Galvanize is an ensemble of musicians who work with composers, artists, film and text to create installations, cross disciplinary performances & exhibitions. Directed by pianist Kate Halsall, the core players are Kate, Joel Bell, Sarah Dacey, Phil Maguire.
Guest Performers have included Jennifer Allum violin, Aisha Orazbayeva violin, Ed Cross violin, John Garner violin, Chrissie Slater viola, Gemma Kost cello, Jack McNeill clarinet, Stephen Hiscock percussion, Genevieve Wilkins percussion, Serge Vuille percussion, Donna Lennard soprano, Mimi Doulton soprano, Kema Sikazwe actor/musician, Matt Jamie actor/film maker, Marjolaine Charbin piano, fine artist Claire Orme.
Directors: Galvanize Ensemble is a Ltd company, with two directors. Key interests are improvisation; working with students in any educational setting; commissioning composers and artists working in other mediums; collaboration; highlighting mental health and the benefits of engagement with creative activities.
Current project: Understory is a collection of stories from West Cumbria to Newcastle on the East coast. Understory will map the contributions of local people and their environmental concerns such as urban development in rural areas, conservation locally – from road verges, farmland, parks, allotments, community nature reserves, to urban living; recording changes in the landscape and how a scale, a catalogue of changes, from small to large, affects us all. Supported by The Marchus Trust and The Hinrichsen Foundation.
Kate Halsall
Kate established Galvanize Ensemble while Lecturer in Performance at University of Kent’s Music Department, at Chatham Historic Dockyard in 2017. She worked with fellow Lecturer, composer Duncan MacLeod to present their first shows with fine art students at The Barbican, for Hack the Barbican. Performances have included collaborations with fine artist Claire Orme, composers Paul Fretwell, Carmel Smickersgill, Joanna Ward amongst others and Fretwork viols. They have shown new work with a mix of galleries and venues: LV21, Limewharf, 100 Years Gallery, Dean Clough Gallery, Sound Festival, Lit & Phil Library, nonclassical, NottNOISE, Cafe Oto, Bluecoat Liverpool. The group currently has a line up including strings and is based in Cumbria, Kate’s home County and in Newcastle Upon Tyne.
Michael Kelly
Michael works as a Clinical Studies Officer on NIHR Mental Health Portfolio studies within Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust. Whilst working for the Institute of Psychiatry (now the IOPPN) and South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in London, he established Music and the Mind with Kate, a concert series devised to promote contemporary music while addressing issues surrounding mental health. The series launched in February 2007 with a performance by the critically acclaimed Elysian Quartet in the Wolfson Lecture Theatre; on World Mental Health Day October 2007 and was supported by the PRS Foundation and the IOPPN.
Kate Halsall 