Seaview Music - About Us

NEW MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS: see letter to promoters here

SEAVIEW MUSIC represents artists who communicate through music in an unusual, spectacular, colourful, virtuoso or hilarious way.

THE CLASSIC BUSKERS, formerly The Cambridge Buskers, have performed in over 20 countries and in 15 languages and are constantly arranging new repertoire and developing their hilarious programmes (e.g. Micro Mozart, Handel with Care). The duo of Michael Copley and Ian Moore consistently surprise and entertain audiences worldwide, with their incredible virtuosity and infectious “British humour”.

SAMBUCA consist of Michael Copley on a plethora of woodwind instruments and Peter Martin on instruments such as guitar, theorbo and lute. SAMBUCA’s repertoire spans over 400 years; whether Handel or Vivaldi, modern classics by Piazzolla or Takemitsu, or achingly beautiful world music from Bolivia or Macedonia, Sambuca succeed in reaching the hearts of all ages.

THE CHUCKERBUTTY OCARINA QUARTET have to be seen to be believed... Led by the incredible virtuoso, Michael Copley, this is Britain’s only professional ocarina quartet. Fantastically clever arrangements of masterpieces such as Wagner’s Prelude to Lohengrin and the Finale of Beethoven’s First Symphony on ocarinas of all shapes and sizes (and even stranger instruments including a quartet of rubber trout and an acoustic kettle - seriously) form the backbone of an exhilarating evening of entertainment not to be missed!

THE CARNIVAL BAND celebrate the amazing spirit of Carnival! This high-energy five-piece band perform the best early and traditional music from around the world to the delight of young and old. From their annual Christmas tour with Maddy Prior, to solo performances around Europe, plus a series of exciting education projects, The Carnival Band’s endless energy keeps audiences on the edge of their seats, if not dancing in the aisles.

NOW, LET'S HEAR IT FROM THE ARTISTS...

The Chuckerbutty Ocarina Quartet - a short history

Written by Michael Copley

Oliphant Chuckerbutty was a composer chiefly remembered for his ludicrous name. Quite famous in his time as one of the few Anglo-Indian organists to perform in both churches and cinemas, he unwittingly became the inspiration for one of Britain's finer ocarina quartets.

I met Christopher Hogwood in the early 1980s when he was the director of the Kings Lynn Festival and I was one of the buskers allowed to play there without any danger of incarceration. He remembered that I played the ocarina and asked if I could form an ocarina quartet to play at a light-hearted concert at the Wigmore Hall. Having agreed, I alerted the maker, who produced the instruments, and then I twisted some arms to form the group. At a Cambridge Buskers' concert a while before, a vicar had told me about Oliphant Chuckerbutty and his name seemed perfect for the group. In those pre-internet days, research had to be done about the great man; we phoned the British Music Information Service who knew not too much about our muse, but helpfully suggested that we should get in touch with members of The Chuckerbutty Ocarina Quartet who were shortly to be performing at the Wigmore Hall ….. The concert was a great success and led to at least two more, in Belgium and Holland. We later played in the Hoffnung concert at the Festival Hall in an arrangement of Tchaikovsky's 1812, during which I was shot in the chin by a pellet that should have been a blank (a long story), recorded a CD with a title based on the perceptive observation of the Times' music critic that the "Ocarina is no trombone" and went through many changes of personnel. We are now back to almost the original Wigmore group, with the happy addition of Japanese recorder virtuoso Yuzuru Yamashiro and the occasional participation of ocarinist Sir James Galway, wasted on the flute. Small is beautiful and Schubert's Trout is without doubt more authentic played on a quartet of rubber fish.

The Classic Buskers travel the world - so many countries, so many revolting national dishes…
Written by Michael Copley

It has always been my ambition to avoid having a real job. A music degree from Cambridge might well have led in that direction, but luckily I became a busker instead and unlike many others, a busker with a record contract.

This first duo, The Cambridge Buskers, soon found itself more often inside than out, appearing on television shows best forgotten and touring increasingly unlikely parts of the world. We even fitted in 125 shows with Germany's most popular comedian before the inevitable artistic disagreement; I wanted to be artistic and the accordion player disagreed. Ian Moore is the third accordion player. The second, Jeremy Sams, is terribly famous now for other reasons and would probably prefer me not to mention him by name, so I won't. When he took over the role, Ian's big problem was that he really could not play the instrument at all. He was a prize-winning (Doris Wookey prize-winning!) organist and so had few problems with the accordion's keyboard or pedals. Buttons he thought that he would assimilate during a tour of Canadian small towns, none of which have ever invited us back. Things could only get better, and they did.

The group was now known as The Classic Buskers, (Crassic on a Japanese poster), and started after a while to play more right notes than wrong. We played throughout Europe, North America and Asia, everywhere from large concert halls with orchestras to French café-théâtres (where we were once billed as "The Cambridge Brothers - clarinette et accordion, musique jazz"). Brothers in France, Busters and worse in Germany. Our first Italian concert was billed as "Concert for Chicken." I occasionally perform a tasteful little number on the rubber chicken and our French agent called the show "Chicken Concerto" in French which was translated into Italian and then back into English of sorts!

This chicken and its friend turned out to have their uses when a suitcase went missing from a flight from Zurich to London. It ended up in Cairo and was identified by its contents; one rubber chicken containing a whistle emerging from the beak, and one rubber chicken in a ballet tutu (no knickers).

We were invited to play at the Eisenstadt Haydn Festival in Austria, which takes place at the Esterhazy Palace where the composer was employed. Ian arrived with his bright yellow accordion for the rehearsal and was of course refused admission by the stern caretaker who knew that it was a serious music festival. This concert was - eventually - a highlight of our career. A possible low-point was achieved with a week's booking as buskers in residence at a festival in Sweden. It's rather chilly there in January.

On our travels we have discovered that the national vegetable of Slovenia is the sprout, that the Japanese for eel slightly mispronounced can lead to a large plate of grilled grasshopper and that in Sardinia there is a special - if illegal - cheese, writhing with live worms. The Korean national drink is called Soju, pronounced Sod-You……

And so it continues with a combination of repeat bookings plus new venues and countries. So many new places to discover, so many revolting national dishes; it's certainly better than a day job.