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 Defi ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and

violinist The following lists of violinists are available: * List of classical violinists, notable violinists from the baroque era onwards * List of contemporary classical violinists, notable contemporary classical violinists * List of violinist/composers, ...

and a regular member of the live project

Hidden Orchestra Hidden Orchestra is the solo studio project of multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer Joe Acheson, whose albums and live shows include guest musicians from diverse musical backgrounds. Formed in Edinburgh, the band's regular live members ...

. She is known for her "non-conformist approach to producing sounds" and while her debut album consisted of violin and piano played by Ackroyd, her most recent album, Resolve, incorporated improvisation from

Manu Delago Manu Delago (born 31 July 1984) is an Austrian Hang player, percussionist and composer based in London. Biography Delago was born in Innsbruck, Tyrol, and took music lessons as a child in accordion and piano. As a teenager he mainly played dru ...

Jo Quail Jo, jo, JO, or J.O. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Jo'' (film), a 1972 French comedy * ''Jo'' (TV series), a French TV series *"Jo", a song by Goldfrapp from ''Tales of Us'' *"Jo", a song by Mr. Oizo from ''Lambs Anger'' * Jo a fictio ...

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, a ...

in London and her father is visual artist

Norman Ackroyd Norman Ackroyd (born 26 March 1938) is an English artist known primarily for his aquatint work. He lives and is based in Bermondsey, London. Background Ackroyd was born on 26 March 1938 in Leeds, Yorkshire. He attended Leeds College of Art fro ...

. 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 ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

and holds a master's degree in piano performance. She makes music by manipulating and multi-tracking sounds from just these 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 Bjork'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 ...

and released a mini album ‘Sketches’ in August. ‘Sketches’ is an acoustic solo piano album comprising 10 tracks. Six of these are reworkings 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 –

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

( Tru Thoughts Recordings) and has worked on numerous projects with other musicians, artists, filmmakers, animators, dancers and actors. She acknowledges support from PRS for Music Foundation.

Discography

* ''Escapement'' (

Denovali Records Denovali Records is an independent record label founded in 2005. The program of Denovali covers ambient, electronica, experimental, drone, jazz, modern composition & sound art. Since 2007 Denovali curates and organizes international music festi ...

, 2012) * ''Escapement'' DVD ( Denovali Record, 2012) * ''Feathers'' (

, 2014) * ''Sketches'' ( One Little Independent, 2017) * ''

Resolve Resolve may refer to: * ''Resolve'' (Lagwagon album) * ''Resolve'' (Last Tuesday album) * "Resolve" (song), by the Foo Fighters *'' The Resolve'', a 1915 American silent short drama film * "Resolve" (''One Tree Hill'' episode) *''Resolve'', a Brit ...

'' ( One Little Independent, 2018) * ''Pause'' ( One Little Independent, 2021)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ackroyd, Poppy 1982 births Living people English composers