Audrey Riley
Encyclopedia
Audrey Riley is a cellist and string arranger based in the UK. Riley trained at the Guildhall School of Music
with Leonard Stehn and was a cellist
for Virginia Astley
from 1983 to 1986 and a one-time auxiliary member of The Family Cat
. She has been a member of the post-minimalist band Icebreaker
since 1989, and a frequent indie
session artist. As an arranger and improvising session cellist she has recorded for nearly two decades with numerous groups including The Style Council
(A Stones Throw Away), The Smiths
(Stop Me
), Nick Cave
(on Tender Prey
), Dubstar
, The Cure
, The Sundays
, Lush
, the Smashing Pumpkins (for whom she conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
strings) and Dave Matthews
(for whom she conducted the Seattle Symphony Orchestra in eight of her arrangements for the album Some Devil
), as well as live and television appearances with many others. Most recently she has contributed her playing and arrangements to new albums by Coldplay
(A Rush of Blood to the Head
), Feeder
(Comfort In Sound
and Pushing the Senses
), Muse
(Absolution, Black Holes & Revelations and The Resistance
), Moloko
(Statues
) and Fightstar
(Be Human).
She has worked extensively with dance companies including Siobhan Davies
, Royal Scottish Ballet and Random Dance. Since 2001 she has toured with the Merce Cunningham
Dance Company performing Gavin Bryars
‘Bi-ped’ and the solo work for cello, ‘One 8’ by John Cage
, in Paris, Mullhouse, Berlin, Dublin, Reykjavik, Bergen, Hong Kong, Brazil and at The Barbican, London. She took part in the first performance of a new work “Views”, music by Cage, performing with the experimental Japanese violinist Takahisa Kosugi and the composer Christian Wolff
, which toured throughout Europe in 2005-6.
During 2002/03, Riley embarked on her own project, entitled 'A Change Of Light', a collaboration between musicians, composers and visual artist Philip Riley, with Andrew Zolinsky (piano), James Woodrow (guitar), Nick Allum (The Fatima Mansions, Cathal Coughlan) and Rob Allum (High Llamas, Turin Brakes
) both on drums, to present music for cello in an expanded recital. New works have been written by composers Gavin Bryars, David Lang
, Steve Hillier
(Dubstar), Mark Brydon
(Moloko), Emma Anderson
(Lush), Cathal Coughlan, Piet Goddaer (Ozark Henry
), David Gavurin, Harriet Wheeler
(The Sundays
) and Damian le Gassick. After many performances in art galleries and venues in the UK, the project was recorded in 2003/04 for a combined CD/DVD release, with a second series being subsequently developed.
More recently, Audrey has joined London music college The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance
, as the tutor for the arrangements classes.
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...
with Leonard Stehn and was a cellist
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
for Virginia Astley
Virginia Astley
Virginia Astley is an English singer-songwriter most active during the 1980s and 1990s. From the start of her songwriting career in 1980, Astley took her inspiration from many sources. Her classical training influenced her as did a desire to be experimental with her music...
from 1983 to 1986 and a one-time auxiliary member of The Family Cat
The Family Cat
The Family Cat were a British independent band, formed in Stoke Newington, London in 1988. Three members were originally from Cornwall, one from Plymouth and one from Southampton.-Career:...
. She has been a member of the post-minimalist band Icebreaker
Icebreaker (band)
Icebreaker is a UK-based new music ensemble founded by James Poke and John Godfrey. The group have established themselves as one of the UK's leading new music interpreters specializing particularly in post-minimal and "totalist" repertoire. They always play amplified and have a reputation for...
since 1989, and a frequent indie
Indie (music)
In music, independent music, often shortened to indie music or "indie" is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing....
session artist. As an arranger and improvising session cellist she has recorded for nearly two decades with numerous groups including The Style Council
The Style Council
The Style Council were an English band, formed in 1983 by the ex-The Jam singer and guitarist Paul Weller, with keyboardist Mick Talbot. The permanent line-up grew to include drummer Steve White and Weller's then-wife, vocalist Dee C. Lee. Other artists such as Tracie Young and Tracey Thorn also...
