Press room

Just Announced

Sona Jobarteh
Sun 28 Nov 2021, Milton Court Concert Hall, 6.30pm & 8.30pm
Tickets £25 – 35 plus booking fee

Sona Jobarteh, Gambian singer and expert player of the kora, a 21-stringed African harp, makes her Barbican programme debut this November alongside her band, giving two performances at Milton Court Concert Hall.  

Sona is the first female professional kora virtuoso in the centuries-old West African griot tradition, which brings together music, storytelling and oral history. She is a pioneer in this male-dominated hereditary tradition that has been exclusively handed down from father to son for the past seven centuries.

Her lineage carries many renowned Kora masters including her cousin Toumani Diabaté and her grandfather Amadu Bansang Jobarteh after whom she has named her Academy in Gambia which she founded in 2016. It is the first school to deliver a mainstream academic curriculum at a high level; providing a platform for her to become a powerful speaker in the areas of social development and educational reform in Africa.  

Sona Jobarteh’s on stage skills as an instrumentalist, singer and composer are testament to her success as an international artist; her forthcoming new album has been heralded by her song The Gambia that has attracted over 18 million listeners.

Produced by the Barbican
On sale to Barbican patrons and members on Wed 11 August 2021
On general sale on Fri 13 August 2021
Find out more

Klein
Sun 30 Jan 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Tickets £12.50 – 15 plus booking fee

Avant-garde British composer and multi-disciplinary artist Klein will bring a new thrilling, inimitable live show to the Barbican in January 2022. Working at the intersection of composed music, theatre and song, this South London artist defies categorisation.

Her new album Harmattan, to be released on the renowned classical label Pentatone in November 2021, expands our notions of what classical music means today. Live, these explorations are taken further. Her impulse to playfully experiment and push boundaries arrive centre stage, inviting audiences into Klein’s unique sound universe.

Klein returns to the Barbican’s music programme following her opening set for Moor Mother at Milton Court Concert Hall in October 2019.

Produced by the Barbican in association with Rockfeedback
On sale to Barbican patrons and members on Wed 11 August 2021
On general sale on Fri 13 August 2021

Find out more

Coming Soon

• Outdoor Cinema: Floating Points – Promises: Through Congress + Reflections: Mojave Desert (U) (Wed 25 Aug 2021, Barbican Sculpture Court, 8.30pm)
• Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis: Wynton at 60 (Sun 26 Sep 2021, Barbican Hall, 8pm)
• Balimaya Project + Colectiva (Sat 2 Oct 2021, Milton Court Concert Hall, 7pm)
• Clark and the London Contemporary Orchestra (Sat 16 Oct 2021, Barbican Hall, 8pm, also livestreamed)
• Darbar Festival 2021 (Sat 16 – Sun 24 October 2021, various venues) 
• Speakers Corner Quartet presents Further Out Than The Edge (Tue 19 Oct 2021, Barbican Hall, 8pm, also livestreamed) 
• Christian Löffler (Sat 6 November 2021, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm)  
• EFG London Jazz Festival: Archie Shepp & Jason Moran: Let My People Go (Fri 12 Nov 2021, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm)
• EFG London Jazz Festival: London Symphony Orchestra/Soweto Kinch: The Black Peril (Fri 19 Nov, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm, also livestreamed)
• EFG London Jazz Festival: Charles Lloyd + Nérija (Sat 20 Nov 2021, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm) 
• James McVinnie Ensemble: Glassworks (Tue 23 Nov 2021, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm, also livestreamed)  
• Alfa Mist (Sat 4 Dec 2021, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm)

Coming Up in 2022

• Maria Schneider Orchestra (Sat 29 Jan 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm)
• Aoife O’Donovan + Donovan Woods (Wed 2 Feb 2022, Milton Court Concert Hall, 7.30pm)
• Jane Birkin (Sat 5 Feb 2022, Barbican Hall, 8pm)
• Lord Huron (Tue 8 Feb 2022, Barbican Hall, 8pm)
• GoGo Penguin (Thu 10 Feb 2022, Barbican Hall, 8pm, also livestreamed)
• Damon Albarn:  The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows (Mon 21 & Tue 22 Feb 2022, Barbican Hall, 8pm)
• Aldous Harding (Wed 30 & Thu 31 Mar 2022, 8pm)
• Novo Amor (Mon 23 May 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm)
• Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time – Thirty Years of The Divine Comedy (Wed 31 Aug – Sun 4 Sep 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm)
• MoodSwing: Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride and Brian Blade (Mon 14 Nov 2022, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm)