July 12 – Chamber Music of Farrenc & Schubert
Cellist Clare O’Connell is passionate about performing new music and finding new ways to hear old music. Since founding her own concert series Behind the Mirror, a space for experimental collaborative work, her practise has developed into a mix of performing, writing, commissioning and curating projects in which she collaborates with musicians and artists who inspire her. Her debut solo album The Isolated Cellist, a collection of ancient & modern music for solo and layered cello was released by Stone Records in April 2021, and she has just released Light Flowing, her second solo album of contemporary music with NMC Recordings, which features new commissions from Edmund Finnis, Emily Hall, Nick Martin, Natalie Klouda, Alex Mills and Emilie Levienaise Farrouch.
Her arrangements explore the parallels between composers both ancient and modern, allowing the music to speak on its own terms unconfined by historical context, and give the listener another lens through which to experience a piece of music as well as giving it another life. The often seemingly disparate groups of instruments used always afford a uniquely rich sonic experience. They have been performed in Westminster Abbey, the Wigmore Hall and on BBC radio 3.
Current projects include new album release with Liam Byrne (viola da Gamba) and Tom Rogerson (piano/synth) in which they create a new musical landscape that embraces modernity and pays homage to the old through improvisation and the deconstruction of ancient music.