Cellists and sound artists George Crotty & Kirk Starkey blend diverse musical influences into a unique and modern cello idiom. Paying homage to a range of ancient acoustic traditions, they slingshot their concepts into the timeless and universal, using a wide array compositional techniques and performance technology.
Kirk Starkey
“One of Canada’s most inventive Cellists today” CBC Radio 2
Kirk’s solo recordings Little Gidding (2011), Songs of Sudbury (2016) showcase his original style of integrating extended cello techniques and digital processing into a compelling and accessible medium. An active performing and recording cellist, recent work includes sessions on countless records , live performances with Quartetto Gelato, Chantal Kreviazuk, Stephen Page, and Peter Gabriel. A featured solo performer/composer at the International Cello Festival of Canada (Winnipeg 2011), Kirk was featured in a live solo performance broadcast on CBC’s The Signal. His cello is featured in permanent installation in the BMW Museum in Munich, Germany. A frequent contributor to television programs, Kirk can be heard on Anne with an e (CBC/Netflix), Flashpoint (CTV), and Orphan Black (BBC America).
George Crotty
"George is the ideal 21st-century musician- the future of the cello in alternative string music is safe in his hands!"
-Natalie Haas
George Crotty is a crossover cellist from Toronto, Canada. A recent graduate of the Berklee College of Music, George aspires to forge a new linguistic path for the cello, integrating elements from Eastern, Celtic, and Jazz traditions. He currently performs with the Canadian Arabic Orchestra, and New York's orchestral post-rock band, You Bred Raptors?, in addition to producing his own projects, including The Loose Roots Duo (2017), and the 2Birds Band's First Flight (2016) and String Groover (2018). In the 2Birds Band, an experimental fusion quintet continuing to push the classical-recital envelope for strings in modern music, he specializes in both acoustic and electric performance. George has recently performed with his mentors, oud / violin virtuoso, Simon Shaheen, through Canada and the US, as well as with American fiddle guru, Darol Anger, in the the United States and Europe.
The debut LP from the Chicago multidisciplinary artist strikes a bold balance between meticulous structure and improvisation. Bandcamp Album of the Day Mar 10, 2022
Welcome Toronto's Music Gallery to Bandcamp, an archive of performances from the venue focused on innovation, experimentation, & expansion.. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 14, 2018
C. Diab describes “Exit Rumination” as “a sonic exorcism,” and its dark, swelling songs are equal parts catharsis and tension. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 26, 2018