News & Live
New Album | Live at St Pancras Old Church
22 May 2020
"The swell of strings and woodwind fills the old building. Nebulous shimmers become heart-swelling bursts... like dreamed musical artifacts, things captured in mid-flight..."
Tom Blake | Third Ear
Concert | Union Chapel | London
22 June 2019, doors 12 noon
Oly will be playing tracks from his album Notes From Another Sea along with new pieces, with an all-alto female vocal accompaniment.
Daylight Music is the Union Chapel's long running daytime music slot featuring a colouful musical lineup, tea and cake.
New Video | A Forest in the City: Live at St Pancras Old Church, October 2018
31 December 2018
"It's been a great year for my music, and I'd like to thank everyone for their support on the journey of releasing the album. To mark the turning of the year, here is a live recording of 'A Forest in the City' from St Pancras Old Church in London, with fantastic arrangements by Luke Lewis, who conducted this group of talented musicians. Happy New Year, and I hope to see you in 2019!"
Oly Ralfe x
Live Review | The Third Ear
"... for this performance Ralfe has employed an ensemble (brilliantly arranged and conducted by Luke Lewis). The swell of strings and woodwind fills the old building. Nebulous shimmers become heart-swelling bursts, the music takes on a new warmth and a different kind of energy. In effect the added substance acts as a kind of framing device for Ralfe’s playing, highlighting his gift for timing and for a simple but often indescribably beautiful melody.
Those melodies come thick and fast; each track is a considered distillation of subtly different emotions, and most come in at around the three minute mark. Although there are elements of classical music and pop, it’s really neither of those things: the structural looseness and striking individuality of each piece make them feel like dreamed musical artifacts, things captured in mid-flight..."
by Tom Blake
St. Pancras Old Church
10 October 2018 | London
Oly Ralfe announces a special one-off London show at St. Pancras Old Church on 10th October 2018, performing his instrumental piano album Notes From Another Sea with classical accompaniment.
In a unique collaboration the six-piece ensemble will perform arrangements by classical orchestrator Luke Lewis.
Support will be from talented French singer and accordionist Garance Louis performing a rare solo set.
New Video | A Forest in the City
8 October 2018
Really happy to announce the release of this video for A Forest in the City, filmed and edited by Emma Faulkner and co-directed by Oly. Filmed in Oly's Oxfordshire studio and in the ancient Wychwood Forest.
New Video | The Bridge
28 August 2018
Exclusive footage of the world's last frozen wilderness. Filmed by cinematographer Ben Mitchell in Antarctica, aboard the Greenpeace Arctic Sunrise, as part of the worldwide campaign to create the Antarctic Ocean Sanctuary.
★★★★★ Review | RnR Magazine
'...This music is extraordinary. Oly Ralfe, an Oxford-based composer and keyboard player, who’s been recording with his own band since 2005 has produced a blissfully beautiful collection of tunes. The simplicity, tenderness and subtly seductive power of these simple but sublime melodies blows me away. These are tunes to rescue you from depression, carry you through your worst times, teach you that karma exists, remind you of all that ever made you have faith. Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Janis Joplin, Johnny Cash, The Rolling Stones, The Clash, Led Belly, Mississippi John Hurt and a tiny handful of other inimitable artists have come up with faultless albums. For my money Oly Ralfe now effortlessly numbers among these... Add this classic album to your collection. Play it. Chill.'
RnR
★★★★ Review | Record Collector Magazine
'Close-miked and immaculately recorded, each of the album’s 14 instrumental piano pieces glow, delicately, with intimacy and immediacy. A rewarding bonus is that the mood of consoling, redemptive melancholia stays with you long after the event, magically imbuing every thought, person and object with a hitherto unremarked significance. The twirling four-note patterns of Melusine suggest windborne dandelion seeds, the fathomless pauses in The Bridge contain as much emotional substance as the notes; and in the formal prettiness of Hear Me Yourself and Night Raven, the subtlest intimation of disquiet shades the very back of the picture.'
RECORD COLLECTOR
Holywell Music Rooms | Oxford
20 April 2018
Album Released | Notes From Another Sea
28 February 2018
Interview | PRS & World Piano Day
29 March 2017
