Emma Beatson at the Royal Academy of Music

LONDON 8th April 2018 – UK innovation Agency, Tiger Heart, collaborated with singer-songwriter and producer Emma Beatson to design and produce a special live version of “Gris” at the Royal Academy of Music. The production was conceived and designed by Sanj Surati as a Tiger Heart Production. 

Emma, whose mother is originally from London, wanted the opportunity to explore her music using classical styles. Tiger Heart’s concept stemmed from the idea of taking one of Emma Beatson’s songs and reworking it using a string quartet. With the idea of recording a live performance of the song in the prestigious Dukes Hall.

Built in 1822, The Dukes Hall is the Royal Academy of Music’s flagship 350-seat concert venue with an acoustic character so unique that many flock form all over the world to hear some of the best musicians in the world perform there. 

Tiger Heart decided to approach long term music partner, ex Royal Academy Alumni and award winning composer, Xiaotian Shi, for the composition reworking of the Emma Beatson track “Gris”. 

Tiger Heart have worked with Xiaotian on many projects over the years and have always been marvelled by how creative and exciting his music is. We knew that working with Xiaotian on this project would be right as he is a classical pedigree that has used the Dukes Hall before for many of his compositions.

Emma Beatson: “I just wanted to try a new way to get my fans to explore my music. The standard way is credible but very linear. I wanted to disrupt the discovery process on how people find music.”

Sanj Surati of Tiger Heart: “We are really proud of this project as it brings together many collaborating creatives and puts them in directions. For us to design and produce a live recording at the Royal Academy of Music in London with an up and coming Parisian music artist was a huge joy that gave us the opportunity to disrupt two music genres and create something elegant and exciting.”

The track was recorded by Rob Kidd using five microphones and was filmed and edited by Alexis Balcon. 

Here is the live recording of Emma Beatson performing “Gris” live at Royal Academy of Music in Spring 2018. 

CLIENT: Emma Beaton
CONCEPT: Sanj Surati
DIRECTOR & EDITOR: Alexis Balcon
STRING ARRANGEMENT: Xiaotian Shi
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Timothée Raymond
AUDIO ENGINEER: Robin Kidd
ASSISTANT PRODUCER: Oliver Paton