Heather Ryall

I am a London-based freelance clarinettist and bass clarinettist - I like to immerse myself in sound; noticing the intricate harmonics and tiny changes that occur when I really listen. I enjoy experimenting with different colours on my instruments, trying new techniques and working in settings which allow me to respond to the world around me through improvisation; using contact mics to build closer sonic relationships with nature. ​ I completed a Junior Fellowship and the Orchestral Artistry Masters at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2019 and am currently on the side-by-side scheme with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, as part of NEXT. ​ As a classical musician, I have performed works by Richard Rodney Bennett and Birtwistle for BBC Radio 3 and have worked with Garsington Opera, Riot Ensemble, BCMG, Dr K Sextet, side-by-side with the LSO and with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields as an animateur. Due, in part to the Pandemic, I have performed in diverse settings such as Hallr Wood, Somerset, The Barbican, Wigmore Hall, King's Place, by the Lea in Olympic Park, Cadogan Hall, The Place Theatre, The Sage, Gateshead, Windsor Castle, Scadbury Park, the English Speaking Union (Dartmouth House) and Milton Court. ​ I particularly enjoy playing contemporary and new music, improvising and collaborating with composers and have worked with Rebecca Saunders, Bernhard Gander, Harrison Birtwistle, Julian Anderson, Agata Zubel, Clara Iannota, Chaya Czernowin, Stevie Wishart, Sylvia Lim, Clare Elton, Nilufar Habibian and Torsten Herrmann. As a free improviser I played my first improv with Tom Jackson and have worked with Sylvain Monchoce and Lixue Lin-Siedler in Berlin as well as the group Ad-Lib Ensemble, Conduction Groups, London Soundpainting Orchestra and like to connect in this way with other musicians when the opportunity arises. I recently played at Riot Ensemble's debut at Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt 2021 (although sadly this was not in person due to the Pandemic!), as well as at their Croatian Composers' Society Concert at King's Place and their Wien Modern debut back in 2020. I am involved in various cross-arts collaborations and have been working with two artists, Miriam Sedacca and Karen Le Roy Harris on an immersive site-specific project in Jersey as well as writing music for a short film, ieau, to be released in November 2021. I am co-artistic director of the cross-arts group, Intertwined Cross-Arts Collective and we have recently released a film of our latest work, Tillow, a collaboration between composer, Clare Elton, choreographer, Kasia Witek, musicians, Sandy Thompson and Zosia Jagodzinska, and performers Stella Papi and Elisa Vassena.