Sing no Sad Songs for Me – a cycle of pieces after the poetry of Christina Rossetti. For voice, oud, yayli tanbur, double-bass and tabla Premiered at St Ethelburga’s Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, London, on 30 June 2018 My imperialist grandfather Henry Beckles Willson was sent in 1918 to Palestine to decommission Read more…
I’m intrigued by the interplay between the sounds that are conventionally part of concert music, and those conventionally excluded. I recently started bringing external sounds in, while continuing to use traditional instruments and – with a certain ambivalence – becoming a studio musician. In the works below I engage closely Read more…
My work is increasingly engaged with the play between sight and sound. While developing materials and techniques for a large-scale project exploring the marine environment I have published some short work-in-progress studies in audio-visual animation. They build on earlier collaborations with bassist James Banner, and artist Lin Li.
Un cycle de chansons entre la Tamise et le Bosphore Sons lointains tissés par des mémoires de femmes Poesie de Christina Rossetti Musique de Rachel Beckles Willson Musiciens: Rachel Beckles Willson (voix, oud), Ciro Montanari (tabla), Kostas Tsarouchis (contrabbasse), Evgenios Voulgaris (yayli tanbur) Sing no Sad Songs for Me réunit les traditions Read more…
I composed ‘Talking about Tatyana’ when I was a student at the Royal Academy of Music in London. It is an oblique homage to Tatyana Nikolayeva, the pianist who premiered Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues. It’s a fugue, and I scored it for clarinet trio. Why? I don’t remember!