On Thursday 28 March 2024, the newly-formed Humber St Piano Sessions will host a day of free events and performances celebrating the piano and the people who play it.
Members of the public are invited to come and play a tune as part of a mini piano trail, with the opportunity to learn from professional pianists at the event on Humber Street.
In the afternoon, piano students from across the region will share their love of the instrument in series of short, informal performances.
Event organiser Mark Slater said: “Piano Day has been going since 2015 and has developed into an incredible worldwide phenomenon that celebrates all things piano. It takes place on the 88th day of the year to match the number of keys on the instrument. And this is the first time that it’ll happen here in Hull. There are opportunities across the whole day for people to come and play us a tune – so if you play the piano, or know someone who does, come down to Humber St and make some music and listen to others play. It’s amazing to have funding support from Hull City Council to get this off the ground.”
The day will culminate in the world première of a new piece by the exceptional Zoe Rahman, commissioned in partnership with Hull Jazz Festival especially for Hull and for this Piano Day celebration.
Other featured artists include classical piano duo from Hull and Hedon Graziana Presicce and Amy Butler, fearless improvising pianist Matthew Bourne, neo-classical and skewed-pop pianist and vocalist t l k, along with ambient and lofi-obsessed collaborators Mark Slater and Stewart Baxter.
Key information
Date: Thursday 28 March 2024
Location: SPACE Pop-up Venue, Pier St: https://maps.app.goo.gl/i8RKogFG65L4m1BS8
Times:
10am-10pm: Mini piano trail open for anybody and everybody to come and play a tune on the piano.
1-4pm: piano student focus, with short performances from local people learning the piano.
5-10pm: Headline evening performances, featuring some of the best pianists in the region and from across the UK.
Entry: All events are free and no booking required; just turn up!
Artist profiles
Zoe Rahman
Zoe Rahman’s style is deeply rooted in jazz yet it reflects her classical background, British/Bengali heritage and her very broad musical tastes. Known for her powerful technique, wide-ranging imagination and exuberant performance, she has become a highly sought-after musician on the international jazz scene. A MOBO Award winner, Mercury Prize nominee and Ivor Novello Impact Award winner, Zoe is a unique presence in the British music industry.
“Her sound is drenched with originality – a world class artist, composer and performer… Zoe shines as one of Britain’s most powerful compositional voices and important contemporary artists.” Ivors Academy
Matthew Bourne
Matthew Bourne is a recipient of numerous awards and accolades, and possesses an inventive and unique artistic approach for bringing infirm pianos back to life in Songs From A Lost Piano, collaborating with classical musicians of the London Sinfonietta in Written/Unwritten, the acclaimed solo piano albums, Montauk Variations, Isotach, and reinterpretations of Amon Tobin’s work for Ninja Tune. Other projects include Radioland; a live reworking of Kraftwerk’s Radio-Activity album (in collaboration with Franck Vigroux & Antoine Schmitt), solo synthesiser album moogmemory; Nightports w/Matthew Bourne; and the double-album Aeolian, with the late Keith Tippett. Bourne’s work has appeared on compilations by Bonobo and Hot Chip, and featured in Paolo Sorentino’s 2018 film LORO. Bourne continues to develop his solo piano work (Désinances / Irrealis), and is currently working on a number of new projects – including new work with longtime collaborator Keeley Forsyth.
t l k
t l k is the project of vocalist and producer Tara Lily Klein. Based in Bristol, their works evolve from memory, dialogue, dreams and ongoing explorations into loss, selfhood, human behaviour and its coalescence and tensions with the natural world. EPs ‘Primed For Loss’ (2023) and ‘Strength In Tenderness’ (2022) introduced t l k’s distinct palette, and ethereal vocal tone, offering something gently assertive, ever-evolving and “truly transportive” (BBC6 Music). Live appearances in 2023 included the Barbican, Southbank Centre, ICA, Jazz Cafe, Brighton Festival, Howard Assembly Room, FORWARDS and Glastonbury Festival, as well as their debut UK tour for sophomore EP ‘Primed For Loss’ and an EU tour in support of Nabihah Iqbal. This year, alongside Britten Pears Young Artists’ ‘VOICEBOX’ and Brownswood’s ‘Future Bubblers’ programmes, t l k is currently making their debut album The Noticing, with support from PRS Foundation’s Women Make Music Fund.
Mark Slater & Stewart Baxter
Mark Slater is a producer, composer, pianist, and arranger, whose music spans intricate, often uncompromising electronic textures and delicate instrumental timbres. His music explores the familiar and the unpredictable, the stable and the volatile, the beautiful and the erratic, and traverses wide stylistic territories. His work sits at the crossroads between improvised spontaneity and the forensic manipulation of sound. He’s always searching for new and interesting sources of sound and ways of working – whether that’s for solo projects or collaborations – though improvisation is always at the centre of how he works. As one half of the Nightports production team, he has released a series of albums on The Leaf Label with Matthew Bourne, Betamax, and Tom Herbert. As a solo artist, his debut solo album Insula – an ode to his humble upright piano – was released on E2 Music in 2022. Other projects that he’s worked on have been released on notable labels such as Brownswood, Wah Wah 45s, Real World Records, and Ninja Tune. His music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 Music, and has been performed across Europe.
Stewart Baxter is a composer, producer, and visual artist based in Hull. Stewart is a prolific and influential figure in the Hull music scene, which places him perfectly to connect the dots in bringing together musicians from across the full stylistic spectrum currently working in the city. The result is an impressive catalogue of projects that are celebratory and generous. As the drummer for the band LIFE, his full-blooded playing underpins music that has received Album of the Year status on BBC Radio 1 as well as regular playlisting on BBC 6 Music. Stewart has completed commissions and collaborations for Humber Street Gallery, Absolutley Cultured, Sound and Music, and Real World Studio. His music draws upon a deep interest in ambient music with a specific focus on found sounds, tape loops, and experimental audio that is firmly rooted in his sense of place.