PLAY! Festival 2023

Carla Rees is one of the world's leading contemporary flute specialists, whose innovative work with living composers has produced some of the most exciting music of the literature. We are excited to welcome her to PLAY! 2023 to showcase six brand new works by postgraduate composers of the Department of Music. Following a call for collaborators, these selected composers have crafted new works with Carla, have received a month-long workshop process, and we join this afternoon to hear these works come to life. 

The featured composers include: Jasmine Bates (MMus), Thomas Baynes (PhD), Miguel Diniz (PhD), Matthew Elderton-Lewis (MMus), and James Helgeson (PhD). 

About the performer  

Carla Rees is a British low flutes specialist who has developed an international reputation for her innovative work. Her multi-faceted career encompasses solo and chamber music performance, collaboration, recording, composing, arranging, editing and teaching. She performs on Kingma System flutes (made by Eva Kingma, Bickford Brannen and Lev Levit), as well as both baroque and contemporary repertoire on baroque flutes.

Her performing work encompasses chamber music and solo recitals, appearing frequently at international festivals, including flute festivals in France, Germany, Poland, USA, Canada, Costa Rica, Japan and the UK, as well as at BEAST Feast, Bangor New Music Festival, ICMC, HCMF, Cheltenham Music Festival, Kulturforum Pax Christi, Krefeld (Germany), Open Spaces Festival Nuremburg (Germany), Tirol Easter Festival, (Austria), Lunalia Festival (Belgium) Eglise Saint-Merri, Paris (France) and La Cote Festival (Switzerland), Sonic Circuits (USA), Spark Festival (USA) and others. Recent UK performances include at Iklectik, The Forge and Café Oto (London), MTIDMU Concert Series (Leicester), Fairfield Halls (Croydon), Handel House (London) and York Spring Music Festival. Recent performances include events in the UK, Italy, Poland, Costa Rica, Japan and Brazil.

She is Artistic Director of rarescale, a contemporary chamber ensemble with whom she works to create and promote new repertoire for her instruments. She is also a member of the Goldfield Ensemble, Edison Ensemble, and plays in a trio focussing on Feldman’s music with pianist John Tilbury and percussionist Simon Allen. READ MORE.