New professorship

As of 1 December 2022 I am Professor of Intercultural Performing Arts at Codarts University of the Arts in Rotterdam, and the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts in Leiden. This is a fantastic opportunity to draw together the multiple strands of my hybrid creative practice, and work with a Read more…

Iranian oud

For a long time the oud was disparaged in Iran, even though the Sassanian empire was fundamental to its development centuries ago. One key to its twentieth-century revival was the musician Mansur Nariman. I recently recorded some of his short pieces.

Today is Good!

I moved to Sicily in May 2017, in order to work as a volunteer with Francesco in various educational projects for asylum-seekers. We were keen to work with unaccompanied minors, and were trained to be legal gaurdians. Alongside this legal and pastoral work we have put on a series of Read more…

Oudmigrations

Oudmigrations is an internet-based project dedicated to the journeys of ouds, their histories, and the stories attached to their makers, players, and owners. I developed the research thanks to a Major Research Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust, and worked in collaboration with musician, luthier and researcher Karim Othman-Hassan. When we launched in April Read more…

Audiovisual

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.

Signs Games and Messages

In 2001 I was artistic Director of Signs Games and Messages, a 2-week long festival celebrating the music of Gyorgy Kurtag, and a collaboration between London’s South Bank Centre and the Royal Academy of Music. We were awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Festival Prize for 2002. Press coverage was extensive, Read more…