The Blackheart Orchestra

The Blackheart Orchestra

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

Described by the Daily Express as “Ethereal”, BBC Radio 2 as “A great band”, Rock Society magazine as “One of the most extraordinary female voices singing anywhere” and by Genesis Legend Steve Hackett as “Beautiful, powerful and inspiring”

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

After 10 years of concert touring across the world, performances at the UK’s most prestigious auditoriums including Birmingham Symphony Hall, Gateshead Sage and twice at The London
Palladium, four acclaimed albums, appearances on Good Morning Britain, BBC Radio 2 and awards ranging from Exposure Music Awards Best British Duo to #4 Best New Band of 2018 in PROG magazine’s readers’ poll and a nomination for The Limelight Award in the 2018 Progressive Music Awards, The Blackheart Orchestra is one of the must-see bands of 2019.

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, too adventurous for the mainstream and too plain weird for folk. Fusing acoustic fragility and pulsing electronica, The Blackheart Orchestra bring together stringed instruments with '80s synthesisers and classical influences. Often mistaken for an 8-piece band on first listen, their stage has been described as a
‘musical spaceship’ where they are to be found continuously changing from electric and acoustic guitars, bowed guitar, piano, organ, bass and electronic percussion to vintage synthesisers, omnichord and melodica in a complex choreographed weave of musical moods and textures.

One moment their sound is minimal and molecular, the next a mountain-like wall of sound with vast symphonic climaxes.

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

Their four critically acclaimed albums and mesmerising live shows have won them obsessive worldwide fans, plaudits from musical giants and placements on TV commercials and films. Chrissy Mostyn’s haunting vocals, the multi-instrumental playing of Rick Pilkington, plus their fearless combination of conventional and unconventional all reflect their self-created universe where art meets sound and words paint pictures that take you with them on their deep musical journey into the human psyche.

Voted #3 Best Unsigned Band of 2019
PROG Magazine Readers’ Poll

Nominated for The Limelight Award
2018 Progressive Music Awards

Winner ‘Best British Duo’ Exposure Music Awards

Voted #4 Best New Band of 2018
PROG Magazine Readers’ Poll