Lucy Railton (UK)

She is one of the most curious and versatile figures in contemporary music. A British cellist based in Berlin, her career stands out for its bold and multidisciplinary approach, spanning classical music, electronic experimentation, improvisation, and composition for dance and film. Her sonic exploration is a journey through matter and abstraction, body and technology, the past and future of sound. Trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Railton began her career as a performer of contemporary classical music, collaborating with prominent ensembles such as London Sinfonietta and Britten Sinfonia. However, it is her intellectual and creative curiosity that drives her beyond the boundaries of traditional repertoire. In 2008, she founded the Kammer Klang series at Café OTO in London, a sound and ideas laboratory she curated for ten years, helping to shape the experimental music scene in the British capital. She also co-founded and co-directed the London Contemporary Music Festival from 2013 to 2016, creating a space for music that challenges conventions and celebrates sonic diversity. Railton’s solo work is a deep exploration of the possibilities of the cello as both an acoustic instrument and a vehicle for electronic synthesis. Her debut album, Paradise 94 (2018), was praised for its ability to blend drones, ambient sounds, and minimalism into an enveloping and meditative sonic fabric. In 2020, she collaborated with pioneering synthesis artist Peter Zinovieff on RFG Inventions for Cello and Computer, a bold work that combines improvisations on the cello with real-time electronic manipulations, creating a dialogue between organic and digital sound. In 2023, she released Corner Dancer on Modern Love, an album that further expands her sonic vocabulary by incorporating synths, harp, and violin into compositions that oscillate between tension and delicacy, experimentation and melody.Beyond her discography, Railton has worked with artists from various disciplines, composing music for films, dance, and installations. In 2021, she co-composed the soundtrack for the film False Positive (A24/Hulu) alongside Yair Elazar Glotman. She has also collaborated with Philippe Parreno on the film Li Yan (2016) and with Soundwalk Collective on the installation A Roof For Silence at the Venice Architecture Biennale. In the field of dance, she has composed for productions such as Everything That Rises Must Dance by Complicité and Gnosis by Akram Khan, in which she also performed. Railton’s work is characterized by a network of collaborations with some of the most innovative names in contemporary music. She has worked with artists like Beatrice Dillon, Kali Malone, Kit Downes, Aisha Orazabayeva, Rebecca Salvadori, and Sofia Jernberg. Her performances have taken place at prestigious festivals and venues such as the Barbican Centre in London, Sydney Opera House, Borealis Festival, Berlin’s CTM Festival, and Donaueschinger Musiktage.