Category Archives: Piano/Keys

Playing the piano…

Back in March I played piano with the Dan Mar-Molinero orchestra on a strange gig bringing together AI and jazz. I’ve had a bit of a strange relationship with the piano over the years. I love playing jazz music in particular but also spent a lot of my 20s around serious players and lost confidence about my playing. Piano has remained central to my compositional practice though. More recently my mate Dan Mar-Molinero keeps asking me to do gigs like this one at Turner Sims. Playing with Jasper Hoiby and Julian Arguelles as well as many other great musicians in this project was fantastic. I like it. I want to do more. Here are some great photos from Ash from whatabouttheash.

Jazz as Social Machine

Excited to be playing piano as part of the Dan Mar-Molinero Jazz Orchestra at Turner Sims on 19 March. Super interesting project with another colleague from the University of Southampton Tom Irvine. We’ll be playing charts from Dan’s new album, sometimes with a jazz robot! What’s not to love!

Tickets available on Turner Sims website.

BOTC Photos

Here are a couple of pictures from recent ‘Birth of the Cool’ gig at Turner Sims from crazy talented photographer Ash Sealy: https://www.whatabouttheash.com/our-story

Was really fun playing jazz again, especially with some super talented musicians…

Mr. Turquoise Synth on Score Follower

Super delighted Mr. Turquoise Synth was selected by Score Follower for their Fall 2020 #FollowMyScore call for works. The piece features the piano skills of Yshani Perinpanayagam and the synth building skills of Blake Troise (aka Protodome).

Pythagoras’ Tool Kit Graphic Score Project

In November Rachel Warr and I did a cool outreach project around Pythagoras’ Tool Kit for the University of Southampton’s Hands on Humanities Day. You can watch the broadcast about the project and find out more at the special project Padlet.

Birth of the Cool

I had so much fun playing tracks from ‘Birth of the Cool’ with the PLAYLIST Collective directed by Dan Mar-Molinero back in June. Here’s a video of ‘Israel’:

PLAYLIST @ Baffi

I’m excited to have a new piece, Drip Feed, premiered by the amazing harpsichordist Jane Chapman on 11 June at Baffi Portswood as part of PLAYLIST. I will also be playing piano in the PLAYLIST Collective, in which we will perform tracks from Miles Davis’ seminal album ‘Birth of the Cool’.

C4CI Grand Finale Videos

We now have our very own University of Southampton Music Focus Group for cochlear implant users Youtube Channel. I have uploaded all the videos from the recent C4CI Grand Finale onto the channel.

Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme

I’ve been selected to take part in the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in June. I’ll be working with a pianist on a new work exploring extended piano techniques, mentored by Pierre Laurent Aimard and Yukiki Sugawara. Hopefully there will also be a workshop with Lachenmann too! There will be a concert on 23rd June at 6pm. Better get writing…

Musarc performing ‘Interplay II’ at St. Bartholomew the Great, Friday 10th December, 2010

I’m delighted that Musarc, under the expert direction of Cathy Heller Jones, are performing ‘Interplay II’ again this Friday in London. I’ll be playing piano for my piece and for the carols and various other Christmas treats. It promises to be a fantastic concert in an amazing space!

Benjamin Oliver