Daniel Inzani is a composer, pianist, producer and bandleader based in Stroud.

Followers of Hidden Notes will know him best as the bandleader of and composer for contemporary chamber quartet Spindle Ensemble, whose sophomore album ‘Inkling’ was the first release on Hidden Notes Records. Spindle Ensemble have performed in the UK, Europe and Canada at prestigious venues including Southbank Centre, Union Chapel, St George’s Concert Hall, Bathurst Centre (Toronto) and Centro Cultural de Belém (Lisbon). They have released collaborative works with the legendary ‘Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan’ ensemble performed live in Canada, interpreted graphic scores by composer Tess Tyler and their album Inkling (2021) was a top selling modern classical album on Bandcamp and listed as a top ten contemporary album of the year by The Guardian.

Before focusing on chamber music, his musical upbringing was a mixture of touring, collaboration and recording in an eclectic variety of musical styles, predominantly as a pianist and also as a harpist, bassist, guitarist, vocalist and producer. As a self-taught musician and mathematician, he has experimented with combining rhythmic and harmonic structures from different parts of the world with numerous live ensembles, often employing group improvisation. A large part of this development was in Bristol with the experimental music collective Bloom (2012-2019) where he featured on 15 different albums, formed his groups Spindle Ensemble and the recently disbanded 8 piece band ‘Tezeta’ who combined influences of Ethiopian jazz, Frank Zappa, Charles Mingus and Moondog.

Daniel has collaborated with many artists over the years, he is currently the musical director of Cosmo Sheldrake’s live band and arranged the string and horn sections on Cosmo’s upcoming album ‘Eye to the Ear’, he released the collaborative vinyl album ‘The Jester’ with Alabaster dePlume, is a long term collaborator with Graeme Smith (Dubi Dolzcek, Count Bobo), performed with ‘No Fit State’ Circus in Australia, Tokyo based physical theatre group ‘Contact Gonzo’ and has been commissioned by London Symphonia (Canada), TEDx and many more.

Almost all of Daniel’s recorded works are instrumental live performances, made with a selection of trusted musical allies who are both adept technically and skilled improvisers. His composition style is melodic yet harmonically complex, rhythmically unorthodox yet narrative based and romantic. His chamber works are heavily influenced by the impressionist era, particularly Maurice Ravel, with Daniel experimenting with musical form in order to present a storytelling canvas of characters, emotions, landscapes and movement for the listener’s imagination to superimpose their own stories onto.

For the past few years Daniel has been working on a new large body of work to release under his own name, amalgamating and evolving the music he has created with his projects as a band leader and other musical adventures. At this year’s festival he’ll be performing a selection of his new chamber works with his piano trio featuring violinist Hugh Blogg (Bristol Ensemble) and cellist Asha McCarthy.

WEBSITE