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 2023
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BBC Radio 3: curator & presenter - 3-part series Music & Machines Music Inspired by Machines / Music Made Alongside Machines / Music Made by Machines
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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 with improvised percussion commissioned by Sky Arts for their Musical Masterpieces Series
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Music in the Summer Air Festival, Shanghai & Petworth Festival with the Aurora Percussion Duo
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Launching Stevens & Pound - new duo BBC Folk Musician of the Year harmonica virtuoso Will Pound: reimagining the folk music of classical composers
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Soloist with the Royal Northern Sinfonia: Sogno di Stabat Mater for Violin, Viola and Vibraphone with chamber orchestra at The Fire Station and Glasshouse International Centre for Music
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Kabantu Summer festivals tour: Spitalfields, Maui Waui, Great Comp, Lichfield, Priddy Folk & Gate to Southwell
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Double Sextet: Steve Reich
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Composing For..Percussion: collaborating with emerging composers to develop and premiere six percussion pieces
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Hebden Bridge Arts Festival: Bodies of Water - Artistic Director in her hometown; collaboration with local wild swimmers to highlight the corporate sewage disposal into the River Calder
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Propellor Ensemble (Jack McNeill): FLIGHT - the sound of climate change with ornithologist Mark Cocker, electronic musician Leafcutter John & sound designer Linda O’Keefe: Hebden Bridge Arts Festival, Llangollen Festival, Birmingham Conservatoire
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Jess Gillam Ensemble: guest percussionist and joining Jess as a guest artist for an episode of her BBC Radio 3 show This Classical Life
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Multistory Orchestra: THE VOLCANO - percussion trio at Ports Fest: co-curator & performer, In Too Deep at Peckham Bold Tendencies and The Endz at The Southbank Centre
About
Delia is a percussionist, improviser and curator, specialising in creative reimaginations of classical music. In 2022 she was invited to be 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, Damien Harron) to write for percussion. She also gave a TedX Talk with her world-folk collective Kabantu called "Thinking in Freehand" at the Sage Gateshead, co-directed VOLCANO (percussion chamber music concert) for Multi-Story Orchestra at the Southbank Centre and was made an Associate of the Royal Northern College of Music.
In 2021 Delia was invited to perform alongside the BBC Singers for their BBC Prom (Royal Albert Hall) in their "house band". Other performance highlights include touring Avner Dorman's prolific 360° percussion concerto Frozen in Time for Prague's Last Night of the Proms (Beethoven Academy Orchestra) and across Germany (Lausitzer Philharmonie). Delia has played hang drum with the Portico Quartet (Barbican Centre), marimba for The Lion King UK tour and vibraphone for the Great British Bake Off soundtrack.
She is the co-founder of the Aurora Percussion Duo and world-folk collective Kabantu. Both groups have won the £10,000 Royal Over-Seas League Competition and tour prolifically; from the Queen Elizabeth Hall (Southbank Centre), Beijing's Forbidden Concert Hall, the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and Luxembourg Philharmonie to Orkney, Cambridge, Shetland, Warwick and Shrewsbury Folk Festivals.
Whilst studying at the RNCM Delia also 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.
She has worked with the National Youth Orchestra and National Children's Orchestras of Great Britain as a tutor and also held roles as Senior Lecturer in Percussion and Reflective Practice at Leeds Conservatoire.