Poppy Ackroyd is a British

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 ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and

violinist The following lists of violinists are available: * List of classical violinists * List of contemporary classical violinists * List of jazz violinists * List of popular music violinists * List of Indian violinists * List of Persian violinists * Li ...

and a regular member of the live project Hidden Orchestra. She is known for her "non-conformist approach to producing sounds" and while her debut album consisted of violin and piano played by Ackroyd, '' Resolve'', incorporated improvisation from

Manu Delago Manu Delago (born 31 July 1984) is an Austrian musician and composer. Biography Delago was born in Innsbruck, Tyrol (state), Tyrol, and took music lessons as a child in accordion and piano. As a teenager he mainly played drums for various rock ...

, Jo Quail and Mike Lesirge.

Biography

Ackroyd grew up in

Bermondsey Bermondsey ( ) is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, ...

in London and her father is visual artist

Norman Ackroyd Norman Ackroyd (26 March 1938 – 16 September 2024) was an English visual artist known primarily for his etchings and work with aquatint. He lived and was based in Bermondsey, London. Background Ackroyd was born on 26 March 1938 in Leeds, Yo ...

. When only seven, she decided that her future career would be as a pianist. Ackroyd was classically trained on violin and piano from an early age. She studied piano and composition at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and holds a master's degree in piano performance. She makes music by manipulating and multi-tracking sounds from just those two instruments. Her debut album ''Escapement'' was released in December 2012 and a DVD – ''Escapement Visualised'' – featuring bespoke visuals by Lumen for each track on the album, was released in September 2014. ''Feathers'', her second album, followed in November 2014 and builds on the concept behind her debut, with most of the sounds again coming from the violin and the piano; however, this time the tracks also feature other keyboard and string instruments. In 2017 she signed to

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

's label

One Little Independent Records One Little Independent Records (formerly One Little Indian Records) is an English independent record label. It was set up in 1985 by members of various anarcho-punk bands, and managed by former Flux of Pink Indians bassist Derek Birkett. In th ...

and released a mini album, ''Sketches'' in August. ''Sketches'' is an acoustic solo piano album comprising ten tracks, six of which are re-workings of tracks from ''Escapement'' and ''Feathers'', the other four are arrangements of new tracks from latest full album '' Resolve''. ''Resolve'' features guest instrumentalists for the first time including

on hang, Mike Lesirge on flute and clarinets, and Jo Quail on cello. Ackroyd is a member of Joe Acheson's live project Hidden Orchestra.

Discography

* ''Escapement'' ( Denovali Records, 2012) * ''Escapement'' DVD ( Denovali Records, 2012) * ''Feathers'' ( Denovali Records, 2014) * ''Sketches'' ( One Little Independent, 2017) * '' Resolve'' ( One Little Independent, 2018) * ''Pause'' ( One Little Independent, 2021)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ackroyd, Poppy Living people English composers Year of birth missing (living people)