 | Barbican announces contemporary music season for Autumn 2012
Barbican Centre, London, UK
For immediate release: 19 July 2012
Today the Barbican launches its contemporary music season for Autumn 2012. Highlights of the season include:
- Transcender – the return of the Barbican’s annual series looking at ecstatic, devotional and psychedelic music from around the globe (17–30 September)
- Aphex Twin brings the UK premiere of his groundbreaking Remote Orchestra concept to the Barbican on 10 October
- Singer, songwriter and pianist Chilly Gonzales joins forces with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Jules Buckley to play music from The Unspeakable Chilly Gonzales and Solo Piano II, plus the world premiere of his Piano Concerto (20 October)
- Danish band Efterklang return to the Barbican with songs from their album Piramida, accompanied by Northern Sinfonia and conducted by André de Ridder (30 October)
- Max Richter re-imagines Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons in Vivaldi Recomposed with Britten Sinfonia and conductor André de Ridder and soloist Daniel Hope (31 October)
- Israeli singer Yasmin Levy presents her new release Libertad (7 November)
- London Jazz Festival opens at the Barbican on 9 November with Jazz Voice – Celebrating a Century of Song. Further Festival concerts to include Melody Gardot, Brad Mehldau Trio, Sonny Rollins, Neil Cowley Trio with the Goldsmiths (big) Strings, David Murray Big Band and Macy Gray, and Chick Corea with Christian McBride and Brian Blade
- Songlines Music Awards 2012 Winners’ Concert on 23 November features Indian sitar star Anoushka Shankar (Best Artist) and Touareg desert rock band Tinariwen (Best Group)
- The Barbican celebrates Philip Glass in the year of his 75th birthday with concerts on 14 and 15 December
- 2013 highlights just announced include An Evening With Cowboy Junkies; Glen Hansard; Ahmad Jamal and Yo La Tengo
Tickets go on sale online to Barbican members today, Thursday 19 July, and to the general public tomorrow, Friday 20 July, at 10am. The detailed listings can be seen here: www.barbican.org.uk/contemporary
Sun 16 September, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
Dexys
Tickets £30-32.50
Promoted by Metropolis Music
Taking their One Day I’m Going To Soar show on the road, featuring a live performance of their new album in its entirety, followed by a few Dexys favourites.
17–30 September (various venues)
Transcender festival
Continuing the contemporary music season in September is the acclaimed Transcender festival, a series of concerts that explores transcendental, ecstatic, devotional and psychedelic music. Music designed to transport the listener into an altered state of consciousness has flourished for centuries – whether it comes from established religions or off-the-wall cosmologies, primal rockers or electronic adventurers. Now in its fourth year, Transcender celebrates the power and variety of these entrancing traditions. Featuring Afro-Futurist jazz from the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen, an encounter between Persian and Armenian musical masters, multimedia performances, the sounds of the Iraqi Diaspora and more. www.barbican.org.uk/transcender
Mon 17 September 2012, 7.30pm, Village Underground
The Necks
Tickets £15.50
Produced by Village Underground
Together for 25 years, the Australian cult trio The Necks enthral audiences worldwide with their compelling style of improvisation. Chris Abrahams (piano), Tony Buck (drums), and Lloyd Swanton (bass) conjure a chemistry together that defies orthodox description.
Thu 27 September, 7.30pm, LSO St Luke's
On The Banks Of The Tigris
Featuring Farida Mohammad Ali & The Iraqi Maqam Ensemble, Yair Dalal, Ahmed Mukhtar
Tickets £15 - 25
Produced by the Barbican
The festival continues with a celebration of Iraqi music and of the power that music has to unite people across religious boundaries and national borders. This concert brings together three musicians caught up in the Iraqi diaspora: the leading Maqam performer Farida Mohammad Ali (now resident in Holland); composer, violinist and oud player Yair Dalal (an Iraqi Jew who lives in Israel); and the London-based oud player Ahmed Mukhtar.
Fri 28 September, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
Hossein Alizadeh and the Hamavayan Ensemble plus Djivan Gasparyan Ensemble
Tickets £12.50 - 25
Produced by the Barbican
In this concert, Hossein Alizadeh, one of the most important figures in contemporary Persian music, and Djivan Gasparyan, an icon of the history of Armenian traditional music and a virtuoso of the Armenian flute called duduk, explore the musical traditions of their countries and come together for a rare collaborative performance.
