Alice Purton is a cellist, vocalist, composer and improviser living in London. She specialises in contemporary chamber music, performing regularly with her ensembles Distractfold, Plus Minus and Trio Atem. Alice is also the cellist with Ensemble Kopernikus, a flexible ensemble that explores core and lesser-known classical repertoire.
With her ensembles Alice has performed at festivals and venues including Bludenzer Tage Zeitgemasse Musik, Austria; Maerzmusik, Berlin; Trieste Prima, Italy; Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival; Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, Germany; Spectrum, New York; Kalv Festival, Sweden; Nordic Music Days, London edition; Rainy Days, Luxembourg; Klang Festival, Copenhagen; ESS, Chicago; Warsaw Autumn, Poland; Gare du Nord, Basel; Miry Concert Hall, Ghent; L’Auditori, Barcelona; No Hay Banda, Montreal.
Alice regularly performs cello and vocals for recording sessions and pop performances. She has recently collaborated with singers including Jamie Cullum, Alice Zawadzki and Ana Silvera; she has recorded for composers including Mica Levi, Bobby Krlic, Jon Opstad, Chris Roe and Daniel Hart. She can regularly be heard on both radio and television, and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 (Breakfast, Record Review, New Music Show); BBC Radio 2 (The Country Show with Bob Harris); BBC Radio 1 (Live Lounge); BBC Radio 6 (The Freak Zone); and Resonance FM. Recent television and film credits include ‘Trigger Point’ (ITV1, 2022); ‘The Green Kinght’; After Love (2020); ‘Midsommar’ (2019).
As an educator Alice is invited to give masterclasses and has held residencies in both cello performance and composition, at institutions including Harvard University, Oxford University, Stanford University, Columbia University, McGill University, Durham University, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Royal Northern College of Music and Manchester University.