The first time that Siwan Rhys played Galina Ustvolskaya’s music in public, something strange happened. She’d been asked to play Ustvolskaya’s arresting Sixth Sonata at the launch of Kate Molleson’s book Sound Within Sound at Cafe OTO in Dalston. This wasn’t the first time that Rhys had encountered Ustvolskaya’s musical worldview—she’d first heard it live at the Occupy the Pianos Festival around 2017, organized by her then-teacher Rolf Hind—but it was her first time learning it for herself, and presenting what it meant to her in public.
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