Win Free tickets to Nova… Where East meets West

Win two free tickets to see Nova in concert with Cooper Hall and Frome Times! Simply sign up to the Cooper Hall mailing list at www.cooperhall.org by the end of September and we will announce the lucky winners in the next issue!

For their annual St Cecilia Day concert on Sunday 14th October at 6.30pm, Cooper Hall welcomes back cellists Gregor

Riddell and Torun Stavseng will be presenting a thrilling eclectic programme alongside BirdWorld drummer/percussionist Adam Teixeira and Nepalese tabla player Sanskriti Shrestha.The concert will be made up of traditional and original compositions encompassing world, folk, jazz and contemporary music.

Oslo-based Nepalese tabla virtuoso, Sanskriti Shrestha, is active in numerous iconic Scandinavian projects, including her own ensembles Moksha and Avatar, having toured extensively across Europe, Asia, and Australia. 

She merges her Nepalese/Indian musical background with jazz, electronics and other styles of contemporary music. Coming from a family of music professionals, she has been sustaining the tradition she grew up with and has developed an innovative style of solo performance and collaboration. Sanskriti will release a new album with her group Moksha on iconic Norwegian record label, Jazzland, with the launch taking place at the Oslo World Festival in November.

“Shrestha’s style of playing is modern – and unconventional, but with solid anchoring in classical technique.”- Johan Hauknes, Salt Peanuts.

Torun Sæter Stavseng is a Norwegian cellist with diverse musical interests active as a soloist, chamber musician and principal cellist of Aurora Orchestra. In 2010 she was awarded the Swedish Royal Academy of Music honorary prize after her debut in Britten’s Cello Symphony with Stockholm Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In the same year she was awarded the Young Swedish soloist prize and offered the principal cellist position of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra where she worked until 2012.

Torun has formed various ensembles with a broad span of repertoire including Duo TÖ with Swedish pianist Anna Christensson,Tre Voci and TrioTaus. She is a member of Cikada Contemporary Ensemble and creative director of Krantz  Chamber Music Series.

“Torun Stavseng’s secure, focused, flawless performance contributed to make this a truly festive concert.” (Helsingborg Dagblad review of her performance of Britten’s Cello Symphony with Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra)

London/Oslo duo BirdWorld are Gregor Riddell on cello and electronics, and Adam Teixeira on drums and percussion. 

Combining acoustic instruments, electronically manipulated field recordings, various kalimbas and traditional percussion, they set out to create soundscapes both natural and otherworldly. Live, the duo have performed across Europe including a London Union Chapel concert that was filmed and recorded by NTS Radio.Their track After Rain recently featured in the Wire Magazine’s Wire Tapper compilation and they will perform at BBC Open Ears LSO St Luke’s later in the autumn.They will release their debut album UNDA at the end of 2018.

” … captivating performance combining jazz, classical and electronica.” (Kings Place March 2017, Cusp Magazine)