OPEN THE DOORS

Open the Doors band - Hilary Hawke, Claude & Ola

Banjo melds with electronic landscapes and piano to create threads of cinematic universes. Hilary Hawke and Claude & Ola joined together in their first project stemming from brisk winter nights in Northern, Ny and a combination of three very different disciplines and backgrounds. Classical music, folk, electronic and improvisation were the main elements of creating their debut album, Open the Doors.

Meet the Band

  • Hilary Hawke, banjoist in Open the Doors

    Hilary Hawke

    BANJO

  • Ola Aldous, pianist in Open the Doors

    Ola Aldous

    PIANO

  • Claude Aldous, synthesizer player in Open the Doors

    Claude Aldous

    SYNTHESIZERS

With beautiful textures, and polyphonic lines, the music on Open the Doors is an achingly beautiful dreamscape. Featuring rich, full piano chords, shifting layers of synthesizer drones and colors, and virtuosic banjo lines.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Stage play

The music of Hilary, Claude & Ola is comprised of keys, modular synthesizer and banjo. The sounds that were emerging through their process were so woven with imagery that it sparked a stage-play involving the incredible silhouette puppetry of Dorothy James and Andy Manjuck, performed for the first time in October 2021 at the Shapeshifter Lab. 

The stage play of Open the Doors provides a valuable look into issues of change, self-esteem, and self-care through the lens of a girl as she leaves home for the first time. She struggles between the morals of what is good and healthy in herself, and what is evil, selfish and manipulative. The show leaves the audience with a message that seems even more poignant now as we restart after the physical and mental struggles related to a pandemic.