Through his multiple roles as Concert Pianist, Collaborator and Creative Producer of Chimera Productions, Will Dutta’s ongoing interest in connecting the dots between modern dance music and contemporary and experimental art music has led to performances at Village Underground, Ether 10 at the Southbank Centre and Tate Modern and collaborations with the likes of Warp-veterans Plaid, sonic artists John Matthias and Neil Grant and composer Max de Wardener.

His debut album for Just Music, Parergon, features exceptional recordings of these hyper-colourful collaborations alongside his own performances of minimalist compositions all beautifully recorded on a Steinway Model D in the deepest Sussex countryside, to create a journey through an emerging non-classical aesthetic.

Your Name

Will Dutta

First record bought...

Was either Blur’s Parklife or Cream Live featuring 3 CDs of Paul Oakenfold, Nick Warren and James Lavelle, I still have it and it’s still an amazing album! There is also a small chance it might have been N-Trance.

Last record I listened to was ...

"Ana Silvera’s The Aviary, she has a beautiful voice and is a great songwriter!

The record I pretend I don't love is ...

Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die – I downloaded it recently and quickly realized I’d downloaded the version on Now That’s What I Call Music 81.

The record I always go back to…

James Holden's The Idiots Are Winning/At The Controls and Chopin's Piano Concertos played by Krystian Zimmerman - both life affirming records!

My biggest musical inspiration is...

A combination of Martha Argerich, for her ability to make the written note sound spontaneous and Bjork, because she takes what she wants across the spectrum of underground music and makes it her own.

My first gigging experience was…

As a stand-in pianist for a band called Beach at school so I did a few gigs at The Horn in St. Albans and for a couple of friend’s parent’s parties. We were also in the year above the gents in Friendly Fires and at our last joint billing we thanked them for always playing second fiddle to our band… the irony’s not been lost!

My worst gigging experience was…

In my first year at music college I returned home to give a recital thinking I was pretty good but I completely forgot how to start the first piece. The audience applauded when on the sixth attempt I managed to get through the opening – it was a humbling moment!

My best gigging experience was…

Performing at the Ether Festival at the Southbank Centre on the same night as Gil Scott Heron in the hall next to me – it was my first time playing there and it’s one of those places every classical musician dreams of!

The person I would least like to share a stage with would be…

The pianist Gwilym Simcock, he’d show me up!

If I wasn’t a musician I would be a…

"I would love to have been a pro-snowboarder, I used to compete when I was younger and duly broke a few bones so I think that meant I had some of the qualities to enter into the profession."

Favorite YouTube video...

On the theme of snowboarding, I was blown away by the trailer to Travis Rice’s The Art of Flight recently. Oh and that tiger fighting a lion is pretty cool!