James Heather /UK

As a child Heather’s Grandad taught him composition and how to manipulate the tuning of piano strings. Inspired by Beethoven, Debussy and his neighbour’s Acid House pirate radio show, composing on piano became his passion. After a near death experience, he had the energy to step out as an artist. His art takes as much from electronic music in sensibility and post-rock in its exploration of meditative builds as it does its classical and jazz grounding.

In 2022 Heather releases his second album, “Invisible Forces”. The album is about becoming aware of invisible forces around us to help deepen understanding of self and our connection to the world. The tracks (alongside 2021’s “Modulations: EP2”) were this time honed on the road, playing shows such as Green Man, Glastonbury, Berlin Planetarium and many more across Europe. His approach, that he dubs ‘Pulse Music’, finds him playing freely, with no metronome or notation but instead his instinct deciding where things go. In 2021 he released a new version of 'And She Came Home' with added strings for Coldcut's ambient '@0 compilation' in aid of CALM, Mind, and Black Minds Matter, with the song being promoted as a double-single alongside Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Heather first released via Ahead Of Our Time in 2017, Ninja Tune founders Coldcut’s label with “Modulations: EP1”, followed by his well received album “Stories From Far Away On Piano”. In 2018 he was remixed by DJ Seinfeld, Mary Lattimore, Sarah Davachi and Echo Collective for his “Reworks” album. Supporters include Cillian Murphy, Nils Frahm, Emika, Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder label and The Cinematic Orchestra, who asked him to rework them in 2020. He has worked with Dawn Richard, Coldcut, Mumdance and Roger Robinson (King Midas Sound)

CELLIST AND COMPOSER DOBRAWA CZOCHER RELEASES HER DEBUT ALBUM, DREAMSCAPES

The album, out via Modern Recordings on the 23rd January 2023, explores the magic and meaning of unconscious states. Around the world, dreams have long fascinated artists and inspired their creative pursuits. How these fictions of the unconscious mind can feel both phantasmagorical and real, how they’re able to twist, bend and expand time itself, or the relation that they may carry to our waking life are questions that have inspired the likes of Debussy to Dalí to Kafka. Likewise, these musings have served as the starting point for Dobrawa Czocher’s debut album, fittingly titled DREAMSCAPES. For it, the Polish cellist and composer takes listeners on a journey through unconsciousness exploring through sound the mystical richness of reveries.

At the ripe age of just 30, Czocher already has an accomplished career in music. After having graduated from two prestigious music universities – Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and Hochschule für Musik in Detmold – she went on to become a member of Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and later the principal cellist of the Neue Philharmonie Berlin as well as the soloist at Szczecin Philharmonic. During those demanding years, Czocher acquired a deep understanding of the classical repertoire and excelled as a leading cello player. It was together with good friend and fellow Pole pianist, Hania Rani, however, that Czocher first ventured into composition. The duo's first collaborative project “Biała flaga” would go on to truly change the musician’s perspective from being solely concentrated on developing instrumental skills to wanting to express herself more freely and the resulting album was highly-acclaimed in Poland as well as catching the attention of critics abroad. This was followed by Czocher and Rani’s second album, “Inner Symphonies” which went on to be released by Deutsche Grammophon and achieve worldwide recognition. Apart from Czocher’s obvious technical prowess with the cello, which she has been developing since age 7, it is the naturality with which she mixes philharmonic music with more alternative approaches to recording and sound that have really captured the public’s imagination so far. DREAMSCAPES showcases just how comfortable the cellist is at oscillating between classical and contemporary music, and it’s possible to hear within the music influences that range from Brahms to Philip Glass to GoGo Penguin. For the album, Czocher worked with German producer Niklas Paschburg, who employed layering techniques to lend a cinematic quality to the music

This show is supported by Liveurope, the first pan-European initiative supporting concert venues in their efforts to promote emerging European artists. Liveurope is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.