Listening with grateful ears. Not making sound while traveling, just listening. The human lifespan is not long enough for all the sounds we should hear!

John Levack Drever is a researcher and practitioner engaged in the critical and creative study of sound, listening, and hearing, with particular attention to their cultural, ecological, and phenomenological dimensions across society. He is Creative Director of Otoloci, an ambiance and soundscape consultancy, and leads Working Group 1 for COST Action CA23145, Architectural and Urban Ambiances of European Cities and co-directs the Cambridge branch of LAURA (Leverhulme Trust Aural Diversity Doctoral Research Hub). He is preparing plans to mark the centenary of London Street Noises (1928–2028).

Between 2007 and 2012, John investigated the soundscapes of public toilets, where the widespread use of ‘ecological’ hand dryers had created a hostile environment for many. This work led him to advocate for a new paradigm of hearing, which he termed auraldiversity—shifting from an otological notion of “normal” hearing to a socio-cultural understanding of auraltypical hearing. His inclusive agenda of auraldiversity now shapes thinking across music, sound studies, acoustics, and urban design. First presented at Harvard University in 2015, these ideas have since gained momentum, influencing research (AHRC Network, RMA 2020, Internoise 2022, Urban Sound Symposium 2023), policy (DEFRA, Welsh Government), and industry practice (ReSound, ARUP, Anderson Acoustics). With Prof. Andrew Hugill, he co-directs the Aural Diversity Project and co-edited Aural Diversity (Routledge, 2022).

An avid soundwalker and field recordist,John grounds his practice in acoustic ecology. Following his PhD in composition at Dartington College of Arts, he coordinated Sounding Dartmoor: A Participative Soundscape Study. In 1998, he co-founded the UK and Ireland Soundscape Community, affiliated with the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology, and chaired Sound Practice (Dartington, 2001), the UK’s first conference dedicated to soundscapes. He has also contributed a sonic perspective to many urban place studies with the Academy of Urbanism.

John has collaborated with Rachel Gomme, Yvonne McGuinness, Alice Oswald, Alaric Sumner, Tony Thatcher, Lawrence Upton, Tony Whitehead (RSPB), Louise K. Wilson, Suiji Okada, and comedian Mark Kelly, and is a member of Blind Ditch.

The music of Reynold Tharp has been described as “tone painting at its most adroit” evoked with “a prismatic palette” (Financial Times), and “gorgeous…a sensuous evocation of colors and atmospheres…. Not content to write textures that are merely interesting or surprising, Tharp concocts sounds that are also ravishing and intoxicating” (San Francisco Classical Voice). The New York Times called one piece “a winner” and added, “Elegant, airy and weightless figurations for an octet of strings, winds, brasses, piano and percussion were a stylish and fitting homage to Ligeti. The music also made you eager to hear more from Mr. Tharp….” 

Tharp’s music has been performed in the U.S., Europe, and Asia by groups such as the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra chamber players, New Juilliard Ensemble, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Minnesota Orchestra, Dinosaur Annex, Ensemble Dal Niente, Boston Modern Orchestra Project club concerts, Ensemble Diffraction, Orchestre Lyrique de Region Avignon-Provence, and the Nieuw Ensemble.  Recent highlights include the Hong Kong premiere of his music, the Korean premiere of his music at the Sejong Chamber Hall in Seoul, and a piano trio premiered by the Earplay ensemble in San Francisco in 2014. From the Financial Times: "Of the evening’s two premieres, the more memorable was Reynold Tharp’s Piano Trio, which may, all by itself, restore the primacy of melody to the chamber music format. The composer may evoke influences from the past in this richly harmonised opus, but he speaks in his own voice." About his piece A Backward Glance, the Nieuwsblad van het Norden wrote, "To me, the most exciting part of the evening was A Backward Glance by Reynold Tharp. With its more symphonic timbres, wide spans and beautiful rhythmic momentum, you could hear long lines and melodious lyricism even in the fragmentation"  In 2012, Albany Records released a CD by the Aletheia Duo entitled "Song of the Black Swan" of music inspired by nature, which includes his piece Chaparral.  This recording is available on amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Song-Black-Swan-Aletheia-Duo/dp/B007EBZ1DY/

hey my album is out :)
pa de haan. - cd 1-4

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