Ana Silvera | |
|---|---|
 Ana Silvera | |
| Background information | |
| Born | London, England |
| Genres | Alternative folk |
| Occupations |
|
| Instrument(s) | piano, guitar, harmonium |
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Website | http://www.anasilvera.com |
Ana Silvera is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer.
Silvera's solo music can be characterized as folk in style, but draws on diverse genres including jazz, pop and contemporary classical. As a composer, she has been commissioned to write work for ballet, choir, instrumental ensemble and theatre including for Concerto Caledonia, Estonian Television Girls Choir[1] and Royal Ballet.
Her lyrics often draw inspiration from literature, poetry and folklore.
Silvera's recordings have, as of 2018, been added to the Sound Archive at the British Library.[2]
To date, as a solo artist Silvera has released two studio albums, "The Aviary" (2012), "The Fabulist" (2022) and a live album, "Oracles" (2018), which was listed on The Guardian Critics Pick List,[3] and three EPs: "Arcana - A Winter EP" (2017), "Light, Console Me" (2020), which features Gambian kora player Sefo Kanuteh, and "Gift" (2021).
She has performed and recorded with a number of notable artists including Imogen Heap, Olivia Chaney, Jim Moray, Bill Laurance, Jasper Høiby, Alan Hampton, Maya Youssef, Laura Moody, Yo Zushi, Mara Carlyle, Josephine Stephenson, Daughter, Danish violinist Bjarke Falgren, Hungarian poet George Szirtes and British composers Emily Hall and Max de Wardener.
She is also an interpreter of traditional Ladino song and traces her lineage back to Sephardi Jews who escaped Iberia as refugees during the religious conquests of the 1500s, and later settled in the Ottoman Empire. She has released modern interpretations of Ladino music under the name Yja as part of a duo with cellist Francesca Ter-Berg.[4] As of 2020, Silvera holds both British and Portuguese nationality, due to right of return laws.[5]
- ^ "Ana Silvera website describing ETGC project". Anasilvera.com. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- ^ "Sound & Moving Image Catalogue". Sami.bl.uk. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- ^ "The Guardian Critics Pick of 2018". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- ^ "Jewish Chronicle Interview with Ana Silvera and Francesca Ter-Berg as Contemporary Ladino Duo 'Yja'". Thejc.com. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- ^ "Becoming Portuguese: How Brexit and 500 years of Jewish history changed one British's singer's life". Retrieved 9 February 2021.