Leon Michener is a London-born pianist whose music spans recordings of 20th-century classical music through to free jazz. Acquiring a small Moog synthesiser at the age of fourteen by saving a year’s worth of pocket money led to his passion for combining acoustic keyboards with live electronics. After graduating from Trinity College of Music he constructed his Klavikon system, a combination of piano, amplification, found objects, feedback and analog processing. Augmenting the 88 keys with his own inventions and found objects - custom-made microphones, toys, vibrators, and lots of blu-tak allowed him to deliver cascading batteries of percussion, sub-basses and dark abstract soundscapes. He has recorded on numerous labels, including a solo Klavikon album on the Nonclassical record label. His latest research has led him to resurrect and explore obsolete keyboard instruments such as the Clavichord, Dulcitone, and the Yamaha CP80 electro-acoustic piano.

For this performance, he will be playing on an amplified portable Clavichord, prepared with found objects, which has also been “hacked” to include a custom-assembled electro-acoustic-mechanical percussion instrument in its lid.

“Leon Michener has created something truly original” – Observer Newspaper

“An innovative and absorbing concept, carried through by Michener with no mean insight and technical finish” – Gramophone Magazine

“A pianist with extraordinary control of the instrument” – Wire Magazine