Angharad Davies is a Welsh

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, known for her work in the field of

free improvisation Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any general rules, instead following the intuition of its performers. The term can refer to both a technique—employed by any musician in any genre—and as a recognizable genre of ...

, her use of prepared violin (using techniques similar to the

prepared piano A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sounds temporarily altered by placing bolts, screws, mutes, rubber erasers, and/or other objects on or between the strings. Its invention is usually traced to John Cage's dance music for ''Works for pr ...

), her extensive discography and collaborative work with other musicians.

Early life and education

Davies was born in

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth (; ) is a University town, university and seaside town and a community (Wales), community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is the largest town in Ceredigion and from Aberaeron, the county's other administrative centre. In 2021, the popula ...

, Wales, and grew up in a musical household, playing in local

brass band A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands (particularl ...

s alongside her father and brother. Her father was an amateur trumpet player and her brother is Rhodri Davies, now known as an improvising

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

ist. She studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and subsequently with violinists Charles-Andre Linale in Düsseldorf, Germany and Howard Davis in London.

Career

Davies has collaborated on improvised projects with musicians and artists including Tarek Atoui,

Tony Conrad Anthony Schmalz Conrad (March 7, 1940 – April 9, 2016) was an American video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician, composer, sound artist, teacher, and writer. Active in a variety of media since the early 1960s, he was a pioneer of both ...

, Laura Cannell, Jack McNamara, Roberta Jean and J.G.Thirlwell. Davies is also active in the field of contemporary composition and is a frequent member of the ensemble Apartment House. Davies' composed works include ''Solo Violin and Four Bass Amps'', in which the violin is deconstructed during the performance of the piece, and the orchestral work ''I ble’r aeth y gwrachod I gyd…?'', which was commissioned by the 2019 London Contemporary Music Festival. She has been commissioned by Explore Ensemble, and GBSR Duo. Davies has also collaborated with French composer Éliane Radigue, who wrote the solo violin work ''OCCAM XXI'' for her in 2015.

Discography

Davies is credited with performances on over 50 album recordings, appearing alongside an extensive list of improvising musicians including Tom Chant, Benedict Drew, John Edwards,

Axel Dörner Axel Dörner (born 26 April 1964 in Cologne, Germany) is a German trumpeter, pianist, and composer. Biography Dörner studied piano in the Dutch town Arnhem (1988–89) and at the Cologne University of Music, Music Academy in Cologne (1989– ...

, Johnny Chang, John Tilbury, Lina Lapelyte, John Lely, Rie Nakajima and Toshimaru Nakamura. As of 2020, Davies has appeared on twenty one albums on the UK improvised and experimental music label Another Timbre. She is also credited with appearances on The Magic Numbers eponymous 2005 album and Richard Dawson's 2017 album ''

Peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

''. Dawson described Davies' idiosyncratic violin playing on his album as “being like a layer of frost, or maybe dew, or maybe like a light fog, just clinging to everything”.

References

External links

Angharad Davies' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Angharad Welsh violinists 21st-century British composers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Welsh composers Alumni of the Royal Northern College of Music