B I O G R A P H Y
Delia Stevens is a percussionist at the forefront of her generation: a pioneer of future-facing ideas, visionary of sound and generous collaborator with “burning chops and a cosmic imagination”.
"percussion from Delia Stevens, whose thoughtful, insistent playing is crucial”
The Guardian
"superb"
The Financial Times
"extraordinary..a joy to watch"
Classical Source
"real musicality"
The Daily Telegraph
"first-rate musicians..exhilarating..there deserves to be a special mention for percussionist Delia Stevens"
FRoots Magazine
Coming up in 2024
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The Silent Planet: Stevens & Pound reimagine The Planets by Holst as a triple concerto for percussion, harmonica/melodeon and climate activist (Force of Nature) alongside Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Northern College of Music, conducted by Clark Rundell in July
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Regenerate: Co-Artistic Director with Simmy Singh & Sinfonia Cymru, reimagining Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons as a new double concerto inspired by climate change Seasons for Change and performing a reimagination Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending alongside folk harmonica player Will Pound, touring Wales in June and July
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Ascend: launching Stevens & Pound, reimagining the folk music of classical composers with triple nominee for BBC Folk Musician of the Year, harmonica/melodeon player Will Pound - UK Summer festival tour and Autumn album launch tour
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Terrains: hang drum with Portico Quartet at Earth Hackney and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
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Ness: author Robert MacFarlane, singer Hayden Thorpe and Propellor Ensemble at Aldeburgh Music on the island Orford Ness in Suffolk
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Rothko Chapel: European tour performing Feldman with Manchester Collective
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Catalyst: Curator and Lead Creative Artist for National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at the Royal Festival Hall and Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
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Music in Motion: National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain Creative Tutor
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RPS Awards: Opening ceremony performance alongside Principal Percussionists from the BBC Philharmonic, The Hallé and Manchester Camerata.
About
Delia is a percussionist, improviser and curator, specialising in creative reimaginations of classical music - in particular with her duo Stevens & Pound - alongside triple BBC Folk Musician of the Year Will Pound (melodeon and harmonica).
Her current work is focused on exploring the climate crisis through collaboration; in July 2024 - alongside members of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Northern College of Music - Stevens & Pound premiered The Silent Planet - their joint recomposition of Holst's Planets Suite in collaboration with a climate activist from U30s non-profit Force of Nature. They co-wrote their own additional planet (which Holst chose to omit) - Earth - giving voice to silenced voices within the climate crisis.
Furthermore, 2025 sees Delia touring China - with a programme performed on instruments exclusively derived from trees - exploring deforestation with the Aurora Percussion Duo with Chinese percussionist Le Yu. In 2024, she co-curated a programme called "Seasons for Change" based on a reimagination of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with percussion alongside violinist Simmy Singh as a concerto soloist with Sinfonia Cymru, which toured Wales. As the percussionist in Propellor Ensemble she is currently touring two programmes: Air Songs - an immersive sound walk violin concerto, and Hayden Thorpe's new album - a musical setting of Robert Macfarlane's book "Ness" - located on a now-decommissioned nuclear military testing site off the coast of Suffolk reclaimed by nature.
As a soloist, Delia has toured Avner Dorman's prolific 360° percussion concerto Frozen in Time at Prague's Last Night of the Proms (Beethoven Academy Orchestra) and for a 5-date tour across Germany (Lausitzer Philharmonie). She has appeared as a guest solo artist with the BBC Singers in the BBC Proms (Royal Albert Hall), The Royal Northern Sinfonia (The Glasshouse) and as the hang drum player for the Mercury-nominated Portico Quartet (Elbphilharmonie, Earth Hackney, The Barbican). In 2023, Delia was Artist-in-Residence at Leeds University, curating three chamber music concerts inspired by scientific research at the Bragg Institute (AlgoRhythms: Music and AI, Sounds of Metal, Multiscale Modeling), commissioning three composers (Oscar Escudero, Will Pound and Damien Harron) to write for percussion.
Broadcasting highlights include curating and presenting her own BBC Radio 3 Series: Music and Machines exploring our musical relationship with AI and technology in the past, present and future, and presenting her joint recomposition of Vivaldi's Four Seasons for the Sky Arts Musical Masterpieces series with Sinfonia Cymru and violinist Simmy Singh. She was featured in her own guest episode for Jess Gillam's This Classical Life and has recorded percussion for Channel 4's The British Bake Off series.
Delia is the co-founder of the Aurora Percussion Duo and the world-folk collective Kabantu. Both groups have won the £10,000 Royal Over-Seas League Competition and have toured prolifically; from TedX Manchester and TedX Gateshead to the Queen Elizabeth Hall (Southbank Centre), Beijing's Forbidden Concert Hall, the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, Lucerne Festival, Luxembourg Philharmonie and Orkney, Cambridge, Shetland, Warwick , Broadstairs and Shrewsbury Folk Festivals.
Delia is an Associate of the Royal Northern College of Music. Whilst studying at the RNCM she won the Gold Medal Competition (the highest award for soloists) and the Concerto Competition and as a teenager was a Category Finalist in the televised BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition.
Delia curates concerts for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain as a Creative Lead and is a regular Creative Tutor for the National Children's Orchestra. She was the Senior Lecturer in Percussion and Reflective Practice at Leeds Conservatoire for three years and currently teaches percussion at Leeds University.