Sat 29 September, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
The Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen
Tickets £15 - 25
Produced by the Barbican
In this special Transcender performance, Marshall Allen directs an expanded Sun Ra Arkestra line-up in a cosmic-jazz big-band version, accompanied by a specially-commissioned light show from psychedelic lighting pioneers Mystic Lights. Ra was a keyboard improviser of great originality, but his foremost talent was for inspiring and teaching creative musicians to improvise freely but together. The Arkestra performs today under the direction of alto saxophonist Marshall Allen who became a pupil of Sun Ra and subsequently joined the Arkestra in 1958.
Sun 30 September, 7.30pm, LSO St Luke's
Reliquary House
+ Eli Keszler & Bill Gillim (Megafortress)
Tickets £15 - 20
Produced by the Barbican
A hallucinatory multimedia performance which combines Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never’s driftingly cosmic, synth-driven compositions with live visuals from artist Nate Boyce, which was originally created for The Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2011. An opening set from New York musicians Eli Keszler and Bill Gillim aka Megafortress, invited by Lopatin, will start this highly immersive experience.
Wed 10 October, 8pm, Barbican Hall
Aphex Twin: Remote Orchestra
Featuring The Heritage Orchestra and Choir
Tickets £25 – 35
Produced by the Barbican
British electronic musician and composer Richard James, aka Aphex Twin, brings the UK premiere of his groundbreaking Remote Orchestra concept to the Barbican in October. First developed last year for the European culture congress in Poland, the Remote Orchestra will see Aphex Twin control a 28-piece string section and a 12-strong choir by remote control. The concert also includes an Interactive Tuned Feedback Pendulum Array, that expands on Steve Reich's Pendulum Music, and more.
Tue 16 October, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
Suzanne Vega
Solitude Standing Live
Tickets £29.50
Promoted by Chas Cole for CMP Entertainment
Following a hugely successful UK tour, pioneering American singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega returns for a very special anniversary show celebrating 25 years since the release of the universally renowned Solitude Standing.
Sat 20 October, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
Chilly Gonzales
with the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Tickets £15 – 20
Produced by the Barbican and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Singer, songwriter and pianist Chilly Gonzales joins forces with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Jules Buckley for a show which includes orchestral adaptations of newly composed material from his upcoming Solo Piano II release, the world premiere of his Piano Concerto, and songs from his recent orchestral hip-hop album The Unspeakable Chilly Gonzales.
Fri 26 October, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
Sparks
Tickets £20 – 27.50
Promoted by MF Presents
An extraordinary show, featuring songs from Sparks’s extensive and unique catalogue, reinterpreted for the occasion. The set list is to include This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us, Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth, Dick Around and more.
Sat 27 October, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
Britten Sinfonia 20th Birthday
Tickets £8 – 32
Produced by the Barbican in association with Britten Sinfonia
In October 2012, Britten Sinfonia becomes an Associate Ensemble at the Barbican. The new association launches on Britten Sinfonia’s 20th birthday on 27 October with a gala concert that journeys through 400 years of music and features newly composed special birthday tributes from James MacMillan and Nico Muhly. Britten Sinfonia is joined by regular artistic collaborators including Alina Ibragimova, Mark Padmore, Joanna MacGregor, Pekka Kuusisto, and the orchestra’s two newest ensembles, Britten Sinfonia Voices and Britten Sinfonia Academy for young musicians. In typical Britten Sinfonia style, the programme moves from Purcell via Bach, Britten and Prokofiev to Moondog, and in the second half features guest artists from across musical worlds, including Andy Sheppard (saxophone), Seb Rochford (drums) and Kuljit Bhamra (tabla.)
Tue 30 October, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
Efterklang: The Piramida Concert
Featuring Northern Sinfonia, conducted by André de Ridder
Tickets £15 – 22.50
Produced by the Barbican
Together for more than a decade, Danish band Efterklang have constantly pushed the boundaries of pop experimentalism over the course of four critically acclaimed albums. This desire to experiment has informed their approach to live performances that have included projects with the Danish National Chamber Orchestra and Britten Sinfonia or in the company of family members. In October Efterklang return to the Barbican with songs from their album Piramida (due to be released on 4AD label later this year), accompanied by the 35-piece Northern Sinfonia conducted by André de Ridder. For Piramida, Efterklang engaged arrangers Missy Mazzoli (Kronos Quartet, Victoire), Karsten Fundal (Under Byen, Oh Land) and Daníel Bjarnason (Sigur Rós, Múm) to help their new songwriting fully integrate with Northern Sinfonia. The Danish trio will be performing as a six-piece, augmented by Peter Broderick (piano), Katinka Fogh Vindelev (choir) and a drummer tba.
