February (Delia): Get to Know..Delia Stevens

About

From recording the percussion for The Great British Bake Off, to playing hang drum with Portico Quartet at Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie, to performing as a Guest Artist with the BBC Singers at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms, Delia's eclectic schedule is testament to her huge curiosity as a musician. 

She has presented her own BBC Radio 3 series Music and Machines, curated and directed concerts for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, created a percussion show called AlgoRhythms exploring AI and music whilst Artist in Residence at Leeds University, and played her local river as a percussion instrument as a community project highlighting corporate pollution.

Delia is an Associate Artist of the RNCM where she was the winner of the Concerto Prize and Gold Medal Award and has won the Royal Over-Seas League Award twice. 

Touring has taken her as a concerto soloist across Germany and Prague's Last Night; from TedX Talks at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall to orchestral jams in Peckham’s Bold Tendencies Carpark; from recitals in Beijing’s Forbidden Concert Hall to the muddy fields of Cambridge Folk Festival. 

www.deliastevens.com

Quick Fire Question Round

Early bird or night owl? 

Early bird. I honestly struggle with the classic 7:30pm onwards concert time and have to nap and then get really hyped up beforehand.

Introvert or extrovert? 

I was uber shy as a young child, and horribly embarrassed by life itself as a teenager.

But as an adult my social life - travelling to seven different cities a week, to do seven projects, hosted by and working with strangers, and constantly presenting on stage - taught me to develop some more extroverted traits. Now I feel like I can flip-flop between the two.

I think the real difference as an adult - and particularly in my 30s - is that I have become a lot more comfortable with who I am and where I get my kicks. Take me to a cosy pub rather than a noisy club any day!

Do you have any pets? 

Two cats. Zizu and Nuala, inadvertently named after the Lion King characters Zazu and Nala. 

Favourite city?

Edinburgh. 

Composer you’d most like to meet (dead or alive)? 

Bernstein - his music screams personality so I think he’d be no wallflower. 

What do you wish you learned sooner?

1. That you ultimately have to teach yourself your instrument, because no one else can be in your body for you, and no one else has your exact physique.
   

2. Music is mostly in your mind, rather than just your hands. 

3. You cannot always choose what happens to you, but you always have autonomy over your reaction to it. That is very empowering because no-one can take that away from you.

Guilty pleasure?

Almond croissants! I find it extraordinarily difficult to pass a bakery aisle without picking one up.

Have you ever suffered from impostor syndrome within the classical music industry? 

Yes!

What’s the maddest gig you have done?

I opened a diamond shop in the middle of a tropical flash storm (which soaked the marimba) on the roof of a Chinese skyscraper alongside a runway of 6 -oot Chinese models with whom I shared a makeup artist and a rather hectic dressing room. There was a choice to be paid in cash or in diamonds..I’ll leave you guessing..

What was the first album you heard that really stuck with you?

Bernstein conducting West Side Story on Broadway. The unapologetic rawness of the recording really hits me. So many records these days feel as filtered as Instagram but this one feels wild, yet watertight.

What is something that people are always surprised to learn about you?

I haven’t eaten any chocolate for 8 years. I have a really addictive personality and it was my New Year’s Resolution to give it up as I wanted to conquer my vice. I always feel even now that I would only ever be one delicious square away from failure.

What’s your most embarrassing musical moment that you’re willing to share?

This one was very public indeed. When I was 18 I appeared on the televised BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in the Percussion Finals. But halfway through the performances I managed to lob my drumstick many metres from my drums. I naively hadn't put out a spare set, and I had to do a pretty long (and silent) walk of shame to go and retrieve the stick in order to carry on with the rest of the piece.

Outside of Stevens & Pound, what is the project you have made that you are most proud of and why? 

I think the project I have been most privileged to be a part of was a residency at Alder Hey Children's Hospital when I worked for the charity Live Music Now in the Oncology Ward. Cancer is an incredibly private and intimate space for a family. My role was to create a space where the sole focus was reaching the core identity of the child - as opposed to the cancer patient - using music.

What's the weirdest food combination you've ever tried that turned out to be surprisingly great?

My mum - in a moment of parental desperation - used to give us pasta and cheese with a smiley tomato face painted in ketchup. In a moment of nostalgic exhaustion, I’ll sometimes recreate it. 

If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or ability, what would it be?

I think I would like Hermione’s “time-turner” necklace from Harry Potter. When she turns the necklace, she can relive periods of time so she can study more. I think it is not necessarily about “achieving more”, but about having enough lifetimes to satisfy my curiosities and perfectionism, one focus at a time.