GBSR Duo – George Barton (percussion) and Siwan Rhys (piano) – combines two of the UK's finest young contemporary chamber instrumentalists: “a wonderful, adventuresome, sensitive pair of musicians” (Kate Molleson, BBC R3).
Known for their fearless, intense performances, GBSR's work ranges from the twentieth-century modernism of Stockhausen and Ustvolskaya to music by Brian Eno and Aphex Twin; from the exquisite delicacy of composers like Morton Feldman, Eva-Maria Houben and Barbara Monk Feldman to the cracked virtuosity of Alex Paxton and Arne Gieshoff; and from the classic experimentalism of John White and Christopher Hobbs to the contemporary cross-genre work of Oliver Leith, Laura Bowler and CHAINES.
Their collaborators range from team-ups with leading soloists and ensembles such as the Heath Quartet, EXAUDI, 12 Ensemble, Twenty Fingers Duo, Sean Shibe, the Basel Sinfonietta and the LA Philharmonic, to inventive cross-disciplinary pairings with artists like Angharad Davies and Dejan Mrdja.
GBSR's recordings are praised for their exceptional fidelity and variety, whether bringing new depths of appreciation to existing repertoire through benchmark recordings of Stockhausen (The Guardian Album of the Week; “the best spatial audio purchase I've made this year” Seth Colter Walls, The New York Times) and Barbara Monk Feldman (“achingly beautiful” Christian Carey, Sequenza 21) – or highlighting new works in premiere recordings of Oliver Leith, Eva-Maria Houben, Lisa Illean, Alex Paxton, Lawrence Dunn, Julius Aglinskas and others.
Regular performers at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Kings Place and London's Bold Tendencies, they have also performed at venues including the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Royal Opera House Linbury Theatre and Walt Disney Hall, and at festivals including Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Muzikos Ruduo Vilnius, Presteigne Festival, Sound Aberdeen, Spitalfields Music Festival, No Bounds, Cheltenham Festival, Norfolk and Norwich Festival and Three Choirs Festival.
GBSR are hcmf Fielding Talent artists and were the winners of the Royal Philharmonic Society 2025 Young Artist award where the judges commended them for a “commitment to new music that’s thrilling in its fearlessness…their programmes and collaborations fizz with style, energy and invention”.
