Music
Lunchtime Recital: Simeon Walker (Piano)
Standard: £8
Versatile and prolific Leeds-based pianist & composer Simeon Walker has quickly emerged as a leading light in the burgeoning modern classical scene. Alongside a busy performance and touring schedule across the UK and Europe, in recent years he has supported a variety of high-profile artists including Neil Cowley, Submotion Orchestra, Erland Cooper and LYR – the musical project of Simon Armitage – and performed notable live sets at Latitude, Timber Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe.
Regularly broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and ClassicFM, his music has received listening figures in excess of 45 million streams across platforms, whilst his piece ‘Reverie’ notably features on the first official Piano Day compilation (2022) by the LEITER label, alongside modern classical luminaries Nils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds and Chilly Gonzales.
An in-demand collaborator, Simeon has worked with numerous musicians, composers and performers across a range of genres, in addition to receiving commissions to collaborate on interdisciplinary projects involving fellow creatives such as artist Mary Griffiths, Portuguese choreographer Sara Afonso, writer Emma White, filmmaker Ben Cohen and Instagram’s favourite estate agent, publisher and journal The Modern House.
Whilst studying for a Masters in Composition, he studied under the tutelage of Errollyn Wallen, the recently-appointed Master of the King’s Music, further developing and expanding his approach to composition. With his background in classical music combined with a keen interest in jazz, folk and ambient music, both Simeon’s creative output and informal, invitational approach to live performance reflects and portrays the extremes of human experience and emotion.
Encompassing moments of quiet, gentle solitude through to boisterous, flowing exuberance – this is music composed and performed from the heart; simultaneously capturing a sense of spacious landscapes and grandeur, alongside the quietest, closest intimacy and warmth. Listeners are invited to gather around the piano, to find beauty and meaning as much in the spaces between the notes as the notes themselves; as tender, expressive and heartfelt musical stories are woven engagingly together, delivered with a uniquely delicate tough, and a wry smile.
“A singular and enchanting hour” – The Fringe Review
“Sublime, assured and immersive compositions” – SY Gigs
“Remarkable stage presence and command of the instrument” – Modellbahn Music
“For those who aren’t generally fans of classical music, this new movement offers a modern take that reconnects us with the beauty of the piano and how composers like Simeon Walker can use it in different ways to convey what it is that makes us human” – Louder Than War