Wed 31 October, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
Max Richter: Vivaldi Recomposed
Britten Sinfonia conducted by André de Ridder
Soloist Daniel Hope
+ performance of Infra by Max Richter Ensemble
Tickets £15 – 20
Produced by the Barbican
Contemporary composer Max Richter re-imagines Vivaldi’s timeless set of Baroque concertos, The Four Seasons, with Britten Sinfonia conducted by André de Ridder and soloist Daniel Hope (violin). Released in August 2012 as part of Deutsche Grammophon's Recomposed series – a strand of specially-commissioned albums revisiting classical works for contemporary listeners – Richter’s Four Seasons preserves the elegant beauty of the originals, but subtly modifies them with unexpected cadences and delicate electronic touches. In addition, the Max Richter Ensemble will also perform music from Richter’s most recent album Infra , an achingly beautiful collection of elegiac piano and string fragments inspired by T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. The album was released in 2011, expanding on a 25-minute score originally commissioned by London’s Royal Ballet.
Sat 3 November, 2pm & 7pm, Barbican Hall
Where the Wild Things Are / Higglety Pigglety Pop!
Age guidance 7+
Tickets £25 (£15 Under 16s)
Produced by the Barbican
A co-production between the Aldeburgh Festival, Barbican and Los Angeles Philharmonic Association in association with Lightmap. This production was conceived by Transition.
On 3 November, Barbican presents a double bill of Oliver Knussen’s fantasy operas Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop!. Based on the beloved eponymous children’s books by Maurice Sendak, and with libretti by the author, this major new production is presented as a multimedia staged concert, directed by Netia Jones who animates Sendak’s original images and integrates live and filmed moving images into opera performance. The performance explores emerging interactive animation techniques mixed with real-time video and prerecorded film to bring Maurice Sendak's books to life. The performances also use live sound triggers and camera tracking to create a "live" and spontaneous visual world, expanded from the original 2D drawn illustrations. The concert is performed by Britten Sinfonia , conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth , and s oloists include Claire Booth and Susan Bickley. The performances are part of a Barbican Weekender (3-4 November) which will include a programme of installations, participation, music, film, theatre and visual art in the Barbican’s public spaces. This November’s Weekender celebrates the influence of digital technology on the arts with a range of activities. The weekend also celebrates Oliver Knussen ’s 60th birthday as a BBC SO Total Immersion day is dedicated to his music and work on 4 November.
Wed 7 November, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
Yasmin Levy
Tickets £15.50 – 24
Produced by ¡Como No!
Israeli singer Yasmin Levy presents her new release Libertad. Encompassing a new musical journey, her new album draws on the influences of both Spanish and Turkish music, which have been the hallmark of her Ladino repertoire, but taking her in a fresh direction.
9 – 18 November
London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3
The London Jazz Festival is the capital's biggest pan-city music festival, taking place annually in November. The Festival has long been acclaimed for showcasing a heady mix of talent from around the world. Widely acknowledged for delivering world-class artists, emerging stars, ground breaking premieres and new collaborations, the Festival continues to take jazz to a massive audience in one of the UK's landmark music events.
The London Jazz Festival also offers a broad range of activity beyond the live concerts, including the ever-popular Big Sing, workshops, masterclasses and free pre-concert talks. The East London Creative Jazz Orchestra, an ensemble formed by young musicians that work with Artistic Director Paul Griffiths and other established UK jazz musicians, will collaborate with an internationally renowned artist, leading to a performance on the Barbican Freestage as part of the London Jazz Festival.
Please check the Barbican website for updates.
Fri 9 November 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
Jazz Voice – Celebrating a Century of Song
Tickets £15 – 35
Produced by the Barbican in association with Serious
The London Jazz Festival’s signature opening gala returns with its epoch-spanning celebration of singing and song, under the direction of Guy Barker. This year’s vocalists will be announced during the summer.
Sat 10 November, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
London Jazz Festival: Melody Gardot
+ Luisa Sobral
Tickets £10 – 27.50
Produced by Serious
Building on the success of her two best-selling albums Worrisome Heart and My One And Only Thrill, Gardot performs from her new album The Absence, weaving emotion and melody into a seductive sound of her own.
Sun 11 November, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
London Jazz Festival: John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension
+ Arun Ghosh Group
Tickets £10 – 35
Produced by Serious
Playing on Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew and forming his pioneering Mahavishnu Orchestra, and the groundbreaking Shakti, it is without hyperbole that The Guardian calls John McLaughlin ‘one of the few Europeans to divert the course of jazz history’. His work with the 4th Dimension puts him at the absolute forefront of electric jazz. Ghosh and his exciting live band perform hypnotic music, updating the rich lineage of the Indo-jazz sound with 21st century attitude and energy.
