Xenia Pestova Bennett (NZ / Canada / UK) is a pianist, improviser, composer and educator. She was one of the original members of Amalgam, a short-lived and now legendary New Zealand sound art collective from the late 1990s. Her recordings are available on Diatribe, Farpoint, Ergodos, Innova, Naxos, NMC and TakuRoku. Her musical offerings have been described as “a pinch of Edgar Froese, a splash of David Borden” (Jennifer Lucy Allan: “A Short Personal History of TakuRoku), “enchanting” (Whole Note), “boldly conceived and brilliantly realised” (The Wire), “problematic… disjointed” (The Journal of Music), “a triumph” (All About Jazz), a “big problem” (Boring Like a Drill), “amazing” (Classical Explorer), “intoxicating” (RTE Lyric FM), “melancholy” (The Quietus), “irradiated” (BBC Radio 3) and “too much Bach” (The Irish Times). She lives in the middle of nowhere by the sea and recently published a book on performance anxiety management, endorsed as “a breath of fresh air” (Steven Osborne) and “an ideal resource for performers in any field” (Patrick McKeown). Decide for yourself at https://xeniapestovabennett.com.

PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Hudson for Daylight Music