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EPK

BIOGRAPHY

BIOGRAPHY

Manon McCoy (she/her) is an experimental harpist, composer and sound engineer based in the North. Her practice spans installation making, live performance, and experimental sound art. She is interested in exploring the boundaries of the pedal harp through preparations, live processing and improvisation. Manon studied MA composition at RNCM where her focus was in developing approaches for live processing of acoustic instruments, alongside research into site-responsive approaches to improvised performance. Her music draws from noise and experimental music as well as free jazz and improvised music. In 2022 she was awarded the Sound and Music Francis Chagrin Composers Award. Her work draws from training western classical music, contemporary classical music, free improvisation and British folk music. 

One of her core projects in balo, a duo with drummer Will Shaw, who work on improvised music for harp, drums and electronics. They released their debut album renders in 2021, followed by a collaborative album baleine with colleagues whale detective in 2023. balo were artists in residence at Theatre Deli Sheffield 2023. In 2022 balo were commissioned by Lancaster Jazz Festival.

Manon also performs as a member of Emergence Collective and collaborates regularly with Lili Holland-Fricke, Alice Brookes, Emmy Lambert and Juliana Day. She has also worked with other improvisers in spontaneous performance such as Amirtha Kidambi, Stuart McCallum, and Corrie Dick.​ She frequently works on projects with visual artists Lucas McCoy and Luca Shaw. She performs across the North, at venues such as Jazz at the Lescar, HEART, Samuel Worth Chapel, Bishops House Sheffield, AATMA, Peer Hat, White Hotel and festivals: Lancaster Jazz, Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music. 

HIGH RESOLUTION PICTURES

HIGH RESOLUTION PICTURES

REVIEWS

REVIEWS

'they’re an exciting new talent; surpassing our expectations of each instrument with their unique sound' 
Rachel Flynn - The Tribune - 
referring to balo duo with Will Shaw (drums)

 

'quiet energy and unusual textures'
- Jez Matthews  

 



'style reminiscent of experimental harpists Zeena Parkins and Lara Somogyi' Jamie Cardie - Now Then Magazine - 2021

 

 

Article on commission by Lancaster Jazz Festival 2022
https://www.lancasterjazz.com/2022/08/13/micro-commission-manon-mccoy/?mc_cid=3f18ce03b3&mc_eid=348ada6cf6

RELEASES

RELEASES

dissolve//compress Spatialised installation work premiered at The Royal Northern College of Music 2022 Composed by Manon McCoy Emma Lambert - sound design Manon McCoy - harp + vocals + effects Imogen Garnett - harp + effects Alice Brookes - vocals + effects A spatialised work presenting an experience of the distortion and disembodiment of the female voice and the performer’s personal experiences with patriarchal power structures.

Unheard From PREMIERED AT LIVERPOOL IRISH FESTIVAL WILLIAMSON ART GALLERY - OCTOBER 21ST 2022 An immersive sound installation featuring harp, vocals and live processing, unheard from is performed by composer Manon McCoy. This collaboration with Sweeney’s Unquiet Islands -Martin McCoy’s print exhibition- explores through sound the representation of landscape within the prints. unheard fromresponds to the textures, layers and movement found within the etchings and monotypes. Manon uses them as a lens through which to access the acoustic environments of these landscapes. The performance is built from drone-based textures; ambient found sounds; harp and vocal effects conjuring a sound world in which these images exist.

VIDEOS

VIDEOS

TECH SPEC

manonmccoymusic [at] gmail.com
 

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