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John Tilbury

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

John Tilbury is a British pianist, born in 1936. He went to school in west London and studied piano at the Royal College of Music, and then with Zbigniew Drzewiecki in Warsaw. In 1968 he won the Gaudeamus competition in the Netherlands. In the 1960s he worked closely with the composer Cornelius Cardew and played in the Scratch Orchestra. His biography of Cardew, Cornelius Cardew: A Life Unfinished, appeared in 2008.

Music and breakthrough

Since 1980 Tilbury has been a member of AMM, a group for free improvisation. He is regarded as one of the most important interpreters of the music of Morton Feldman. He also recorded work by Howard Skempton and John White and performed adaptations of Samuel Beckett's radio plays. On The Hands of Caravaggio, an album with the ensemble M.I.M.E.O. led by his AMM colleague Keith Rowe, he plays piano while another member simultaneously plays and mutes the strings. Duos for Doris from 2003, a collaboration with Rowe, is regarded as a milestone in electro-acoustic improvisation.

Influence

Tilbury fits both in the world of contemporary classical music and in that of improvisation. His playing is soft, concentrated and leaves much room for silence. In 2018, at the age of eighty-two, he stopped performing. He lives in Deal, Kent. He was then recorded at home for several more years, and part of those recordings was released in May 2026 as a four-disc box set.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Duos for Doris and notice the interplay between piano and electronics, and how long sounds are allowed to die away before something new comes.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists