Skip to main content

Saved events

Share your feedback

Other Worlds

London Contemporary Orchestra

Wed 31 Oct 2018, 20:00 ,Barbican Hall

London Contemporary Orchestra performing Become Ocean with visuals

Experience the self-destruction of an ancient civilisation and our planet engulfed by the vastness of the ocean in two massive audio-visual portrayals of a dark past and still-avoidable future.

These two modern masterpieces share a single unignorable message. John Luther Adams's Become Ocean imagines our planet succumbing to the rising sea in music of startling, bottomless beauty in what Alex Ross declared ‘may be the loveliest apocalypse in musical history’. And Giacinto Scelsi’s Uaxuctum is equally ravishing in its own way; a vast orchestra creating a fierce, haunting atmosphere through sounds as strange as they are prophetic, building to a point of no return as the ancient Mayan city implodes.

This is big music; urgent music, that asks serious questions. And there is no doubt that Robert Ames and the London Contemporary Orchestra and Choir will approach it with absolute commitment.

Tagged with: Classical music Barbican Presents 2018-19 International Orchestras 2018–19 More...

The performance is expected to finish around 9.20pm, including a 30 minute interval.

Supported by funding from Arts Council England and the Cockayne Foundation

This is a past event. Subscribe to our newsletters to hear about upcoming events

Download the programme

Discover

the ocean

Listen: Other Worlds

Become Ocean is an American orchestral composition by John Luther Adams.

Photo of man playing drum

Listen: Contemporary Classical on Spotify

Discover music from across the Contemporary Classical spectrum – from Judith Weir and George Benjamin to Nils Frahm and Max Richter.

an orchestra playing classical music in the barbican hall in central london

Listen: Classical Music on Spotify

Follow our regularly updated Classical Music playlist for a sample of the music you'll hear across our programme.

a photo of the barbican centre's instagram account

Our Instagram

From architecture to behind the scenes and artist takeovers, get closer to our programme and learn more about our building on Instagram.

Visiting us? Share your photos #barbicancentre

Follow us

With thanks

Barbican Hall

Example of Barbican newsletters

Subscribe to our newsletters

Be the first to hear before events go on sale

Get the latest news from the Barbican

Choose the types of events that interest you

Subscribe