PLASTIC BODIES), Residency and performance with experimental duo flxnflx with Kirkos Ensemble’s Unit 44 (Dublin). Maya-Leigh is also a Britten Pears Young Artist.
Fernando Yada Rodrigues (he/him) is a pianist and teacher whose practice is concerned with experimental approaches to music. Recently this has manifested in the relationship between gesture and sound, exploring how aspects of tone production, ‘colour’ and ‘shape’ are learned by the body in moments of practice. His practice is open to iteration and speculation as modes of experimentation.
Jay Austin Keys (he/him) is a pianist working in London. He performs music from Bach to the present day, currently focusing on modern and contemporary repertoire. A keen collaborator, he is in his element working in duos or small chamber ensembles. He obtained a master’s degree in performance from Goldsmiths, University of London, studying with Andrew Zolinksy.