Danielle Price on Tectonics: 'It’s kind of like a playground where I can look for connection over perfection'
The classical music festival reimagines the tuba and expands the possibilities of sound
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Led by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Glasgow once again plays host to the remarkable Tectonics festival of new and experimental music from around the world. To be tectonic relates to the surface of the earth’s structure being formed, changed and moved by the forces within it. For the festival’s curator, Ilan Volkov, this becomes ‘imagining how music might sound, behave and be made’.
In the 2026 edition’s spirit of discovery, transformation of familiar instruments and different ways of listening, Scotland-based tuba player Danielle Price is one of several international artists presenting their practice in reflection of Volkov’s mission. ‘I think that the tuba is so often under-represented or misrepresented,’ she says. ‘It’s often thought of as being a bass, being mechanical; it’s clumsy, it’s big.’ For Price, the tuba is so much more. ‘Because it’s big and mechanical, it lends itself to versatility. It can be, for instance, lyrical or great for extended techniques. It can be played in so many different ways and there’s something about the low mellow sound and the way it fills the room. It’s kind of like a playground where I can look for connection over perfection.’
For Tectonics, Price brings a new solo set of original material, improvised tuba electronics, spoken text and singing to the Old Fruitmarket (Saturday 2 May). ‘Basically, I want to be a songwriter but play the tuba and I’m marrying these two worlds together,’ she explains. Her songwriting is rooted in telling the stories of what makes us human and, she says, ‘all the things you think about as a person in daily life’.
Tectonics, City Halls & Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, Saturday 2 & Sunday 3 May; picture: Astrid Rosenberg.