Stephen Preston

Classical flutist. In 1966, he was a founder of the Galliard Trio with Trevor Pinnock, harpsichord and Anthony Pleeth, cello. From 1981 to 2001, he worked as a choreographer, principally of historical dance in opera and was director of two dance companies. More recently, he worked as an advisor on historical performance practices with the New Century Saxophone Quartet on their recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's Art of Fugue. He is engaged in research into developing new techniques and improvisational forms based on birdsong. From this work he has created a new musical language – ecosonics, which can be heard for instance in the BBC Singers commission "The Soft Complaining Flute", by composer Edward Cowie, written for flute and 6 sopranos.