(A Stones Throw Away), The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
(Stop Me
Stop Me
Stop Me is a compilation album by English band The Smiths. It compiles the band's then-latest three singles and their B-sides in reverse-chronological order...
), Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
(on Tender Prey
Tender Prey
Tender Prey is the fifth album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in 1988 on Mute Records.Tender Prey contains Cave's 'signature' tune "The Mercy Seat", which he has subsequently played at almost all of his live performances since 1988, and was covered by Johnny Cash...
), Dubstar
Dubstar
Dubstar are an English band, performing mostly dream pop and indie dance music, as well as occasional pop ballads and, on later releases, guitar-heavy rock with an industrial influence. The group was formed in 1992 by Steve Hillier and Chris Wilkie in Newcastle-upon-Tyne...
, The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
, The Sundays
The Sundays
The Sundays were an English alternative rock band. The band formed in the late 1980s and released three albums in the 1990s.-Career:The band's beginnings came with the meeting of Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin at university. Wheeler had played gigs with 'Cruel Shoes' an early...
, Lush
Lush (band)
Lush were an English alternative rock band, formed in 1987 and disbanded in 1998. They were one of the first bands to attract the "shoegazing" label...
, the Smashing Pumpkins (for whom she conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
strings) and Dave Matthews
Dave Matthews
David John "Dave" Matthews is a South African–born American musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band...
(for whom she conducted the Seattle Symphony Orchestra in eight of her arrangements for the album Some Devil
Some Devil
Some Devil is the debut solo album by musician Dave Matthews. It was released on September 23, 2003 on RCA Records. It has been certified platinum by the RIAA, signifying over a million copies sold. The album features several guest musicians, including long-time Dave Matthews Band collaborator...
), as well as live and television appearances with many others. Most recently she has contributed her playing and arrangements to new albums by Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
(A Rush of Blood to the Head
A Rush of Blood to the Head
A Rush of Blood to the Head is the second studio album by English rock band Coldplay. Released on 26 August 2002 in the UK through the label Parlophone, the album was produced by the band and British record producer Ken Nelson...
), Feeder
Feeder
-Technology:* Feeder , any of several devices used in apiculture to supplement or replace natural food sources* Feeder , another name for a riser, a reservoir built into a metal casting mold to prevent cavities due to shrinkage...
(Comfort In Sound
Comfort in Sound
Comfort in Sound is the fourth studio album by the British rock band Feeder, released on October 21, 2002 and also the first to be released by the band after the suicide of drummer Jon Lee earlier in the year...
and Pushing the Senses
Pushing the Senses
Pushing the Senses is the fifth album by the British rock band Feeder. It was released on Echo, Liberation Music and PIAS on 31 January 2005 in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, while being released on Pony Canyon in Japan on 10 February 2005...
), Muse
Muse (band)
Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy , Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard...
(Absolution, Black Holes & Revelations and The Resistance
The Resistance (album)
The Resistance is the fifth studio album by English alternative rock band Muse, released in Europe on 14 September 2009, and in North America on 15 September 2009....
), Moloko
Moloko
Moloko were an Anglo-Irish electronic/pop duo consisting of Róisín Murphy from Wicklow, Ireland and Mark Brydon, from Sunderland, England.- Origin of band name :...
(Statues
Statues
Statues is a popular children's game, often played in Australia but with versions throughout the world.-General rules:# A person starts out as the "Curator" and stands at the end of a field. Everyone else playing stands at the far end...
) and Fightstar
Fightstar
Fightstar are an English alternative rock band from London. They formed in 2003 and their lineup comprises lead vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist Charlie Simpson, guitarist and vocalist Alex Westaway, bass guitarist Dan Haigh and drummer Omar Abidi...
(Be Human).
She has worked extensively with dance companies including Siobhan Davies
Siobhan Davies
Siobhan Davies CBE DLitt was a dancer with the London Contemporary Dance Theatre during the 1970s, then becoming one of its leading choreographers before founding her own company — the Siobhan Davies Dance Company — in 1988.First training in art, Davies was one of the first year's intake of...
