Balladeste string duo - Preetha Narayanan & Tara Franks
“defies easy definition … very very special indeed” Katie Derham BBC Radio 3 In Tune
"absolutely stunning" - Anita Rani BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour
ABOUT US:
We have developed a unique musical partnership working closely together for over a decade. Connected through our parallel paths from a classical background to a more recent practice of cross-cultural exploration & improvisation, we met back in 2008 on the GSMD Leadership MMUS. We have since been developing our own collaborative way of co-composing. We write primarily by ear, using improvisation to develop our pieces from small starting points.
Since self-releasing our 1st album of all co-created original music Relic (2017), then 2nd critically acclaimed album Beyond Breath (2021) we have performed/been interviewed on: BBC R4 Woman’s Hour, BBC R3 In Tune, Night Tracks & Saturday Breakfast Show, Soho Radio with Max Reinhardt & Dutch National Radio.
We have performed Nationally and Internationally at: El Chopo Mexico City, Isole Che Parlano Sardinia, CCB Lisbon, Art Night UK, Brighton Festival, OAE Night Shift & Cafe Oto. We have also collaborated/performed with high profile artists incl; Kae Tempest, Jasdeep Degun-Singh, Sam Lee, Anoushka Shankar and Jocelyn Pook.
In 2023 we released Conversations in Ritual challenging ourselves to record an entirely improvised album recorded live at Snape Maltings, supported by Britten Pears Arts/HMUK and Festival of the New.
creative Workshops:
We are advocates for sharing our innovative creative practice with musicians of all ages & stages. With over 2 decades of experience working in a myriad of creative education settings, we have written music with; young musicians, non-musicians, worked with orchestras, in care homes, in prisons, with parents & babies & been commissioned to write music for dance/theatre. Writing music with others is an integral part of our practice and feeds back into our composition/performance work as a duo.
PROJECTS COMMISSIONERS incl:
Aldeburgh music, Sinfonia Viva, Music Masters, Barbican, Britten Peers Arts, Dartington Arts, Saffron Waldon Orchestras for All, SoundsCreative Projects, Korean Arts & Culture Services (KACES), Sunland School of the Arts Mexico, Beit-al Musica Palestine.
As a duo we have a particularly interest in working with young string players from diverse backgrounds to promote embodied musicianship skills, new approaches to string playing and ways into improvisation/group composition using incorporating the strengths of our combined skills.
PREETHA MARAYANAN (London based) - PhD Guildhall School of Music & Drama in Co-Creative Practice - Yoga teacher certification from renowned institution in India, Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram specialised in Yoga Therapy.
TARA FRANKS (Hastings based) - Founder SoundsCreative Projects (SCP) - PGCE (Cambridge, Homerton) - Highly experienced (20yrs) Creative facilitator - particular focus collective creativity & collaboration, group vocal practice.
STRNGS pilot programme
Strings will allow us to test & delivery an alternative educational framework that doesn’t yet exsist in the strict classical framework - a model we can review, evaluative and expand moving forward.
STRINGS - STRINGs TRAINING LAB (STL) Partner Organisations
Selected Letters of support from 2 Core Partners
CREATE MUSIC (East Sussex Music Service - offices Brighton) - a SoundsCreative Projects (SCP) partner (Tara’s arts organisation). Tara also leads O360- SEND Inter-generational Creative Ensemble
MUSIC MASTERS (London) - BD have a longstanding relationship running creative composition projects and training for teaching artsits & early career musicians.
SINFONIA VIVA (Derby) - BD connected through leading Creative community projects and Preetha has been commissioned to write for the orchestra.
FREE RANGE (Kent) - BD connected via performance projects with a growing relationship to support each others organisations
CREATIVE PEAKS (Peak District) - BD connected via performance project and exchange/collaboration programme.
SAA-UK - BC connected through performance & collabortions focused on South Asia artists and music.
Guildhall School of Music - BD alumi of Leadership Masters, tutors, PHD supervisor, part of diversity/inclusion panel.
TESTIMONIALS (need & relevance) - STL keen participants/mentees
STRINGS EXCHANGE LAB (SEL) Partners
All SEL collaborators are composer/performers who cross genres, use voice, electronics & field recordings based across UK in our target areas (Hasting, London, Midlands). We have worked with them all individually or as part of BB residency 2022 and have long aspired to bring them all together to creative a new network.
MENTOR Partners
All mentors are people we have worked with in collaborative projects, trained with, or have encountered in the music scene as being resonant with our ethos or instrumental focus.
All mentors are performing artists who now have arts organisations/NPOs or education branches that share their specicic practice.
Balladeste MUSIC & ALBUMS:
“…an extraordinary and beautiful listening experience…” Folk Radio UK
FUNDERS: PRS Open Fund & Women Make Music, HELP MUSICIANS UK, ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND, Hawkwood College, Britten Pears Arts.