| Rich Batsford | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Richard William Batsford |
| Born | October 25, 1969 Birmingham, England |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Website | richbatsford.com |
Richard William Batsford (born 25 October 1969) is an English pianist, composer and singer-songwriter. He is a recording artist and a frequent performer in and around his home in Birmingham UK, presenting shows featuring a mix of meditative solo piano instrumentals and reflective songs.[1][2]
Batsford is also a co-creator of creative network Project X Presents and Musituality, a platform for musicians of various faiths to perform together.[3][4]
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Born in Birmingham, Batsford has lived since an early age in the suburban Moseley area, known as a focal point for the city’s musical and creative communities.[5] Beginning his vocal training as a choirboy in St Marys Church, he went on to sing in the National Youth Choir and the CBSO Chorus.[3]
He stood as candidate for the Green Party in Acocks Green ward in the 2004 local government elections.
In the 1990s Batsford performed as singer and main songwriter in Indie Guitar bands including Maroon.[6] Two of his dark, short stories were published in fiction magazines.[7][8] He also promoted comedy show The GAG Club and was one of the original partners in setting up the Birmingham Comedy Festival.[9]
In 2007 Batsford collaborated with krautrock/shoegaze band Einstellung, for a concert in which Batsford both supported and accompanied the band, highlighting elements of post-rock shared by both artists.[10]
In September 2009, Batsford released Valentine Court, a debut album of solo piano music on his own Mouflon Music label drawing comparisons with minimalist composers Steve Reich and Philip Glass and impressionist Claude Debussy.[1][11][12]
In 2009 he made his major festival debut with an appearance at the The Big Chill music festival performing in the Vida La Vida tent curated by ambient DJ Mixmaster Morris[2][13] and was given an encore. Other festival appearances include Gigbeth,[14] Drop Beats Not Bombs[14] and ArtsFest[15] - the latter on an outdoor stage in Birmingham's Centenary Square.
In June 2011 he showcased Mindfulmess, an album of songs with a well received concert at mac (the Midlands Arts Centre).[14][16] The album features lyrics partly inspired by his Buddhist spiritual practice with elaborate vocal harmonies owing a debt to a lifelong appreciation of pop artist Brian Wilson, all accompanied by his delicate trademark piano patterns.[1][16][17]
Batsford plays a Roland FP4 digital piano.
Batsford co-created the creative network Project X Presents[5] with Marc Reck,[18] Anne-Marie Pope[18] and Anthony Ramm,[19] producing a series of five events dubbed “Omnimedia Experiences” beginning with Like Fxck in July 2006 in the Epic Skate Park in Birmingham. The events featured artists from a wide range of disciplines coming together to blend their work into a seamless, immersive event lasting up to seven hours, usually presented across three stages, with the audience in the middle The Birmingham Post described the event as “destabilising the established role of the ‘spectator’ in performance theatre and drawing you in to an impressively eclectic and complex mix of art forms”.[4][19][20]
The Musituality project grew out of a series of concerts called “Music by Candlelight” St Mary’s Church, Moseley, organised by Rich Batsford as part of the Moseley Festival.[11] The concert held in July 2008 included a small choir called St Mary’s Schola, which consists of a double quartet of singers drawn from St Mary’s Church Choir, alongside performances of Qawwali and nasheed from Islamic vocal group A’ashiq Al Rasul.[21]
Inspired by the success of the event, in particular the coming together of Christian and Islamic elements in a Christian building, Mick Perrier of St Marys Schola and Amran Ellahi of A’ashiq Al Rasul joined with Rich Batsford to create Musituality—a portmanteau combining the words music and spirituality.[22][23] The project was launched to a full capacity audience at Birmingham Cathedral in 2009 in a concert well received by the local music community.[24][25]
A further concert in 2010 at the Birmingham Buddhist Centre saw the same collaboration.[25][26]