More About Me

I am a pianist, accompanist, and piano teacher and I give piano lessons in London.

I live in Surbiton which is in the borough of Kingston in SW London.

I am a drummer in Mars Fortress.

I am a composer.

I studied music (piano with Edward Moore, composition with Michael Burnett) at Roehampton University (BMus, 1999-2002) and gained experience as a piano acompanist for "Shades of Harmony" (an intimate female choir) and a string trio. I also helped a solo singer pass a grade exam singer. I wrote a thesis (supervised by Dr B Norton) on Philip Glass' opera trilogy; Einstein on the Beach, Satyagraha and Akhnaten. I continue to writie about Glass' music

After Roehampton, I went to Kingston Uni where I studied film/TV composition. I got involved with an arts event / exhibition called "transit station" and travelled to Berlin & Edinburgh and collaborated (as composer / pianist) with dancers and live artists / performance artists, (see Performer & Audio Al'ka-mie) and film makers (see Nature).

I am a pianist working under the banner of PianoTalent. I am a soloist, accompanist (singers, instrumentalists), composer and teacher. I have worked as a pianist in primary schools, a youth music tutor, performed in pubs and at weddings. I'm currently working with a London based female singer-songwriter called Nic Nugent.

As a composer, I am currently working on an opera/musicalmusic theatre piece based on a book called
We All Know Too Much by Chris Eales. Find out more at the Facebook Group / Page or WAKTM.com

YouTube channel - www.rupertcheek.com

Call / text me on 07534 447 924

 

'Audiography'

From an early age, since beginning to play piano & percussion in music therapy, music has been an important passion for me. Performance and composition/improvisation have been means of expression and communication for me. I like music that takes me somewhere, that makes me feel confident, happy, optimistic, proud, that makes me shiver, or that reflects the mood I am in. Music has also been, and continues to be, a way of making friends.

I like rock, esp Queen; I saw the musical "We Will Rock You" in London. I wrote about Queen's music for the films Highlander & Flash Gordon and was fortunate to receive an email via the Queen fan club from Brian May about Highlander. (www.brianmay.com). I heard Brian May play at London's Royal Albert Hall in May 2004 as a 'Friend' of the Italian singer Zucchero.

My mum used to play guitar & sing folk music (songs by Peter, Paul & Mary, Tom Paxton, Joan Baez etc).

Pop e.g Cat Stevens, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Crosby, Stills & Nash, 10cc, Supertramp

Minimal (Reich, Glass and Riley). I have seen/heard Glass perform a number of times, as a so pianist, with his ensemble and with other musicians. I saw Glass' 1980 opera Satyagraha, and John Adams' 2005 opera Dr Atomic (both at the ENO in London).

Classical - Bach, Beethoven, Berlioz, Brahms, Chopin, Elgar, Handel, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Richard Strauss &Verdi. I love singing as a bass in various choirs.

Musicals Lerner/Loewe’s Guys n Dolls (NT, 1997), Queen/Ben Elton We Will Rock You (London).
Boogie piano
/ Big band Jools Holland. Jazz e.g. Jimmy Scott, Miles Davis, Getz & Gilberto.
Gamelan
(site 1, site 2), Indian ( Ravi Shankar), Electronic music (Aphex Twin).

Film/TV
John WIlliams, Danny Elfman, Newmans, Howard Shore

As a composer I am currenytly working on an opera called WAKTM.
In 2005 I produced the soundtrack for a film produced by Right Charlie Productions (Death (G)row),
a score for a short film (The Spotter, dir. Li, prod. Main, students at the London Film Academy) .

I am also interested in the interactive nature of music for computer video games.

In late 04 I joined the Scriptkiddies as a drummer (Mark on guitar/vocal & Jon on bass). In Feb 06, Jan replaced Jon and we changed our name to 1010. We split up in 2007. In mid 2008 me and Mark started playing together as a duo, with the addition of Sam on bass in early 2009. As Mars Fortress we performed at various venues in London inc Grey Horse, Hope & Anchor, Dublin Castle and Proud Camden.

I worked with Sheen Mount School as a pianist from Feb-July 2005.
I gained further experience at St John's in Kingston in 2011

During 2006-07 I worked as a playworker and gained a level 2 CACHE playwork certificate..

In 2007 I gained exerience as a youth music tutor.

© Rupert Cheek 2012

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