Tara Franks - SoundsCreative Projects

Cellist, Composer,Creative Leader

I specialise in facilitating creativity and bringing people together through musical experiences of all kinds. My creative workshops involve voice, strings , improvisation and collaboartive composition with a strong value placed on embodied aurel collective music making.  As a performer/composer I work across genres & art forms, with a focus on projects that have a collaborative approach. There is strong dialogue between my work as a facilitator and performer-composer, both in value to the approach and quality of creative output whatever the context.

Founder of SoundsCreative Projects - Community arts organisation

“the way you channel your art forms is simply phenomenal and inspiring, thank you for doing what you do” workshop participant testimonial

Short Film about the SoundsCreative ‘neighbourhood projects’ structure - Hackney, East London 2011 - 2020.

Post 2022 evolving structure in new home Hastings through partnerships (Create Music, Bright Foundation, Hastings International Piano, Sounds St Leonards, Tuft Arts) and growth of selected neighbourhood projects (Tots Tunes, Vox Voices)

National & International creative commissioners incl: Barbican, Aldeburgh Music, Royal Opera House, Music Masters UK, Music First, Turner Contemporary, National Gallery. Sunland school of the Arts Mexico, Kobe University Japan, Korean Arts and Culture Services, South Korea.

Led multiple largescale community performances at Union Chapel, Royal Albert Hall, Barbican, Hackney Empire.

STRING LAB model will draw on successes and learnings from SoundsCreative Ensemble project (2014-2018 Hackney) - adapted for new area & identifies target group.

Testimonials:

“Tara is an exceptional musician and creator… I have seen first-hand how transformative Tara's work is, and admire her ability to connect to communities in person and online through original music of the highest quality. I am excited to see her extending the project's reach to new locations, and to witness the creative burgeoning of the project to include other brilliant musicians …” 

Sara Mohr-Pietch - Programmer, Curator, BBC Radio Broadcaster

Balladeste

String duo collaboration with Preetha Narayanan, all original co-composed music

Ensemble founder & artist business partnership

“Narayanan’s and Franks’s collaboration is pure magic… Beyond Breath is musically speaking, by far their greatest achievement to date. There is nothing remotely quite like it” BackSeat Mafia 2021

“…powerful and moving. Something more profound is happening in Balladeste’s music” Folk Radio UK 2023

“defies easy definition … very very special indeed” Katie Derham BBC Radio 3 In Tune

 ‘It has been clear to me since their time at Guildhall that Tara (and Preetha) are both exceptionally talented artists. Their work transcends many of the conventional categories, both stylistically and as regards the contexts in which they work. They combine an in-depth knowledge of creative practice, both individually and in collaboration, with a huge range of skills as composers, arrangers, performers, producers and improvisers. There are very few artists who can combine diverse musical systems with the integrity that Balladeste are able to do’

Jan Hendrickse  - Lecturer GSMD, Performer, Sound Artist

Further performance collaborations with artists incl: Kae Tempest, Jocelyn Pook, Jasdeep Singh Degun & Imogen Butler-Cole & Emily Levy and founding member of contemporary trio Quest Ensemble ( 2 critically acclaimed albums)

Websites:

SoundsCreative website (SCP) - soundscreativeprojects.co.uk

Balladeste - balladeste.co.uk

Instagram - tara_soundscreative