Cheslav Singh

I am a Canadian pianist based in London with international performance and pedagogical experience.

Having performed at renowned venues (Rome, London, New York, Naples, Paris, Toronto), on radio (RAI 3, 2020) and television (TVP 3, 2020) in many different contexts, my repertory ranges from Beethoven to free jazz. Recognized as being able to ‘construct solid geometric sonorities, very well planned…’ my playing is said to be ‘…engaging and meditative…’ (Massimiliano Cerito, June 2022). My work is characterized as 'every performance is a genuine adventure into the unknown.' (Jo Hutton, The Wire, 2023)

Since 2011, I have been actively involved in contemporary classical music; that is when I co-founded the audiovisual group a=b=x=y. My compositions encompass small and large ensemble writing. In 2015, I co-founded Our ‘PL’ace Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to the proliferation and dissemination of contemporary art (including music, visual art, audiovisual art and dance) and increasing cultural exchange between European countries, North America and India. Among many successful projects I co-curate an annual international audiovisual art festival in Poznań, Poland (Światłodźwięki) since 2015. In 2024, LightSounds (trans. Światłodźwięki) will take place across four countries; the UK, Poland, Czechia and Slovakia. 

Actively searching for extended playing techniques on the border between acoustic and electronic music, I frequently prepare pianos and challenge myself (and my listeners) to distinguish the multiplicity of sounds that the instrument can make. I also play the organ, having learnt it under the prominent Bach scholar Dr. John Derksen; an appreciation of the novelty of different keyboard technique is thus a part of my expertise. After having learnt how to tune pianos, which I do mostly for myself, I love to tamper with various temperaments, exploring their sonic possibilities on the piano, as well as cultivating an interest in traditional tuning systems from elsewhere in the world. Finally, I am an active student of Gurbāṇī Saṅgīt (traditional Sikh devotional musical praxis, dating from the 15th century), having had the immense fortune of being able to work with and for its foremost exponent Bhai Baldeep Singh, its thirteenth generation scion, since 2013.