Poppy Ackroyd

In the organizer's words:

Acclaimed composer and pianist Poppy Ackroyd returns with "Liminal", her new, highly personal album to be released on June 12 on One Little Independent Records. Written and recorded at a time of profound upheaval and change, the album marks a return to the core of Ackroyd's work, bringing piano and violin back together.

For the first time since 2019's "Feathers", Ackroyd reunites these two instruments exclusively, with every sound on the album coming from piano and violin alone. Melody, harmony, rhythm and sonic texture are all drawn from the instruments themselves, from bowed and plucked strings to percussive elements. Working within these boundaries remains central to her creative process.

"Liminal" came together unusually quickly for Ackroyd and was composed within three months, during which the core structures and musical ideas were laid down. The recordings took place shortly after she moved into a new studio. Piano and violin improvisations were recorded alongside the composed material and then carefully edited over time. This process of sifting through improvisations to find small, human moments has always been part of Ackroyd's approach, but here she decided to leave more of the raw material intact in order to preserve its cathartic qualities.

"In the last three years, everyone I loved the most needed me all at once," she explains. "There was new life and death, heartbreak and a lot of other things I don't want to talk about. I also moved across the country to a part of the world I'd never lived in before."

Although the album emerged from an exceptionally difficult time in her life, it is underpinned by a quiet determination. Ackroyd describes how she listened to the album while running and felt like she was almost dancing to it, discovering a joy that wasn't always present in the writing. "I had such a messy couple of years, but the only way to cope was to allow things to be messy," she says. "Embrace the messy and imperfect, but still get things done. I decided to apply that approach to my music making and found that I still have the same attention to detail, but without the pressure, and I fell back in love with making music in a whole new way."

Ackroyd's work has also been heard in countless documentaries and dance productions, including New York City Ballet, as well as in the theater, where the National Theatre used "The Calm Before" as the opening music for "The Seagull." Her collaboration with Ainslie Henderson, "Shackle", was awarded Best British Film at the London International Animation Festival.

In 2025, Ackroyd released "Notes On Water", a collaborative project written in the last months of her father Norman Ackroyd's life and released shortly after his death. The work combined Ackroyd's music with her father's last etching and served as both a tribute and a means of coming to terms with loss through a shared creative language.

At its core, "Liminal" is about perseverance and transformation. "It's a euphoric feeling when you've done something you were afraid to do," reflects Ackroyd. "I feel like I've broken in a way I never thought possible, but I'm also stronger than I ever thought possible."

If you would like to see this strength for yourself, you are cordially invited to come to Halle 424 on November 13 when Poppy Ackroyd presents her latest work live.

The celebrated composer and pianist Poppy Ackroyd returns with "Liminal", her new, very personal album, which will be released on June 12 on One Little Independent Records. Written and recorded at a time of profound upheaval and change, the album marks a return to the core of Ackroyd's work, bringing piano and violin back together.

For the first time since 2019's "Feathers", Ackroyd reunites these two instruments exclusively, with every sound on the album coming from piano and violin alone. Melody, harmony, rhythm and sonic texture are all drawn from the instruments themselves, from bowed and plucked strings to percussive elements. Working within these boundaries remains central to her creative process.

"Liminal" came together unusually quickly for Ackroyd and was composed within three months, during which the core structures and musical ideas were laid down. The recordings took place shortly after she moved into a new studio. Piano and violin improvisations were recorded alongside the composed material and then carefully edited over time. This process of sifting through improvisations to find small, human moments has always been part of Ackroyd's approach, but here she decided to leave more of the raw material intact in order to preserve its cathartic qualities.

"In the last three years, everyone I loved the most needed me all at once," she explains. "There was new life and death, heartbreak and a lot of other things I don't want to talk about. I also moved across the country to a part of the world I'd never lived in before."

Although the album emerged from an exceptionally difficult time in her life, it is underpinned by a quiet determination. Ackroyd describes how she listened to the album while running and felt like she was almost dancing to it, discovering a joy that wasn't always present in the writing. "I had such a messy couple of years, but the only way to cope was to allow things to be messy," she says. "Embrace the messy and imperfect, but still get things done. I decided to apply that approach to my music making and found that I still have the same attention to detail, but without the pressure, and I fell back in love with making music in a whole new way."

Ackroyd's work has also been heard in countless documentaries and dance productions, including New York City Ballet, as well as in the theater, where the National Theatre used "The Calm Before" as the opening music for "The Seagull." Her collaboration with Ainslie Henderson, "Shackle", was awarded Best British Film at the London International Animation Festival.

In 2025, Ackroyd released "Notes On Water", a collaborative project written in the last months of her father Norman Ackroyd's life and released shortly after his death. The work combined Ackroyd's music with her father's last etching and served as both a tribute and a means of coming to terms with loss through a shared creative language.

At its core, "Liminal" is about perseverance and transformation. "It's a euphoric feeling when you've done something you were afraid to do," reflects Ackroyd. "I feel like I've broken in a way I never thought possible, but I'm also stronger than I ever thought possible."

If you would like to see this strength for yourself, you are cordially invited to come to Halle 424 on November 13 when Poppy Ackroyd presents her latest work live.