Tim Garland's Lighthouse Trio

Twenty years ago, Canterbury saxophonist Tim Garland launched his Lighthouse Trio – a truly unmatched and formidable acoustic band where interplay is paramount. 2024 sees the 20th anniversary of this international trio that also features pianist Gwilym Simcock, a former Chetham's student, and Israeli drummer and percussionist Asaf Sirkis.

Garland’s association with the prodigiously talented and much-praised Simcock goes back a long way. Both share a broadly similar musical approach that’s informed by a blend of fusion, folk, and classical forms, while the formidable Sirkis, a drummer and percussionist with a well-deserved reputation as one of the best in the business, seems at home in any environment, but here masterfully employs a bespoke kit of middle eastern frame drums perfect for the setting.

The anniversary concerts in 2024 will feature works from a project entitled Moment of Departure created by Turkish painter and printmaker Esra Kizir Gokcen to complement new music, which will also be released on a new album in May recorded with the Britten Sinfonia and violin virtuoso Thomas Gould.

The trio’s three albums (If the Sea Replied, Libra and Lighthouse) capture their stunning agility and lyrical sensibility, with both Garland, whose seventeen-year association with Chick Corea made his name widespread, and the now-world-renowned Simcock (Pat Metheny Band) sharing compositional input.