, Royal Scottish Ballet and Random Dance. Since 2001 she has toured with the Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham
Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant-garde for more than 50 years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was considered one of the greatest creative forces in American dance...
Dance Company performing Gavin Bryars
Gavin Bryars
Richard Gavin Bryars is an English composer and double bassist. He has been active in, or has produced works in, a variety of styles of music, including jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, experimental music, avant-garde and neoclassicism.-Early life and career:Born in Goole, East...
‘Bi-ped’ and the solo work for cello, ‘One 8’ by John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, in Paris, Mullhouse, Berlin, Dublin, Reykjavik, Bergen, Hong Kong, Brazil and at The Barbican, London. She took part in the first performance of a new work “Views”, music by Cage, performing with the experimental Japanese violinist Takahisa Kosugi and the composer Christian Wolff
Christian Wolff (composer)
Christian G. Wolff is an American composer of experimental classical music.-Biography:Wolff was born in Nice in France to German literary publishers Helen and Kurt Wolff, who had published works by Franz Kafka, Robert Musil, and Walter Benjamin. After relocating to the U.S...
, which toured throughout Europe in 2005-6.
During 2002/03, Riley embarked on her own project, entitled 'A Change Of Light', a collaboration between musicians, composers and visual artist Philip Riley, with Andrew Zolinsky (piano), James Woodrow (guitar), Nick Allum (The Fatima Mansions, Cathal Coughlan) and Rob Allum (High Llamas, Turin Brakes
Turin Brakes
Turin Brakes are a modern folk duo, comprising Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian, hailing from Balham, London. They had a UK top 5 hit with their song "Painkiller ".-1999–2003:...
) both on drums, to present music for cello in an expanded recital. New works have been written by composers Gavin Bryars, David Lang
David Lang (composer)
David Lang is an American composer living in New York City. He was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Music for The Little Match Girl Passion.-Biography:...
, Steve Hillier
Steve Hillier
Steve Hillier from Welling, South London is a British songwriter, DJ and record producer who has worked with rock bands such as Keane, Landon Pigg and Mark Owen. Hillier is chiefly known for his work with the band Dubstar which he formed with Chris Wilkie and Sarah Blackwood in Newcastle Upon Tyne...
(Dubstar), Mark Brydon
Mark Brydon
Mark Errington Brydon is an English bassist, guitarist, composer, arranger, recording engineer, remix artist and producer best known as a member of the group Moloko.-Previous work:...
(Moloko), Emma Anderson
Emma Anderson
Emma Anderson is an English musician. She is best known for being a songwriter, guitarist and backing singer in the shoegazing/Britpop band, Lush. As a keen music fan, she used to write a fanzine called Alphabet Soup with school friend Miki Berenyi when she was a teenager...
(Lush), Cathal Coughlan, Piet Goddaer (Ozark Henry
Ozark Henry
Piet Goddaer is a Belgian musician, better known by his stage name Ozark Henry.-Biography:In his early life, Piet Goddaer was involved in several local bands...
), David Gavurin, Harriet Wheeler
Harriet Wheeler
Harriet Wheeler is the lead singer of the 1980s/1990s alternative rock band, The Sundays.-Early years:Wheeler grew up in Sonning Common, near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, the daughter of an architect and a teacher. She was enrolled as an English literature student at Bristol University when she...
(The Sundays
The Sundays
The Sundays were an English alternative rock band. The band formed in the late 1980s and released three albums in the 1990s.-Career:The band's beginnings came with the meeting of Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin at university. Wheeler had played gigs with 'Cruel Shoes' an early...
) and Damian le Gassick. After many performances in art galleries and venues in the UK, the project was recorded in 2003/04 for a combined CD/DVD release, with a second series being subsequently developed.
More recently, Audrey has joined London music college The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance
The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance
The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance , is an independent, specialist music education provider located in London, UK. They offer courses in guitar, bass, drums, vocals, music business and songwriting...
, as the tutor for the arrangements classes.