“An adrenaline shock to the UK new music scene…” – Kate Molleson, BBC Radio 3

“The Queen of Clarinet Mulitphonics” – Sara Mohr-Pietsch, BBC Radio 3

“…multiphonic virtuosity” – The Guardian

“…brilliant…” – The Times

“…performed by the excellent Heather Roche…brought vividly to life by Roche’s controlled but expressive performance… 5 stars” –  BBC Music Magazine

“…a figurehead for contemporary music performance practice” – Neil Luck, BBC Radio 3

“…undoubtedly one of the great instrumentalists of her generation.” – Graham McKenzie, Artistic Director of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival

“What makes all of this so fully absorbing is how Roche has completely internalized extended techniques for clarinet into her playing, with nothing sounding forced or contrived.” – Point of Departure

Born in Canada, clarinetist Heather Roche trained in England, lived in Germany for 7 years and now lives in London.

She has played with Apartment House (London) since 2016. With them, she has recorded 28 albums for the Another Timbre label, and the ensemble is currently Ensemble-in-Residence at Wigmore Hall. She started working with the band Modern Nature in 2022, joining them first for their King's Place show in December of that month. 

In 2015 she formed a duo with the German accordionist Eva Zöllner, with whom she has performed at the Venice Biennale, MIXTUR festival (Barcelona), the Darmstadt Summer Courses, Gaudeamus (Holland), and the Bludenzer Tage (Austria). They also toured extensively in Mexico (2019), Sweden (2021) and Colombia (2022). They have commissioned dozens of new pieces for their duo, including works by Annika Socolofsky, Elnaz Seyedi, Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, Christopher Fox, and Johan Svensson. Their latest call for composers (supported by NeuStart Kultur) attracted 100 applications from around the world, from which they chose four – which will be premiered in January 2023 in Germany. www.zoellner-roche.com

She was a member of Mimitabu (Gothenburg) from 2018-2020, and she was a founding member of hand werk, a 6-person chamber music ensemble based in Cologne, and worked with the group from 2010-2017.

She has performed with ensembles and orchestras including Musikfabrik (Cologne), the WDR Orchestra (Cologne), mimitabu (Gothenburg), the London Symphony Orchestra (London), the London Sinfonietta (London), ensemble Garage (Cologne), ensemble interface (Berlin), the Riot Ensemble (London), the Alisios Camerata (Zagreb), manufaktur für aktuelle musik (Frankfurt), and ensemble proton (Bern).

She has performed at most of the major European festivals, including musikFest (Berlin), BachFest (Leipzig), Musica Nova (Helsinki), Acht Brücken (Cologne), the International Computer Music Conference (Huddersfield, Ljubljana), the Dias de Música Electroacústica (Seia, Portugal) the Bludenzer Tage (Bludenz, Austria), and the Agora Festival (Ircam, Paris). She has also performed solo programmes at the Zagreb Music Biennale, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the New York Electroacoustic Symposium, at CIRMMT (Montreal), Sound Festival (Aberdeen), Unerhörte Musik (Berlin), Eavesdropping (London), Rainy Days (Luxembourg) and with the Birmingham Electroacoustic Sound Theatre (BEAST).

She has premiered many solo works for her instrument, including pieces by Maija Hynninen, Simon Emmerson, Martin Iddon, Lisa Robertson, Christopher Fox, Dai Fujikura, Martin Rane Bauck, Chikako Morishita, Michelle Lou, etc. In 2020, Scott McLaughlin wrote his clarinet concerto, Natura Naturans, for her, and it was premiered at Tectonics (Glasgow) with the BBCSSO under Ilan Volkov. Her CD of Martin Iddon’s clarinet music, Sapindales, recently sold out on the Another Timbre label. She also has solo CDs out on the HCR/NMC and Métier labels. 

Since 2016 she has acted as the Reviews Editor for TEMPO, a quarterly journal for contemporary music published by Cambridge University Press. She also writes regularly for the Clarinet and Saxophone Society Magazine, and has written feature pieces for MusicWorks Magazine (Canada).

Her website is host to one of the most widely read new music blogs on the Internet. In 2019 it had 90,000 hits from around the world. She successfully crowdfunded in 2014 in order to host her first composition competition. Six young composers were chosen out of 270 applicants to write new pieces, which were premiered in 2016.

She gives workshops in clarinet technique and composition all over Europe, for example in London, Munich and Copenhagen. She has a yearly workshop for fourth-year undergraduate students at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, in which they write a new piece for clarinet and electronics. She has also participated in residencies with young composers at Stanford University, Harvard University, Peabody Conservatory and the University of Leeds, etc.

In 2014 she was awarded a DIVA (Danish International Visiting Artists Fellowship), and lived in Copenhagen for two months.

