Other than what I heard on CBC radio I actually didn’t listen to much classical music growing up, but then around 2010 I started discovering artists like Nils Frahm and Olafur Arnalds, which completely changed my assumptions about classical music being stuffy and dated. Consistent with my general theme of Headsash Music, this playlist contains a lot of tracks by artists that are taking their genre in a whole new direction. They are still amazing composers, but are embracing technology by adding subtle effects to their instruments, using looping and incorporating minimalist electronica into the production, giving the music a more contemporary sound.
A wonderfully immersive suite of five stunning new tracks, ‘Shifts’ expands upon Swedish-Iranian pianist / composer Shida Shahabi’s debut album and confirms her as a genuine new force in contemporary piano music. Soundcloud
Intuitively Martin Kohlstedt feels his way through this body of wood, felt hammers and steel strings. The young composer, who grew up in the forests of Thuringia, doesn’t just put on an anonymous fingerplay – he perpetually opens himself up with each and every moment, with every stroke of the keys. – Soundcloud
Bruno Sanfilippo (b 1965) is a musician, pianist and contemporary classical music composer from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He currently resides in Barcelona, Spain. His sound has been described as an exploration of minimalist piano concepts and electroacoustic music. In 2015, he became one of the main exponents of the LIFEM 2015 festival, specializing in minimalist music. – Wikipedia
Here is a massive 200 video playlist. To expand Youtube playlist, click play and then Youtube icon bottom right.
As a producer, arranger, performer, orchestrator and engineer David Baron’s credits include The Lumineers, Shawn Mendes, Meghan Trainor, Lenny Kravitz, Michael Jackson, Peter Murphy, Simone Felice, Melanie De Biasio and Bat For Lashes. Soundcloud
André is a Portuguese pianist and composer who has steadily been building his portfolio as a live performer and film composer. Recently he has collaborated with film projects from the USA, Iceland, Spain, Germany, Sweden and Japan and one of these works (‘Our Father’ by Linda Palmer) has granted him a ‘Best Score’ award at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards. – Bandcamp
Although Volker Bertelmann is one of the most recognisable 21st Century proponents of what is known as prepared piano, one whose sound is altered by the insertion of alien objects between or upon its strings, hammers and dampers – he was barely aware of the champions of such a practise when he first began his experiments. Even John Cage was a largely unfamiliar name that fateful day when he sat in the studio of his friend Adam Fuest and, frustrated by the sounds he was making, starting placing random objects into the instrument. What’s stranger still, one might think, is the fact that Bertelmann’s first forays into the public world were with major label hip hop act God’s Favourite Dog and a drum and bass quintet called Nonex. But, when you listen to his music closely, this perhaps makes more sense than you’d initially think: the sound of HAUSCHKA has always been both instinctive and fuelled by a love of rhythm. Bertelmann, you see, is clearly a man who knows his instrument – quite literally – inside out, and he’s as unafraid of approaching it with a fresh sensibility as he is capable of drawing upon an unusually broad church of influences. Almost two decades after he began his professional career rapping, Volker Bertelmann aka HAUSCHKA finds himself in the unusual position of being regularly compared to the likes of Eric Satie, John Cage and Steve Reich. (In 2011 he was invited by London’s prestigious Barbican to perform as part of Reverbations, a festival celebrating the work and influence of the latter composer.) Always unpredictable, HAUSCHKA continues to offer only one certainty: that the next step he takes will no doubt be as unexpected as the direction from which he has come.https://www.hauschka-music.com/about
Zoë Keating (born February 2, 1972) is a Canadian-born cellist and composer based in San Francisco, California. Keating performed from 2002 to 2006 as second chair cellist in the cello rock band Rasputina. She is featured on Amanda Palmer‘s debut solo album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer. In her solo performances and recordings Keating uses live electronic sampling and repetition in order to layer the sound of her cello, creating rhythmically dense musical structures. As of 29 October 2012, Keating uses Ableton Live and SooperLooper software[1] along with Keith McMillen Instruments’ SoftStep Foot Controller.[2] Her self-produced album One Cello x 16: Natoma was four times #1 on the iTunes classical charts and “Into the Trees” spent 47 weeks on the Billboard classical chart, peaking at #7. She is the recipient of a 2009 Performing Arts grant from the Creative Capital Foundation. Wikipedia
Cave In The Sky was formed out of the sonic explorations of multi-instrumentalist/producer/composer Cye Wood.
The debut album Sönghellir, was released by the Swedish label 1631 Recordings on the 26th of Feb 2016.
Thanks to a new work grant provided by the Australia Council for the Arts, Cye was able to complete the album at Greenhouse studios in Iceland with Paul Corley – mixing (Ben Frost, Tim hekker, Daniel lopatin) and Valgeir Sigurdsson – mastering (Bjork, Feist, Sigur Ros).
A few days before mixing began, Cye was exploring the Icelandic landscape and became lost looking for Snæfellsjökull Glacier. He finally reached the glacier late at night and stumbled upon the ancient location that would provide the name for the album’s title track; Sönghellir (The Singing Cave). It was here that he made the final recordings for the album.
The album was largely was recorded in the hinterland of Byron Bay and features contributions from Tunji Beier (percussion), Purdie Wood (voice), Paul Corley (programming/sound design), Hamish Stuart (drums/percussion), James Haselwood (bass), Simon Green (percussion/harmonica) and Matt Ostila (percussion/bass).
Australian-born composer and producer living and working in England, making eclectic music that often combines live instrumental performance with technology, location recordings and found sounds. Signed artist with Bigo & Twigetti. Soundcloud
1631 Recordings was established in the summer of 2015 by Mattias Nilsson and David Wenngren. Both Mattias and David are well respected names in the world of contemporary classical and experimental music. Mattias started his own label Kning Disk in 2005 and David have been making critically acclaimed music for more than a decade, most notably with his project Library Tapes.- Soundcloud
Matti Bye has been a music score composer and live silent movie piano performer at the Swedish Film Institute since 1989. He has scored the Swedish silent film masterpieces Körkarlen [The Phantom Carriage] (1920) directed by Victor Sjöström, andHerr Arnes penningar [Sir Arne’s Treasure] (1919) and Gösta Berlings saga (1924) directed by Mauritz Stiller. All presentations are available from The Swedish Film Institute, the first film has also been released on Criterion Collection Blu-ray Disc and DVD, and the latter two films have been released on DVD home video by Kino Lorber. Bye has also composed scores for the German Television Channel ARTE presentation of Dödskyssen directed by Victor Sjöström, and for Häxan(1922), Erotikon (1920) and Terje Vigen (1917).-Silent Era
London-born pianist and composer Tom Hodge and French electro-acoustic producer Franz Kirmann are Piano Interrupted. Modern classical piano ‘interrupted’ with light electronic textures.
Over the past years Andreas Söderström has played bass with multi-awarded pop genius Jenny Wilson, trumpet and lap-steel with the international renowned electronica-project Tape, and harmonium, key harp and guitar with contemporary folk/rock-combos as Barr, Pallin and Blood Music
