By Peter Gregson
No matter how grandiose the performance space, no matter how large the crowd, contemporary cellist Peter Gregson has managed to streamline his uber-mobile setup to its absolute minimal, and has done so with magnificent results and the pictures to prove it. Relying on nothing more than his Apple MacBook, Logic’s MainStage and an Apogee Ensemble and GiO to accompany his five-string Eric Jensen electric blue cello, Peter has shown a marriage between technology and classical musical can be quite the mutually beneficial one.
Peter’s most recent performance on his 2010 tour was “a quirky concert” at The Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh, a regular home to The Emerson Quartet, Joshua Bell and a myriad of core classical artists. He says, “I set up my laptop with GiO and an Apogee Ensemble to play a wide-ranging program: Bach, John Metcalfe, Sally Beamish, Max Richter, Steve Reich and my own works, all with interactive visuals (some using footage sourced from my New York performances). It was terrific to take my music into such a beautiful venue; all the front-of-house sound guys were very impressed by a classical cellist having Apogee!!”
Peter has performed widely in the UK and the US, at venues ranging from The Royal Albert Hall, London to The Ingleby Gallery in Edinburgh; from the Twitter Offices in San Francisco to Trinity Church, Boston. He was recently commissioned by Bowers & Wilkins and Peter Gabriel to record an album of original music for acoustic and electric cellos for their Society of Sound label. His work has been recognized with the 2008 Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award for music and with membership to the Courvoisier Future 500. Peter is also the 2010/11 Creative in Residence at The Hospital Club, London, where he curates his year-long series, alt_classical. Follow the recap of his earlier performances at the MIT Media Lab, The Roundhouse, The Future Gallery, The 92nd St Y, and The Lab Gallery here.
Photos were taken by Andy Catlin from The Queen’s Hall and Edd Hannay.
For more information on Peter’s past performances, please visit:
Electric Cellist Peter Gregson Performs Live with MainStage & GiO
Peter Gregson Tour Recap: On the Road with MainStage and GiO