Heather completed her Masters of Music (Orchestral Training) in 2006 at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, studying under Joy Farrall and Laurent Ben Slimane, in addition to conducting with Sian Edwards. Following her degree she completed residencies with the International Ensemble Modern Academy, at IMPULS in Graz and with ensemble recherche in Freiburg, the Darmstadt Summer Courses 2008 and 2010 and the International Ensemble Modern Academy in Innsbruck, Austria. She performed in masterclasses with Michael Collins, Ernesto Molinari and Shizuyo Oka, to name a few. She completed her BMus in 2005 at the University of Victoria, Canada, studying under Patricia Kostek.

After moving to Berlin in 2018, Cosmic Cherry has started making an impact on the local club scene and beyond, through her distinctive sound and unconventional approach to music. The joy of dancing and movement has always played a vital part in her life. 

She takes the dancefloor on an unusual journey throughout different genres and catches the listener by surprise, as she blends dreamy house music with playful synth sounds, percussive rhythmic treasures, powerful proto-trance and even old-school techno. 

Having lived on three different continents, her varied sets are a portrayal of various local influences. Always digging for the sometimes obscure, rare type of music, she has made regular performances at Berlin’s local institutions such as Watergate, Renate and Kater Blau, and regularly plays in other cities, where dancers share her energy throughout the night. 

Since 2022, she has also started making her own music, releasing with labels such as Frank Music, Alzaya Records, Trampoliner and Blaq Numbers.


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upcoming gigs:

6.3. elsi, berlin
8.6. kater, berlin
12.6. renate, berlin
20.6. galerie kurzweil, darmstadt
28.6. bulbul, berlin
25.7. feel festival, berlin
16.8. rbb dachlounge, berlin
23.8. tokonoma, frankfurt a.m.
6.9. gARTn, berlin
27.9. südpol, hamburg
8.11. renate, berlin
28.11. tokonoma, frankfurt a.m.
16.1. kater, berlin
8.3. fitzroy, berlin


past gigs: aeden (berlin), amp (frankfurt a.m.), anomalie art club (berlin), broncos (hannover), bulbul (berlin), club paula (dresden), distillery (leipzig), el barrio festival (frankfurt a.m.), kater blau (berlin), marktlokal club (berlin), mensch meier (berlin), paloma bar (berlin),  renate (berlin), reworks festival (greece), tanzhaus west (frankfurt a.m.), tarmac festival (germany), tempio del futuro perduto (milan), watergate (berlin), zenner (berlin)

Violin player and composer based in Glasgow, Scotland

resident @objekt-klein-a
part of @fragmenteddigital
crewlove @zirkulation

bookings via amina@objektkleina.com


this year:
30|10|25 - Lokales Maximum, objekt klein a 
15|08|25 - Chimaera Festival, Klingemühle
05|07|25 - Routine, objekt klein a
13|05|25 - saXXella Festival, Gersdorf
29|05|25 - Kollektive Entgleisung, objekt klein a 
10|05|25 - SAS, Kulturgarten Hildesheim
19|04|25 - Teil VIII: Anfang lebenslang, objekt klein a
01|01|25 - Jahresrückblick, objekt klein a
_______________________________________________
last year:
02|10|24 - MiDi, Groovestation
18|08|24 - Chimaera Festival, Klingemühle b2b2b Artiscare Boyband
03|08|24 - Sekt am Samstag, Pforte b2b @paupaupaupaupaupaupau
06|07|24 - Routine, objekt klein a
08|06|24 - Kosmos, Transit b2b @miso_dd
01|06|24 - saXXella Festival, Gersdorf b2b @justus-rasenberger
18|05|24 - Teil VII: Dispo Disco, objekt klein a b2b @bias_le
23|03|24 - fragmented:backyards, Soderso
17|03|24 - Kashay Matinée, Kashay Salon
24|02|24 - Sekt am Samstag, Club Kwang Lee b2b @cita_kita
18|02|24 - GRRR MIT BRRR, Kater Blau b2b @dorianfecht
02|02|24 - hello[at], Leipzig b2b @ttyfal
20|01|24 - NachtiFM by Callshop Radio, Nachtiville b2b @jojo2000x

the year before:
16|12|23 - Never Again - Sektor against War
10|11|23 - Chimaera Sagt Danke, Soderso
20|10|23 - Nadir, Humboldthain
02|09|23 - Chimaera Summer Closing, Pforte
12|08|23 - Routine, objekt klein a
25|06|23 - Chimaera Festival, Klingemühle
20|05|23 - fragmented:backyards, Soderso
13|05|23 - saXXella Festival, Gersdorf
25|02|23 - Objekt Zukunft, Institut für Zukunft

Lecturer in composition and music technology at School of Music, University of Leeds. Interested in material agency, cybernetics, the emergence of structure and sound.

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