A lockdown event: a lovingly-selected programme emphasising the beauty in hidden voices and stories of women, taking listeners on a journey from Afghanistan to Sicily with stops in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Greece.
Creative Migrations with the Oud: Technology, Memory and Musical Storytelling.
We were thrilled that Beyond Mode was featured in the SOAS Concert Series 2019-2020.
In the series Dal local al globale I presented a lecture-recital in Cremona in the beautiful Dipartimento di Musicologia e Beni Culturali, leading the audience on a journey through modal music practices of the Arab, Ottoman and Persian traditions.
An opportunity to present one of my own compositions, Acem Kurdi Saz Semai, live for the BBC, with a mysteriously dramatic background – not really in line with the melancholy of the piece! Please contact me if you would like a copy of the score.
Oudmigrations is a research project dedicated to the journeys of ouds, their histories, and the stories attached to their makers, players, and owners. The first Oudmigrations concert series took place in Rome, thanks to the generous support of ISMEO (Associazione Internazionale di Studi sul Mediterraneo e l’Oriente) and hosting by the Biblioteca Vallicelliana. They explored Read more…
A concert of Ottoman court music along with my song cycle “Sing no Sad Songs with Me”, in the elegant Reid Concert Hall of Edinburgh University.
Today is Good! took the stage at the first edition of Siracusa’s Moro Festival on 22 December
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…
Called after Ornina, goddess of music in Mesopotamia and ancient Syria, our ensemble is leading a revival in the tradition of female music-making by women in the Arab world. In the courts of Baghdad, Cordoba, and Medina women were highly trained in musical composition and performance, as well as in Read more…