Hello everyone

Thank you for visiting my website. Here are some updates.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT
My composition ‘Hibakusha’ is to be performed in Osaka, Japan as part of the World Expo in October and on 6th August, it will be live streamed at the time of the A Bomb detonation over Hiroshima (8:15am JST – 12:15am BST) on the 80th anniversary.

On 10th September I’m performing at Heart of Noise in Cambridge. Re-imaginings ofXenakis’ Concret PH and Varese’s remarkable Poème Électronique plus a piece of my own. The pieces by Xenakis and Varese were played in the Phillips Pavilion designed by Le Corbusier for the Brussels World Expo in 1958. Not just remarkable for their time, they still are to this day.

So far in 2025, I’ve performed my piece inspired by Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle, in Darwin’s church, the Unitarian in Shrewsbury as part of the series of Events curated by Sy.gigs and played in a trio (free jazz) comprising piano, setār (Persian form of Indian classical sitar – poor description I know but I hope it conveys the idea at least) and bass clarinet. And on sax (soprano and tenor) in another jazz group I play in. Other stuff too but I don’t want this to become a long list!

Last year 2024, I performed at Sy.gigs in Shrewsbury at the wonderful Unitarian church which was sold out, a gig in Birmingham at Pan Pan (a great space and a really appreciative and knowledgable audience), Fourtrack Nights in Paisley, Glasgow, and as a part of Intangible Heritage at the Herbert in Coventry. I also gigged with Dead Space Chamber Music at The Flapper in Birmingham on bass clarinet and soprano sax.

Further delights were to be had in a collaboration with Christian Duka and the amazing Amoenus Spatialisation sound system at the Bath House, Hackney Wick, London where I played Magnetic Mountain whilst Christian worked his magic on the sounds through Amoenus. And utterly magical was a trip to Strasbourg to perform my electronic set with Christian through a spatial sound system.

A brief history of mine, 2023: I was able to play live at The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum as part of the City is Full of Noises project. Wavetable in Edinburgh was extraordinary as was the show at Bloc+ Glasgow a few weeks later.

Before that, in Bristol on Saturday 2nd September was utterly brilliant (check out Dead Space Chamber Music).

Voyage of the Beagle CD is now available and also as a digital download on Bandcamp. Please contact me if you would like to buy a copy of the CD – £10.00 + Postage and Packaging.

5 Places to Bathe, is available as a digital download on Bandcamp and there is a cassette version available to order – only 5 left.

https://handmadesound.bandcamp.com

Please contact me at john@handmadesound.co.uk for enquiries about bookings and other projects.