George Burt & Cliona Cassidy began working together in the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra. Their shared interest in combining songwriting and improvisation made this collaboration inevitable. Their different backgrounds and approaches, from classical opera, folk and jazz make it unique.
George Burt has combined traditional and experimental music throughout his long career, playing guitar and double bass in folk groups, ceilidh bands, and pit bands. His earliest public performances were with Rattlebone Folk Group with Andy Shanks & Jim Russell, playing double bass and guitar.
In the late 90s, he organised a series of monthly improvisation workshops that brought together Raymond MacDonald, Lindsay Cooper, Bill Wells, Allon Beauvoisin and George Lyle, before going on to create the Burt/MacDonald quartet. This group continues to be a vehicle for the co-leaders’ jazz-based compositions and arrangements. The quartet's finest work was with Keith Tippett and included two concept albums celebrating the life of Victorian travel writer, Isabella Bird.
Burt and MacDonald were part of an innovative group of musicians who formed the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra in 2000. GIO continues to be at the core of improvised music in Scotland and attracts an international array of musicians. GIO has performed with Evan Parker, Maggie Nicols, George Lewis, Fred Frith and Keith Rowe.
In 2005 George Burt spearheaded a series of concerts for Barry Guy, Maya Homburger and GIO, setting up workshops and master-classes at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and the Music Department of the University of Glasgow. This included public performances in Callendar House, Falkirk and the Ramshorn Theatre in Glasgow.
In 2008/09, he instigated GIO’s first full scale commission, Barry Guy’s Schweben: Ay but can ye? which was subsequently a finalist in the 2009 British Composer Awards.
Current projects include, a new music ensemble, Ferlie Leed. This group features new compositions incorporating texts and translations by Edwin Morgan. The group performed at Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2014.
Burt has also played in a range of settings with Keith Tippett, Julie Tippetts, Corey Mwamba, Andy Champion, Ntshuks Bonga, Matt Maneri, and Lol Coxhill.
photo by Kris Kesiak
Cliona Cassidy is an experimental vocalist, song writer and opera singer from Dublin.
She is a member of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, and has worked as a chorister for Scottish Opera since 2012. Her musical roots are in traditional Irish folk music and she has collaborated with Scottish harpist Catriona McKay, writing music and recording, culminating in their debut release EP “Pictures” in 2019.
In 2015, she was commissioned to create a large scale piece for GIOfest entitled “Wake”, which
was performed by the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra and the late Keith Tippett.
She has led workshops in improvisation, including one for Bealtaine festival in Dublin, leading to the performance of a new work “Animate Objects” at the National Concert Hall.
While at Scottish Opera, she has debuted as First Bridesmaid in Sir Thomas Allen’s production of Le Nozze di Figaro and has sung as a soloist with the orchestra of Scottish Opera in The Opera Factory, a show for children. She has covered the roles of Jano (Jenufa) and First and Second Boy (The Magic Flute) and has sung in the chorus since 2012.
Other operatic roles performed include the title roles in Lucia di Lammermoor, Beatrice di Tenda and Alcina, Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore), Pamina (The Magic Flute), Irene (Tamerlano), Dorabella and Despina (Cosi’ fan Tutte), Serafina ( il Campanello di Notte), Rosina (The Barber of Seville), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Sesto (Giulio Cesare) and Daphne (Apollo and Daphne).
Oratorio work includes Orff's Carmina Burana, Mozart Mass in C minor, Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Haydn's Nelson Mass and Creation, and Brahms' Requiem.
She has performed Judith Wier's orchestral song-cycle Natural History with the RNCMSO,
introduced by the composer, and again with Derby Concert Orchestra, and performed the role of Anna/Speaker in James MacMillan’s Parthenogenesis, which was recorded live for BBC Radio 3 and the South Bank Show.
Cliona was a finalist in the City of Bologna Baroque Opera competition 2009, and the Ritorna
Vincitor international opera competition 2010 in Italy and was a member of the Artist's Panel for Dublin City Council from 2011-2014.