Adrian Freedman (2)

Adrian Freedman was born in Leeds in 1962. Always fascinated by orchestras and instruments, Adrian began playing violin from age 7, then piano, flute and trumpet. Early musical influences included Louis Armstrong, Igor Stravinsky, Gustav Mahler, and John Cage. Adrian went to Manchester University where he studied composition with Robin Walker. He then received a bursary from the Centre Archanthes in Paris to study with the composer Iannis Xenakis. In 1985 he went to the Guildhall School of Music to study with the Dutch recorder player Pieter Holtslag, later giving recitals of baroque and renaissance music around London with musicians including Pamela Thorby, James Johnstone and Taro Takeuchi. While based in London Adrian was a member of the improvising ensemble Was It a Car Or a Cat I Saw, and he composed and performed with the contemporary chamber ensemble City Garden. He was a founder member of The English Gagaku Orchestra. From 1987 Adrian lived in Newcastle-upon-Tyne where he worked as a composer and musical director for theatre, including projects with Northern Stage, Opera North, Northern Sinfonia and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In 1990 Adrian moved to Kyoto, Japan to study the shakuhachi with Yokoyama Katsuya. He also studied the hichiriki with the Tenrikyo Gagaku Orchestra, and Japanese folk music with Kadoya Kōzan. He lived in Japan for 7 years. Whilst there, he toured internationally and recorded a series of albums with the folk-fusion group East Whistle. In Japan he worked extensively with Japanese Butoh dancers, including Yurabe Masami and Katsura Kan, creating soundtracks for contemporary dance. Other musical collaborations from this period include Hiroki Okano, Esoh and Ema, Kyokusei Katayama, John Kaizan Neptune and Matsumoto Montz. From 1998 Adrian spent 3 years travelling in Brazil, living in small communities in the Amazon forest and in other parts of the country, where he became immersed in the sacred music rituals of the forest. Arising from this musical and spiritual journey, Adrian has received a collection of more than 100 original songs and chants. From 2002 Adrian lived in Cornwall where he worked as musical director for Kneehigh Theatre and Wildworks Theatre, composing and performing music for a series of site-specific productions in Malta, Cyprus, France and the UK. He also directed music projects for the Eden Project and Hall for Cornwall. Currently he lives in Dartington, Devon, where he collaborates with diverse musicians including the singer Chloë Goodchild, the drumming group Kagemusha Taiko, Okinawan singer Kyoko Tadaoka, Belgian storyteller Iwan Kushka, kora player Ravi Freeman, and singer songwriters Ayla Schaeffer and Kuahtli Vasquez. He is founder and musical director of the acoustic ensemble The Anjali Orchestra as well as the devotional singing group the Eternal Heart Band. He continues to give solo shakuhachi recitals in beautiful sacred spaces around the world. His music is heartfelt and full of subtle dynamics that conjure an atmosphere of rarefied peace, spaciousness and delicate beauty. The scope of his music is diverse, but an ineffable sense of the sacred is felt throughout.