I'm a composer, performer and sound artist. My work combines composition and computer based improvisation environments and interaction. Often collaborative it encompasses field recording, live processing, interactivity and improvisation, taking the form of standalone electroacoustic works, fixed compositions for instruments, improvisations, and installations. I use hydrophones contact and standard microphones; I devise my own computer-based environments, extending beyond the conventional to create rich, spatialised textures. I work across art forms collaborating with dance and visual arts as well as other musicians. Find out more about my work, listen to sounds and watch videos here.
I'm a member of invisiblEARts, a group of Scottish based composers. I teach composition and direct the Electroacoustic Studios at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where I was made Professor in 2017, and I'm a keen tango dancer.
News
New release with Catriona McKay on Bandcamp:
Harponium Electrosessions
CD on empreintes DIGITALes:
Cabinets de curiosité
Two CDs out on Leo Records:
Untold Story with Anne-Liis Poll, and
Free Radicals with Anne-Liis Poll, Mieko Kanno, Anto Pett and Aaron Shorr.
Recent and upcoming performances:
14 March 2020: with Neil Sutcliffe and Joseph McCluskey, 'Gaelictronica 2020' for Ceòl 's Craic, CCA, Glasgow
10 February 2020: Tänavalaul (electroacoustic music) in Sonic Nights at RCS, Glasgow
11-13 December 2019: Improvisation course and concert, Estonian Academy of Music and Drama, Tallinn, Estonia
13, 14, 15, 16 August 2019: Scatter for tuba and electronics (performed by Danielle Price) in The Night With... gigs as part of the Made in Scotland Showcase, Edinburgh Fringe (various venues and times)
6 July 2019: with all we know with Reckless Sleepers, at Dansand!, Oostende, Belgium
4 & 5 May 2019: Des Froschkönigs Blick ins Steinreich at Naturlehrgebiet und Kiesgrube Ettiswil, Switzerland with Urban Mäder
25 March 2019: at The Old Hairdressers, Glasgow with Núria Andorra, Una MacGone, Peter Nicholson, Simon van der Walt and more
23 March 2019: with Núria Andorra at ESMUC, Barcelona
9 March 2019: with Mairi McGillivray, 'Gaelictronica 2019' for Ceòl 's Craic, CCA, Glasgow
5 January 2019: Final Times at The San Francisco Tape Music Festival
7 December 2018: Improvisatsioonikursuse lõppkontsert, Chamber Hall, Estonian Academy of Music and Drama, Tallinn, Estonia
7 November 2018: with Arnas Mikalkėnas, for Improdimensija, Mama Studios, Vilnius, Lithuania
27 October 2018: - music for A string Section (dance) with Reckless Sleepers part of sound festival and DanceLive festival in The Anatomy Rooms, Aberdeen
19 October 2018: music for Murnau's 1922 silent film Nosferatu with Vlady Bystrov and Phil Minton at Roter Saal im Schloss Braunschweig.
13 October 2018: Soundings: Percussion Stones, Bodies, Pulses with Alex Wäber, percussion (Basel Chamber Orchestra/Musik Akademie Basel) at Younger Hall, St Andrews.
Current and past projects
include Strange Rainbow, a live electroacoustic improvising duo with Scottish harp player Catriona McKay. We're planning more performances of The Last Post with trumpet player Tom Poulson and director Susan Worsfold commissioned by the St Magnus Festival and performed at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe. I have also been working with Carrie Fertig, on pieces for glass percussion, electronics and live flame-working. Le Sirenuse (with percussionist Stu Brown and film maker Rob Page) was selected for the Royal Scottish Academy Open Exhibition 2015.
Other recent works include The Imagining of Things with Brass Art (video and audio installation) for Huddersfield Art Gallery, Mitaki(string quintet and live electronics) for the Scottish Ensemble, and Scintilla. You'll find more details on the Works page
I've been lucky enough to work with lots of great musicians and other artists. They include Marco Blaauw, Elision, the Scottish Ensemble, Sarah Rubidge, Shobana Jeyasingh, Jennifer Angus, Theatre Cryptic, Anna Krzystek, Jos Zwaanenburg and many others.