Bev Lee Harling is a multi-genre vocalist, violinist and composer working across performance, theatre, dance, film and opera bringing classical, folk, jazz and found sounds to her projects and collaborations. BBC6 DJ Gilles Peterson declared her debut album ‘Barefoot In Your Kitchen’ as ‘simply brilliant’ and made it his Album Of The Week in 2012. Bev also enjoyed widespread global radio play for this album as well as her latest album release in 2022 ‘Little Anchor’, a musical travelogue exploring motherhood, family and loss.
Live performances have included glass orchestras, music boxes, power tools, typewriters and an assortment of kitchen equipment alongside her trademark strings and vocals.
Both albums were released on the lovely and supportive small, independent record label Wahwah45s.
Favourite artist/producer collaborations include Talvin Singh, Netsky, Etherwood, Matty Benbrook, Katharine Blake, Kavus Torabi, Sophie Barker, The Destroyers, Ruby Colley, Frank Moon and the Coleman Brothers. Bev’s string arrangement and performance features on Cleveland Watkiss and Scrimshire’s latest release, ‘The Pile’, released in 2022.
She has been featured on soundtracks for dance-theatre and ballet productions at the Royal Opera House, Sadler’s Wells, Northern Ballet, and Live from Television Centre BBC 4. She performed live with ballet stars Edward Watson and Wendy Whelan in their show Whelan/Watson: Other Stories at the Royal Opera House and City Centre New York. Most recently Ed Watson (principal dancer at the Royal Ballet) chose to dance to her song ‘Impossible Human’ at a gala in Japan at the start of 2023.
Collaborating with composer Frank Moon and choreographer Arthur Pita was a recent commission Bev received from Sadlers Wells for their production of Ten Sorry Tales, performed in Autumn 2022.
Bev has also composed several short film scores including the Channel 4 production ‘Thinspiration’, highlighting eating disorders in young women.
Having toured widely in the USA and Europe with classical chart topping act Mediaeval Baebes, and composed and arranged for the group, Bev was a valued member of the band for 5 years.
Bev’s involvement with the classical music world saw her as vocal soloist for Karl Jenkins’ Stabat Mater in Marbella, Spain with full orchestra and as featured soloist for ‘Bloom Britannia’ composed by Orlando Gough for the Barefoot Opera company in 2021.
Other performance highlights have included the London Burlesque Festival, London Jazz Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Glastonbury festival, Secret Garden festival, Shambala festival, Wilton’s Music Hall, The Jazz Cafe and La Scala.
Bev was also the founder of ‘Songs In Unexpected Places’, a series of solo voice and violin shows where audiences meet in unusual spaces which are kept secret until the day of the performance. In running this project she experienced ownership over a great idea and loved watching it grow and come to fruition encouraging local people in the area of Hastings to access to a ‘pay what you feel’ live musical experience in buildings they wouldn’t normally have access to.
Recent favourite gigs were being invited to play at “Singing With Nightingales” run by Mercury Music Prize nominee, Sam Lee, experiencing the magical highlight of improvising with a wild Nightingale and in July 2024, being commissioned by the Observer Building in Hastings to write a song for the Centenary Celebrations of the building and performing it from the balcony to a light show and fireworks.
Bev is currently performing her Arts Council funded show “Ploughing The Salt Sea”, about her female fishing family heritage in various locations around the UK and working with composer Frank Moon and Welsh Children’s poet laureate Alex Wharton to create a family ballet with Welsh Ballet, Ballet Cymru.
Photo credit: Georgie Scott[/expand]