Wed 14 November, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
London Jazz Festival: Brad Mehldau Trio
Tickets £10 – 30
Produced by Serious
‘The doyen of contemporary jazz pianists’ (The Guardian), Mehldau has worked with everyone from Willie Nelson to Charlie Haden, and is a renowned solo performer, but is perhaps at his finest when leading his trio, featuring Jeff Ballard and Larry Grenadier. On 14 November they perform from their latest Nonesuch album, Ode.
Fri 16 November, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
London Jazz Festival: Sonny Rollins
Tickets £10 – 75
Produced by Serious
As he proved with a near-legendary performance at the 2010 London Jazz Festival, Theodore Walter Rollins still plays with the imagination and vitality that helped turn jazz on its head in the 1950s and 1960s.
Sat 17 November, 2pm, Barbican Hall
London Jazz Festival: Neil Cowley Trio
with the Goldsmiths (big) Strings
Tickets £7.50 – 12.50
Produced by the Barbican in association with Serious
In this one-off London Jazz Festival special for the whole family, pianist/composer Neil Cowley joins forces with violinist/arranger Julian Ferraretto and a 30-piece orchestra. In a performance created in collaboration with Goldsmiths College, Cowley and Ferraretto challenge a specially-assembled ‘big strings’ orchestra to cast aside the principles of classical music, and replace them with the theory of jazz improvisation and playing by ear, bringing new life to music from the trio’s highly acclaimed 2012 release, The Face of Mount Molehill, as well as material specially composed for the concert.
Sat 17 November 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
London Jazz Festival: Chick Corea / Christian McBride / Brian Blade
Tickets £10 – 50
Produced by Serious
Legendary jazz pianist Chick Corea returns to the Festival, joined by bassist Christian McBride, a marquee name in his own right, and Brian Blade.
Sun 18 November, 8pm, Barbican Hall
London Jazz Festival: David Murray Big Band & Macy Gray
Stomping And Singin’ The Blues
Produced by the Barbican in association with Serious
Hot on the heels of two sold-out Jazz Cafe shows, and a performance to a packed crowd at the Barbican’s Back2Black Festival, soul singer Macy Gray is joined by saxophone virtuoso David Murray and a 15-piece big band that’s drenched in the spirit of blues and soul, to re-interpret tracks by Metallica and Kanye West, Willie Dixon and James “Blood” Ulmer, and Macy Gray herself – as well as new Murray compositions too.
Fri 23 November, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
Songlines Music Awards 2012 Winners’ Concert
featuring Anoushka Shankar, Tinariwen and special guests tba
Tickets £15 – 30
Produced by the Barbican in association with Songlines
Leading world music magazine Songlines celebrates the myriad of musical talent across the world through its annual Songlines Music Awards. Held for the first time on the Barbican stage, this year’s awards concert features Indian sitar star Anoushka Shankar (Best Artist) and Touareg desert rock band Tinariwen (Best
Group).
Philip Glass at 75
Philip Glass turned 75 in 2012 and the Barbican marks this birthday with a celebration on 14 and 15 December. In addition to concerts, there will be pop-up performances of Glass’ music by musicians from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama across the Barbican’s foyers, as well as masterclasses and debates.
Fri 14 December, 8pm, Barbican Hall
The first day of the celebration features Glass’ powerful music for the 1982 Godfrey Reggio film Koyaanisqatsi: A Life Out Of Balance which is performed live by the Trinity Laban Chamber Choir, Stephen Jackson (Chorus Director),
Philip Glass Ensemble and Britten Sinfonia, conducted by Glass’ long-term collaborator Michael Riesman. The documentary film – the first of a trilogy of films that deals with the relationships between humans – nature and technology, is projected above the stage in the Barbican Hall. Through a collage of images Koyaanisqatsi allows the audience to experience the acceleration and density of contemporary society, and invites the consideration of the effects of technology and progress in a modern world.
Sat 15 December, 8pm, Union Chapel
On 15 December, the birthday celebration continues with a performance by the Philip Glass Ensemble in the intimate setting of the Union Chapel. The concert includes CIVIL warS #2 from CIVIL warS - Cologne section ( 1984), Parts 1 and 2 from Music in 12 Parts (1971-74), Raising the Sail from The Truman Show (1998), The Grid from Koyaanisqatsi (1982), Floe , Façades and Rubric from Glassworks (1983), and Act III from The Photographer (1983).
