STEVE PYCROFT

Kaleidoscope Orchestra

In 2011, Steve failed to achieve funding to study for a PhD through which he was to attempt to bridge the gap between Classical Music and Electronic Dance Music. Instead, alongside his friend David Tagg-Oram - Steve setup Kaleidoscope Orchestra. Since founding the orchestra in 2011, the orchestra has performed and recorded a wide range of Steve’s arrangements - featuring the music of artists such as Pendulum, The Prodigy, Skrillex, Major Lazer, Calvin Harris, DJ Snake and Lady Gaga. These videos have accumulated over 11 million views on YouTube and as of January 2024, their subscriber count is over 78,000.

Lockdown Sessions

During 2020, the orchestra released a series of ‘Lockdown Sessions’ which were featured several times on BBC Breakfast and led to several collaborations.

In May 2020 Steve was commissioned to write an orchestral version of ‘For A Feeling’ by Camelphat & ARTBAT. The arrangement was launched on YouTube in June 2020.

Steve also collaborated with NAO on an orchestral version of her song ‘Another Lifetime'. The arrangement was used on an advert for Oppo’s Find X2 Series Smartphone.

In July 2019 Steve’s arrangement of Face My Fears by Skrillex, Hikaru Utada & Poo Bear was released by Sony Masterworks.

Candlelight Concerts

In 2021 and 2022 Kaleidoscope performed a series of Candlelight shows paying tribute to Daft Punk, Eminem and Calvin Harris. The orchestra performed in venues including Manchester Cathedral, St George’s Hall Liverpool and London’s Lindley Hall.

Mental Health campaigns

Since 2018, Steve has focussed on the impact of the music industry on musicians’ mental health, and in May 2018 he wrote an orchestral tribute to Avicii (who died in April of that year.) The aim was to help raise awareness of potential mental health issues for musicians. After the launch of the video, Steve was invited to perform his tribute live at Creamfields 2018. The tribute was streamed around the World and was viewed by over 1 million people.

Live Projects

Over the last 10 years, Steve has collaborated with many artists and ensembles from a variety of musical genres, including Plan B, Whiney, Etherwood, London Elektricity, Flux Pavilion, Dr Meaker and NAO.

In 2016, drum & bass pioneer and CEO of Hospital Records - London Elektricity (aka Tony Colman), asked Steve to put together a big band to perform his extensive library of music. Steve played drums and was Musical Director for a series of shows, performing at Glastonbury (Glade Stage & Hell Stage), Let It Roll (Czechia), Audioriver (Poland) and Pahoda (Slovakia.) A live album was released from the Pahoda show and it can be listened to here.

In 2012, BBC Radio 3 commissioned Steve to arrange a song by Justin Bieber for Baroque Orchestra. The piece was premiered live on air, performed by Robin Blaze and York Baroque Ensemble. This was followed by another commission for BBC Children in Need to arrange a One Direction song for full symphony orchestra. The piece was recorded by the Hallé and BBC Philharmonic Orchestras.