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Pia Silvi is Anglo-Polish and grew up in the north of England. She moved to Oxford in the 80s to attend college and then to London to work and to do a masters degree at the University Of London. She moved to the south west of England in 2006 and now lives on the Cornwall-Devon border.

Pia works from her studio there where she composes, programmes, sings, plays, records, mixes and produces everything herself.

The only other person involved in the process is the mastering engineer. Pia describes Mike Brown as "an accomplice with very special ears, who is also able to
offer creative solutions if we come up against any sound related issues at the mastering stage. He is way more than a mastering engineer as he is also
responsible, together with me, for the artwork and website, a man of many talents."

In 2002 she released her debut album Atmosferiks, which was followed by two further releases in 2003, Chaos Sky and The Meditations 1 to 3. Tracks from 'Atmosferiks' were played on BBC Radio 3's Late Junction in 2002 and also on the now axed Radio 3 programme Mixing It.

In 2006 an Internet radio show hosted by Paul Baker featured a lot of her music as well as a lengthy interview with her. Her work has been reviewed by Ian
Fairholme and his review of The Meditations 1 to 3 can be read in the Reviews section.

Virtually Handsewn is the second album but the fourth release. This album is probably her most evolved work to date and demonstrates an extraordinary
versatility musically, vocally and technically. Reviews of Virtually Handsewn can also be found at the Reviews section.

Pia Silvi describes her heritage as exceptionally rich, musically speaking, and she says music was part of family life from the very start. All Pia's immediate family members are extremely musical (and gifted) and Pia feels that "something, quite possibly genetic, has found its way in to each of us... something that is
very passionate too."

Pia says "I used to work on my sister Julya's compositions and added vocal and other effects when we very young. I now have my own musical worlds to
enrich, but I owe a huge debt of gratitude to both my brother Anthony and my twin Julya, because when I was very young and at my most impressionable, they gave me something which took root in me and which is still growing, I hope, into a very tall tree.

"I also owe a great deal to my late father Zymunt, he was the person who first gave us music in different forms. We listened to everything from Puccini to his
own singing with his brother."

"I think that being from a mixed european background I have always had an interest in different cultures and their music. People say they can hear something
different in my work and also something melancholic and dark too. Sometimes I think that the half of me that's Polish is expressed in my music."

Pia says that she is sure it is because of her background and the richly diverse sounds she heard from an early age, that she composes such diverse music herself. "I don't really need to draw lines between different genres of music, if it speaks to me that is enough. For me it really can be from any 'category'; it might be Palestrina, or Puccuni, Kings College Choir Cambridge, Mecedes Sosa, I Muvrini, Astor Piazzola ,Jacques Brel, Antony And The Johnsons, Mystere des voix Bulgares, Bjork, Elizabeth Frazer, Sigur Ros, Nitin Sahwney, Natacha Atlas, Matmos, Kraftwerk, The Stranglers, Mike Oldfield, Jean Michele Jarre, The Cure, Ilona Sekacz, Arvo Part...

"Gorecki, David Sylvian, Boards of Canada, Joni Mitchell, Gavin Bryars, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yokota, Laurie Anderson, Ella Fitzgerald, Geoffrey Burgon, Radiohead, Blossom Dearie, Nina Simone, Adele, Stan Getz, John Tavener, Massive Attack, Kate Bush, Nick Drake, ELO, The Chemical Brothers, John Barry, John Williams, Michael Nyman, Bob Dylan, Stina Nordenstern, William Baines, John Ireland, Ravel, Brian Eno, Martin Grech, Rachmaninov...

"There are so many people who move me in some way or another because there's a special quality in their music. It's also something that is timeless too, so that it has the same impact whenever you hear it, and also it can live through centuries. Music is another language, one that allows us to express something creatively, there are no rules in this particular language either."

Design by Pia Silvi and Mike Brown
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Photos & images by Peter Mays & Martin Thompson
© Pia Silvi, 2002-2010