Ed Williams

This is a set of improvised studies made on the Clavemusicum Omnituonum, a harpsichord designed in
1606 by Trasunto with 31 keys per octave. With this 2016 copy made by Markus Krebs for Studio31
(Basel), I let the music unfold out of the gestures the hands were able to make thanks to the new
possibilities - and obstacles - created by such a keyboard. As a classically trained harpsichordist, I
relished the opportunity to fully embrace the oblique angles opened up by the keyboard’s disorienting
layout, letting myself be guided by a heightened sense of haptic playfulness through improvisation.

I am a harpsichordist, guitarist, composer and researcher working between early music practices, experimental composition and trans*feminist epistemology. Based between Marseille and Paris, I work with period instruments in experimental capacities, combining 16th-century experimentation into microtonality and improvisation with contemporary performance practice. This is developed alongside research into queer phenomenology and other trans*feminist notions.

I hold ABRSM Grade 8 in Harpsichord and Classical Guitar and studied composition at the University of Edinburgh and electroacoustic composition at the Marseille Conservatory. I graduated with MA in Open Creation (Improvisation) from the Hochschule für Musik, Basel, under Andrea Neumann and Caspar Johannes Walter, and completed a year of research in collaboration with the Music and Research department and Studio 31+, under the supervision of Johannes Keller. I’ve released music on Editions Wandelweiser, Creative Sources, Insub. Records, Tombed Visions, and play with the Insub Meta Orchestra.