Betty Accorsi Quartet
The festival is delighted to welcome the Betty Accorsi Quartet to perform on the festivals outdoor stage at Blackmore Gardens on Saturday 25 May from 11.00am.
Betty Accorsi is an Italian saxophone player, multi-instrumentalist and composer, and my home is currently in the United Kingdom.
Betty studied classical saxophone, piano and composition at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatoire in Milan. She has been involved in projects spanning from contemporary music ensembles with composer Salvatore Sciarrino to the progressive rock band Psicosuono, which released two albums (Eta Carinae, Metropoli).
In 2018, Betty moved to London and started an MMus in Jazz Saxophone at Trinity Laban Conservatoire with a scholarship. Trinity’s academic environment included leaders in the London jazz scene such as saxophonist Jean Toussaint and composer Bruno Heinen.
Searching for a more open-ended approach to artistry and composition, Betty moved to Goldsmiths University of London in 2019, completing her master’s degree in performance under the guidance of Mick Foster, Paul Bartholomew, and Dr Pete Furniss.
Betty graduated with a distinction presenting a programme of electronic rearrangements of classical music for soprano saxophone and Ableton Live and a jazz quartet performance.
She is currently the leader of two projects active in England:
One is an acoustic duo called Sloth in the City, formed in 2018 with percussive acoustic guitar player Andrea Martelloni. Our EP Remember Music, recorded in 2021 in London, is composed of originals that blend jazz forms with Celtic folk and Mediterranean music.
Her main project is the Betty Accorsi Quartet. This was founded with pianist Finn Carter and drummer Scott MacDonald; they were the finest musicians in my year at Goldsmiths and extremely popular in the South East of London.
In December 2020 she released “The Cutty Sark Suite”, an album of my compositions blending Wayne Shorter, folk, and punk. The Quartet was also part of 2021 Brighton Fringe Festival, playing The Cutty Sark Suite in its entirety on a live-streamed gig.
Her second album “Growing Roots” will be released on the 15th of July 2022 featuring pianist Daniel Hewson (Groove Armada, Madonna, Incognito), Scott MacDonald on drums and Andy Hamill on bass.