Coming up in 2013
Fri 25 January, 8pm, Barbican Hall
An Evening With Cowboy Junkies
Tickets £20 – 30
Produced by the Barbican
Free of recording contracts and overflowing with inspiration, Canadian alternative country heroes Cowboy Junkies have self-released four albums in the space of just eighteen months. The Nomad Series is a wonderful creative renaissance – a heartfelt collection of personal histories, featuring masterful songwriting and their signature blend of blues, country and rock, as well as Margo Timmins’ haunting vocals.
Wed 30 January, 8pm, Barbican Hall
Glen Hansard
Tickets £15 – 20
Produced by the Barbican
In a career which has progressed from busking on the streets of his native Dublin to winning an Oscar for the soundtrack to hit Irish film Once, Glen Hansard has always embraced change. Following a sold-out appearance at the Barbican in 2008 as part of the duo The Swell Season, he returns with his new band to present songs from his debut solo album, Rhythm And Repose.
Fri 8 February, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
Ahmad Jamal
Tickets £20 – 30
Produced by the Barbican in association with Serious
Celebrated American jazz pianist-composer Ahmad Jamal, t he master of space, silence and subtle groove, makes a long-overdue return to the Barbican with his new album Blue Moon. Noted for his outstanding technical command and identifiable sound as a piano stylist, and a s influential as Jelly Roll Morton, Art Tatum or Thelonious Monk, Jamal continues to create jazz at the very highest level in his eighth decade.
Sat 9 February, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky
with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins
Tickets £15 – 30
Produced by the Barbican and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Continuing the success of previous film and live music events, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Barbican present one of the great collaborations of all time – a screening of Sergei Eisenstein’s masterpiece Alexander Nevsky with live accompaniment of Prokofiev’s coruscating score. The epic tale of the medieval prince defeating the Teutonic knights on a frozen lake was particularly welcomed by the Soviet authorities in 1939, but it’s proved to be a timeless classic. This screening of Eisentein’s film is enhanced by the combined forces of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, with mezzo-soprano Catherine Wyn-Rogers, and conducted by Martyn Brabbins.
Wed 20 March, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
Yo La Tengo
Tickets £18 – 22.50
Produced by the Barbican
Buzzing guitars, sweetly-hazed melodies and psychedelic freakouts… In 28 years Yo La Tengo have condensed an enviably eclectic palette of sounds into an uncomplicated musical triumph. In March they return to London to present their first new album in three years.
Sat 23 March, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall
An Evening With Sweet Honey in the Rock
Tickets £10 – 25
Produced by Serious
In celebration of their history as black women, Sweet Honey in the Rock bring together elements from blues, gospel, rap, reggae, hip hop, jazz and ancient lullabies to create an arresting performance of music, dance and sign-language that won’t fail to inspire.
Read more about the contemporary music programme here: www.barbican.org.uk/contemporary
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Barbican Box Office: 0845 120 7550
www.barbican.org.uk
Press Information
For any further information, images or to arrange interviews, please contact the Barbican’s music media relations team:
Annikaisa Vainio, Media Relations Manager
t - +44 (0)20 7382 7090
e - avainio@barbican.org.uk
Sabine Kindel, Senior Media Relations Officer
t - +44 (0)20 7382 6199
e – sabine.kindel@barbican.org.uk
Naomi Burgoyne, Media Relations Officer
t - +44 (0)20 7382 6196
e – naomi.burgoyne@barbican.org.uk
Rob Severyn-Kosinski, Media Relations Assistant
t - +44 (0)20 7382 6138
e – robert.severyn-kosinski@barbican.org.uk
About the Barbican
A world-class arts and learning organisation, the Barbican pushes the boundaries of all major art forms including dance, film, music, theatre and visual arts. Our creative learning programme further underpins everything we do. In 2012 we celebrate the Olympic year with many of our projects forming part of London 2012 Festival – it is also our 30th Birthday year. Over 1.5 million people pass through our doors annually, hundreds of artists and performers are featured, and more than 300 staff work onsite. Our architecturally renowned centre opened in 1982 and comprises the Barbican Hall, the Barbican Theatre, the Pit, Cinema One (with Cinemas Two and Three opening in Beech Street in September 2012), Barbican Art Gallery, a second gallery The Curve, foyers and public spaces, a library, Lakeside Terrace, a glasshouse conservatory, conference facilities and three restaurants.
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Barbican Autumn 2012 Contemporary Music Season Announced.pdf