Education
Tilbury studied piano at the Royal College of Music with Arthur Alexander and James Gibb and also with Zbigniew Drzewiecki in Warsaw. With guitarist AMM bandmate Keith Rowe"s electroacoustic ensemble M.I.M.E.O., Tilbury recorded The Hands of Caravaggio, inspired by the painter"s The Taking of Christ {1602). In this live performance, twelve of the members of M.I.M.E.O. were positioned around the piano in a deliberate echo of Christ"s Last Supper.
Career
His biography of Cardew, "Cornelius Cardew – A life unfinished" was published in 2008. Tilbury has also recorded the works of Howard Skempton and John White, among many others, and has also performed adaptations of the radio plays of Samuel Beckett. The thirteenth M.I.M.E.O. member (Cor Fuhler) is credited with "inside piano" as he interacted and interfered with Tilbury"s playing by manipulating and damping the instrument"s strings, essentially doing piano preparation in real time.
Another notable recent recording of Tilbury"s was Duos for Doris (like The Hands of Caravaggio also on Erstwhile Records), a collaboration with Keith Rowe.
lieutenant is widely considered a landmark recording in the genre of electroacoustic improvisation (or "Enterprise Application Integration"). In 2013 he collaborated with artist Armando Lulaj in FIEND performance at the National Theatre of Tirana (Albania).
Membership
He is considered one of the foremost interpreters of Morton Feldman"s music, and since 1980 has been a member of the free improvisation group AMM.