Performer
Craig Farr
Craig Farr has worked professionally as a percussionist since his teens and has a great passion for jazz and freely improvised music.
After years of freelance work with numerous bands and orchestras he won a full-time position in the Norwegian Naval Forces Band in Bergen and has been employed there since 2004.
His upbringing in Yorkshire, UK, with a band-conducting father, lead to a brass band background. After moving to Norway at age fifteen, Farr was introduced to modern jazz and free improvisation. An encounter with John Stevens from the Spontaneous Music Ensemble changed Farrs approach to improvisation completely and sowed a seed for future endeavours. After moving to Bergen, Norway, Peter Kates of the Bergen Philharmonic took Craig under his wing and encouraged a formal education at the Grieg academy. In parallel to his career in the Naval Forces Band Farr also plays regularly with various jazz groups, Ensemble Obsidian and guests orchestras such as the Bergen Philharmonic and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra.
Projects
Traveling to Solund
to play the Solund Lights Festival with Aksel Røed, Øyvind Storesund!
OSME @BrassWind24
with Aksel Røed and Ola Høyer! Obsidian Spontaneous Music Ensemble
Shakers & Vibes
with OSME in Solund
Spelemannspris!
A duet with saxophonist René Wiik by Morten Eide Pedersen is one of the tracks on this award winning record.
Ensemble Obsidian
Three premieres at the BrassWInd festival in 2023, including a piece with Nate Wooley!
Ketil Hvoslef "In memory of a drowned otter"
A commission for saxophone, percussion and wind band that SFMK recorded for LAWO Classics