Instagram
WWW
Sunday 14:30 - 16:3015/02
Olibanum: Kelly Moran (WARP – US)
Spring isn’t gentle. Spring is heart frost, black-tinted dread, and Karin Boye. It’s a season without promise, but also a season for consolation. Some…
Concert
Open today 18:30-21
As a solo artist, Moran's critically acclaimed albums, Bloodroot (2017) and Ultraviolet (2018) have explored a variety of extended piano techniques like John Cage-inspired prepared piano and exercises in improvisation. Her unique strand of experimental piano compositions, which conjure hypnotizing textures and dramatic compositional arcs, have been included on year-end lists across classical, avant-garde, and metal genres. In 2018, Moran was signed as a Yamaha Artist and began composing with Yamaha’s technologically-enhanced pianos, most notably the Disklavier player piano. Her releases Vesela (2023) and Moves in the Field (2024) showcase deeper sensitivity to the piano, with Moran merging her human restraint with the limitless possibilities of the disklavier. Moves in the Field, was praised by the New York Times for being “a softhearted but steel-skinned set of 10 piano pieces that are as rapturous as a waterfall or as delicate as vapor. Her first album in six years, it is the redemptive conclusion in an extended span of personal tragedy and professional doubt, all ingrained in its sweeping songs.”
Moran’s upcoming album, Don't Trust Mirrors marks her pivotal return to synth and prepared piano, showcasing the emotional experience of seeing yourself through distortion, reflection, and the slow work of piecing yourself back together. The album features Warp Records labelmate Bibio and comprises 10 tracks of magnificent timbral refractions. Weaving together shimmering textures and sharp edges, Don't Trust Mirrors is an immersive journey towards self-reconnection and coming back into focus.
(for longer bio include below as well.)
In 2024, Moran created music for Tin Drum: Medusa at Pioneer Works. Her work expanded upon the score that Ryuichi Sakamoto originally composed for Medusa's first iteration, which spatialized and combined recordings of undersea drones. Sakamoto gave special permission to Moran to recompose his work, and the result is featured on 2024’s release Vesela.
Other recent collaborations include scoring Vanya, a one-man play starring Andrew Scott which recently completed successful runs in London and New York. In February 2025, Moran collaborated with Matthew Barney, Raven Chacon, Brian Jungen, and Brandon and Jake Stosuy for the interdisciplinary performance piece, Remains/Compound, that included a performance in which archers fired 300 arrows into a player piano played by Moran.