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 the 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, First released recordings with Lol Coxhill, and collaborated on music for Derek Jarman Film.
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.
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.
CURRENT COLLABORATIONS ARE WITH: Luc Ex - “Sol6” Songs and Improvisations with Ingrid Laubrock, Hannah Marshall, Mandy Drummond and Tony Buck. Trevor Watts - recently described by Sara Villa as “Growing together as masters of the British free jazz scene….” 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.
Awards
Nominated 'Young Jazz Musician 1979 by Greater London Arts Association.
3 First prizes with Stinky Winkles in Wroklaw, Dunkirk and San Sebastian Jazz Festivals
Cornelius Cardew Composition Prize with Phil Minton for 'Songs from a Prison Diary - 1991
Show less
