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OrchestRAM: An Orchestral Journey into Drum & Bass

Drum & bass imprint RAM Records, founded by drum & bass producer Andy C, presents a special celebration with OrchestRAM – an evening of orchestral drum & bass at the Barbican. Following the success of OrchestRAM at Milton Court in September 2022, the show has been updated for 2023 with orchestral renditions of tracks from the iconic label’s catalogue which will be performed by over 40 musicians and professional alumni from Guildhall School of Music & Drama joined by live vocalists on stage - making this the first-ever full-length drum & bass production in the Barbican Hall.

The evening of celebration will take audiences on an epic orchestral journey into the genre, with the Guildhall Session Orchestra joined by a DJ, percussion and singers, performing many of RAM’s biggest hits. Classic RAM releases from the likes of Chase & Status, Wilkinson, Sub Focus, Origin Unknown, DJ Fresh, and RAM Trilogy will be performed among interpretations of more recent releases from Mandidextrous, Culture Shock, Mob Tactics, Andy C and Raiser by the orchestra, elevated by undaunted stage production to match the energy on stage.

RAM Records was established in 1992 by legendary drum & bass producer Andy C with the help of his friend Ant Miles and is run by Andy C and fellow producer Scott Bourne (Red One).

Presented by the Barbican in association with Weird Science and Guildhall School of Music & Drama

Unsound London

Ground-breaking music festival Unsound returns to London and to the Barbican for the first time in more than 5 years for a specially curated evening of highlights from Unsound Festival 2022 in Kraków. Across a single evening, some of the greatest minds in electronic and experimental music will be brought together to perform three new works that each receive their UK premiere at this boundary-pushing showcase.

• Supergroup Osmium will feature Oscar-winning composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, Grammy-winning British sound designer and producer Sam Slater, Subtext label boss and genre-hopping scene veteran James Ginzburg of Emptyset and idiosyncratic Indonesian vocalist Rully Shabara, of Senyawa. Together they will create surprising and hypnotic music using custom-built instruments, exploring the balance between the mechanical and the organic.
• Inspired by Polish A/V innovator Stanislaus Ostoja-Kotkowski, Australia Robin Fox's latest work is described as an "audio visual space-time carving" that will use laser projectors to transform the Barbican’s unique architecture into a completely new environment with a reality-defying visual spectacle.
•  Copenhagen-based sound artist Sofie Birch and Polish vocalist Antonina Nowacka will perform work collaborative album Languoria, seamlessly blending Birch’s dreamlike ambient forms with Nowacka’s thrillingly unique vocals. The result reaches verges on the spiritual and was acclaimed by critics, with Philip Sherburne (Pitchfork) describing it as “a record that ebbs and flows as naturally as breathing”. The live show revisits the album but is full of improvisation too, and features set design by Ukrainian artist Planeta and light design by Jacqueline Sobiszewski.

The showcase will see Unsound and the Barbican curate an evening of standout performances and artists from last year’s electronic music festival for a London audience. With both established and rising talents, and faces familiar and new to Barbican audiences, this will be an evening of collaboration between friends, innovators, and world-class electronic and experimental musical talent.

Produced by the Barbican

Damir Imamović

Celebrated Bosnian Sevdah musician Damir Imamović makes his debut UK appearance at Milton Court Concert Hall, performing songs from his forthcoming album The World And All That It Holds.

A form of Balkan blues, Sevdah literally means ‘beautiful sadness’ with the style emerging at the same time as Portuguese fado, Argentine tango and American jazz. Imamović is a trailblazer of the genre who enriches the traditional Sevdah repertoire with his own compositions on contemporary themes, stimulating an interest in the genre from younger and international audiences.

Songlines Magazine's 2021 Best of Europe award winner, Imamović is set to release a new album on Smithsonian Folkways in May 2023 – a ‘soundtrack’ to acclaimed Bosnian American author Aleksandar Hemon’s new novel The World And All That It Holds as part of an exciting genre-spanning collaboration.

Imamović will be joined on stage by bassist Ivan Mihajlović, violinist Ivana Djurić, and percussionist Nenad Kovačić, bringing a repertoire that sees Imamović continuing to forge new directions for this traditional form to the Barbican’s music programme.

Produced by the Barbican