Barry Guy is an innovative composer and bass player. His creative variety in jazz improvisation, chamber and orchestral performance, solo recitals and solo recitals are the result of a diverse training and a passion for experimentation. This is backed by a commitment to the double basse and the ideal of musical communication. He is the Artistic Director of London Jazz Composers Orchestra (BGNO) and has written many extended works. His concert works for soloists, chamber groups, and chamber orchestras have been well-received. His inventive and skillful writing has produced an outstanding series of compositions. Barry Guy continues to perform solo recitals across Europe and maintains associations with colleagues who are involved in contemporary, baroque, and improvised music. His current ensembles include the Parker/Guy/Homburger duo, the Parker/Guy/duo, Jaques Demierre, Lucas Niggli, and Paul Lytton piano trios. He also recently formed a trio with Agusti Fernandez, Ramon Lopez, and the Parker/Guy trio. He is continuing the long-standing trio with Evan Parker, Paul Lytton, and Mats Gustafsson. Barry Guy is an innovative double-bass player and composer. His creative variety in Jazz improvisation, solo recitals and chamber music is the result of a diverse training and a passion for experimentation. This is backed by a commitment to the double basse and the ideals of musical communication. Barry Guy was the principal bass in many orchestras, including The Orchestra of St.John’s Smith Square and The City of London Sinfonia. He also held the position of Monteverdi Orchestra, The Academy of Ancient Music and Kent Opera. He was active in the European Improvised Scene during these years. He is the founder and artistic director of the London Jazz Composers Orchestra. For this orchestra, he wrote several long works. He has had his concert works performed widely and his inventive and skillful writing has produced an outstanding series of compositions: Flagwalk (1983), The Eye of Silence (Intakt 1988), and Look Up! (1990), After the Rain (1992), Bird Gong Game (922) Fallingwater (1996), Redshift (1998), Remembered Earth (1999), Folio (2002/4), Anaklasis (2003/2003), Folio (2002/4), Convergence (2006) and Horizontal Blue (2008), Tales of Enchantment (2010), FFF (2010), a.o. Look up! The Royal Philharmonic Society Award in Chamber-Scale Music 1991-1992 was presented to Guy. Guy’s compositions often reflect his personal relationship with the musicians and ensembles for which he composes. The commissions come from chamber orchestras, chamber ensembles and soloists who are interested in contemporary musical performance, with a special commitment for communication with the audience. Guy’s work is fresh and unconstrained by ideological excesses, or scores that confuse players so much that it becomes difficult to perform. Guy is an excellent performer and can assess the possibilities of these scores. They are also virtuosic, often presenting innovative sonorities and extended instrument techniques. Barry Guy continues to perform solo recitals across Europe and maintains associations with fellow musicians involved in contemporary, improvised, and baroque music. His current ensembles include the Parker/Guy/Homburger duo, the Parker/Guy/duo, Jaques Demierre, Lucas Niggli, and Paul Lytton piano trios. He also recently formed a trio with Agusti Fernandez, Ramon Lopez, and the Parker/Guy trio. He maintains the long-standing trio with Evan Parker, Paul Lytton, and also works with Mats Gustafsson. In 2000, Barry Guy New Orchestra (BGNO) was formed. Barry Guy, as a director and composer, is often invited to collaborate with large ensembles by using his extensive library of compositions or to present lectures and workshops about his many graphic scores. Inscape-Tableaux, BGNO’s debut album, was awarded the Choc de l’Annee in France 2001. The same award was also given to his second composition, Oort-Entropy, for the BGNO the year after. He worked with the ICI Munich Orchestra and the Glasgow Improviser’s Orchestra in 2005. He was a featured composer at the 2006 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK). After nine years living in Ireland, he and Maya Homburger relocated to Switzerland in 2006. They continue to operate their CD Label MAYA Recordings and participate in the New, Improvised and Early Music Scene. from www.mayarecordings.com
