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Artists

Alex Baranowski

A London based composer, and a graduate of Paul McCartney’s LIPA.

What shows or projects have you done with ETT? 

Reasons to Stay Alive 

Finish the sentence: Touring is important because… 

It’s about making brilliant art accessible to everyone, not just people in London!  

Where is home for you? 

South London  

Where is your home away from home? 

Liverpool, Farnham, Southport, Somerset..  

How did you bring home with you on tour? 

iPhone with a million photos on it.. and a good book 

Which city was your favourite to visit on tour with ETT? 

Bristol 

 What gem did you discover on tour with ETT (could be a landmark/park/cafe/pub etc)? 

The Bristol Old Vic is just a wonderful place so it was great spending some proper time there 

What are your touring essentials?   

Toothbrush  

What’s your go-to recipe whilst on tour? 

I love a Thai Red Curry 

There are few better feelings than collaborating with other people on something you're all so proud of. Taking that work on the road and discovering new audiences - who each react differently - is something very special!

There are few better feelings than collaborating with other people on something you're all so proud of.

Which artist(s) do you most admire and why? 

Too many to name. But it all started with The Beatles. 

What music inspires you? 

So much music. The Beatles. Gorecki. The Snowman. Holst. Duke Ellington, Nitin Sawhney, Shostakovich, Mozart, Jeff Buckley, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Max Richter, Philip Glass, Thomas Tallis, Goldfrapp, Beethoven, Johann Johannsson, Robert & Richard Sherman, John Williams, Louis Armstrong, Nicholas Britell 

What piece of writing or quote inspires you? 

I’m very inspired by my Grandfather’s poetry. He wrote much of it whilst in forced labour camps in Siberia in WW2. The positivity and love of life in his writing despite being so close to death is just awe inspiring. I inherited all his instruments when he died and it feels like he passed down some of his creativity to me. 

What, for you, makes a good piece of art? 

Looking… or hearing.. something from a different perspective 

What have been your career highlights so far? 

Getting nominated for a Tony on Broadway is definitely up there! 

If you were cast away on a desert island, which 5 plays would you take with you and why? 

A Streetcar Named Desire; Betrayal; A View from a Bridge; Earthquakes in London; Hamlet  

Please can you tell us what you would say to emerging artists to encourage them to take their work on the road or join an ETT tour? 

There are few better feelings than collaborating with other people on something you’re all so proud of. Taking that work on the road and discovering new audiences – who each react differently – is something very special! 

Window or aisle seat? 

Window 

 Favourite way to travel? 

Train 

 If you could have any superpower, which would you choose? 

Being able to pause time when deadlines are approaching.. 

 

Alex Baranowski’s biog:

For ETT: Reasons to Stay Alive (in a co-production with Sheffield Theatres). 

Theatre includes: The Cripple of Inishmaan (Broadway, Tony nomination); Hamlet, Frankenstein, Earthquakes in London, Stories (National Theatre); A Streetcar Named Desire (Young Vic / New York); The Starry Messenger, Macbeth, East is East (West End); Kes, Desire Under The Elms, Betrayal, Othello, Hobson’s Choice (Sheffield Theatres) and numerous productions for Old Vic, Donmar Warehouse, RSC, Royal Court, Shakespeare’s Globe, Manchester International Festival, Royal Exchange, West End and Broadway.  

 

 

 

Dance includes: 1984 (Northern Ballet); Together Alone (Ballet Black) and Kes (Sheffield Theatres) all collaborating with Jonathan Watkins; Seven Point Zero (2Faced Dance). 

Film and Television Includes: The Windermere Children, Nureyev, McCullin, A Christmas Carol, Attacking The Devil, Edmund The Magnificent, The Hope Rooms, The Departure. 

Television Includes: Music and sound design for all of BBC Two’s multi award-winning rebrand of their iconic TV idents in 2018-19. 

Music collaborations include: The xx, Jungle, Clean Bandit, London Metropolitan Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Peter Hook (Joy Division) and Daniel Hope. His arrangement of Ochi Chernye, a collaboration with Sir John Tomlinson and the London Metropolitan Orchestra, was the BBC’s theme for the 2018 World Cup.