“....my art is far removed from convention and technique; it is nothing less than the unveiling of my inner life.”   Tatsumi Hijikata

Steve Boyland is an improvising vocalist, performance artist and voice teacher of international stature. His reputation is founded on the eclecticism and intensity of his solo work, as well as a portfolio of acclaimed collaborations with international practitioners in the fields of music, visual art and dance. However, despite the range and quality of these collaborations, it is perhaps in his solo improvisations – often performed in the rarified aesthetic and acoustical environments of galleries and churches – that we most closely encounter the artistic and philosophical essence of his work.

Drawing inspiration from the rhythms, colours and textures of dance and visual art, as much as from the extended vocalism of Free Jazz, the poetics of Eastern and Western classicism and the other-wordly, shamanic tones of World Music, the singer’s meditations emerge as abstract, enigmatic song forms; as extended journeys in voice and spirit, somehow reflective of our inner life in sound. In 2008, in recognition of his achievements both in the U.K and internationally, he was commissioned to create a performance to mark the official launch of Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture.