Blackheart Orchestra

The Blackheart Orchestra is a two person band, playing up to 13 instruments creating mesmeric music.

Award-winning British songwriters, composers and multi-instrumentalists, Chrissy Mostyn and Rick Pilkington are The Blackheart Orchestra.

If you want to cite influences, you could credit Mike Oldfield, Laurie Anderson, Tori Amos or Michael Nyman but, the fact is, The Blackheart Orchestra is unique, with a sound and style all of its own.

Their symphonic use of vintage synthesisers, acoustic and electric guitars, mandola, bass, bowed guitar and percussion, piano, organ, omnichord and melodica creates powerful, highly emotional music that has been described as a modern day Pink Floyd, a more accessible Portishead and with many comparisons to the creativity of Kate Bush.

Singer Chrissy Mostyn was voted No.8 in a UK female vocalist poll and named “One of the most extraordinary voices singing anywhere today”.

The pioneering duo blend musical styles seamlessly sidestepping boundaries to create music huge enough to fill a cathedral. Well known for producing music beyond all easily marketed genres, their multi-instrumental sonic landscapes have always been too unpredictable for pop and too adventurous for the mainstream.

Fusing acoustic fragility and pulsing electronica, The Blackheart Orchestra bring together stringed instruments with ’80s synthesisers and classical influences.

A treat for the eyes as well as the ears: to witness two people become an “orchestra”; seamlessly, almost invisibly, switching vocals and instruments between them is as mesmeric to watch as their music is hypnotic to hear.

Genesis legend Steve Hackett described them as: “Beautiful, powerful and inspiring”

Recent awards include:
Best British Duo, a nomination for the Limelight Progressive Music Award, voted in the UK’s Top 4 Best New Bands, No.4 in New York’s Big Takeover, Top 10 Albums of the Year and voted twice in Rock Writers’ Top 20 Albums of the year