hothouse r7

Caoilfhionn (pronounced Keelin) is a singer, songwriter and producer born in Manchester, with family roots in Northern Ireland and Yorkshire. She ties together remnants of Manchester’s musical past with its evolving present and is perhaps best known for her work with Vini Reilly of The Durutti Column. Her writing moves through a tapestry of folk, jazz, ambient, electronica and even subtle psychedelia. With hothouse she’ll be expanding her arranging and orchestration skills – especially for string quartet - writing material dedicated to the company of friends.

Robin is a keyboard player and composer from Bury, now living in Leeds and leading his ambient jazz ensemble Floorkin, a hypnotic combination of chaos and beauty. Robin successfully completed mjf’s Soundcheck programme in 2020 and has since been featured on BBC Radio 3's Freeness. He is working with his band towards multi-disciplinary performances in alternative spaces: his hothouse project will be written in symbiosis with a specially curated art installation, inspired by the Horologium constellation, creating a hologram effect with digital projections.

Danni, aka Dirty Freud, is an electronic live/recording artist from Sheffield. The unruly prince of electronica, Ninja Tune fave and Glastonbury artist collaborates with improvisers and soulful vocalists, mashing up jazz lines with infectious grooves in his own personal style of dirty cinematic electronica. His mjf originals commission Meet Me in the Real premiered at mjf 2022. For hothouse, he’ll look at place with Native Immigrant, exploring how people can feel in the right place and yet in the wrong place, and the idea of being comfortable in your own skin in various places.

Francesca is a musician from Newcastle upon Tyne. Primarily a drum kit player, she also brings piano into her composition process and in her collaborative project with accordionist Amy Thatcher. Since 2014 Francesca has toured internationally with drumming theatre show, Spark!, meanwhile recording and performing with a multitude of artists in the North East. In 2021 she received the DYCP fund from Arts Council England to deepen her musicality as a multi-instrumental composer, and is continually looking at ways to bring explorative and playful collaboration into play, avoiding the confines of genre-specific works.

Hoda is a 22-year-old cellist interested in musical experiences that move people and generate energy. Having grown up in Slovakia, raised in an Iranian household and living her adult life in Manchester, Hoda has been on a journey to understand her place in society. For her hothouse project, she seeks to create a body of work that explores key themes she has encountered on this journey, in the hopes that it will help others in theirs.

James is a Leeds-based saxophonist, composer, and improviser, also exploring clarinets, flutes, and electronics. Projects include his new trio with Dave Kane and Emil Karlsen, Roller Trio, Tipping Point, and Mycorrhiza. As a sideman, he's recorded and toured with John Law's Congregation, Nduduzo Makathini, and Django Django.