BIO
BBC Radio 3’s award-winning Delia Stevens and three time BBC Radio 2 Folk Musician of the Year nominee, Will Pound, deliver an unprecedented collaboration, following the creative evolution of the classical composers inspired by folk.
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Driven by a maverick curiosity, having stumbled upon a completely new world of sound, they combine the traditional instruments of Pound's melodeon and harmonica with the dizzying array of Stevens' percussion. Imaginations run riot whilst paying homage to their respective musical roots, creating an extraordinary sonic arsenel.
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In 2024 Stevens & Pound collaborate with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Northern College of Music and the youth-led global climate activism organisation Force for Nature to launch The Silent Planet to commemorate Holst’s 150th anniversary in a reimagination of his iconic Planet Suite with orchestra. Holst deliberately omitted Earth as “astrologically insignificant”. Stevens & Pound recognise this as an opportunity to write their own additional movement to the suite, platforming the voices which are being silenced as our planet faces a climate crisis. Their composition will be orchestrated by Ian Gardiner and conducted by Clark Rundell.
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As well as prolifically touring their duo concerts across the UK including Petworth, Lichfield, Thaxted, Dunster and Swaledale Festivals, they also look forward to touring Wales with Sinfonia Cymru in 2024 as concerto soloists performing their reimagination of Vaughan Williams' iconic work The Lark Ascending, orchestrated by Ian Gardiner in a climate-inspired programme called Regenerate alongside the violinist Simmy Singh.
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Stevens & Pound are EarthPercent artists, committed to splitting their royalties with climate change organisations.
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Delia Stevens - Percussion
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2023 saw Delia as Co-Guest Director with Sinfonia Cymru for a Sky Arts documentary reimagining Vivaldi, presenting her own BBC Radio 3 Series: Music and Machines, playing a local river in Hebden Bridge as a percussion instrument with wild swimmers and her debut at Shanghai's Music in the Summer Air Festival with the Aurora Percussion Duo.
Delia is an Associate Artist of the RNCM where she was the winner of the Concerto Prize and Gold Medal Award and has won the Royal Over-Seas League Award twice. She has been Artist-in-Residence at Leeds University curating music around their science research and the Sage Gateshead.
Touring has taken her as a concerto soloist across Germany and Prague's Last Night of the Proms to the Royal Albert Hall as Guest Percussionist with the BBC Singers at the BBC Proms; from TedX Talks at Sage Gateshead to orchestral jams in Peckham’s Bold Tendencies Carpark; from recitals in Beijing’s Forbidden Concert Hall to the muddy fields of Cambridge Folk Festival.
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Will Pound - Harmonica & Melodeon
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One of the finest harmonica and melodeon players of his generation, Will Pound has pushed the boundaries working on and with a number of projects and musicians which in the past and present include Will Pound and Eddy Jay, Jenn Butterworth, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Liz Carrol, Martin Simpson, Guy Chambers, Concerto Caledonia, Robbie Williams and The Hillsborough Charity Single. He has travelled across most of Europe and as far as Australia for his music delighting and giving audiences awe inspiring performances. He has curated two ACE-projects: A Day will Come, a collaboration with poetry and a folk song from every state of the EU and Through the Seasons: an exploration of the history of Morris Dance.
He has appeared on TV & Radio many times including appearances on BBC Breakfast, BBC2, Radio 2, BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, MTV, Radio 1xtra to name a few. Will has been nominated 3 times for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Musician Of The Year Award in 2012, 2014 and 2015, has won FATEA Magazine Instrumentalist Of the Year 2013, 2014 and also was nominated for Songlines Magazine best newcomer.
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