Southbank Centre Contemporary Classical Events

London Sinfonietta

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Perfect Constructions: the music of Conlon Nancarrow

The London Sinfonietta celebrates the works of 20th-century musical maverick Conlon Nancarrow. A former soldier in the Spanish Civil War, Nancarrow spent most of his life in Mexico exploring intricate rhythmic designs only playable by mechanical instruments. This event highlights existing and new arrangements of his jazzy and hyperkinetically energetic music, plus György Ligeti's Pieces for Wind Quintet.

Start Date:

Saturday 21 April 2012 - 19:30

End Date:

Saturday 21 April 2012

Ticket Prices:

£22 £15 £9

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

London Sinfonietta
Baldur Brönnimann conductor
Rex Lawson pianola

Repertoire:

Conlon Nancarrow: Player Piano Study No.21 (Canon X) arr. Murcott
Conlon Nancarrow: Piece No.1 for small orchestra
Conlon Nancarrow: Player Piano Study No.6 arr. Mikhashoff
Conlon Nancarrow: Player Piano Study No.15 transc. Mikhashoff for 4 hands
Frank Zappa: G Spot Tornado
Gyorgy Ligeti: 10 Pieces for wind quintet
Conlon Nancarrow: Player Piano Study No.26 arr. Matt Rogers
Conlon Nancarrow: Player Piano Study No.3c arr. Mikhashoff
Conlon Nancarrow: Player Piano Study No.12
Gérard Grisey: Tempus ex machina for 22 percussionists
Conlon Nancarrow: Player Piano Study No.26
Conlon Nancarrow: Toccata for violin & player piano
Paul Usher: Nancarrow Concerto for pianola & chamber orchestra

Facility Description:

Queen Elizabeth Hall

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London Sinfonietta

peter.mallon

Steve Reich Radio Rewrite - world premiere

The London Sinfonietta gives the world premiere of Radio Rewrite, a new work from master of minimalism Steve Reich, inspired by the music of Radiohead. Reich also performs Clapping Music.

Radio Rewrite is a co-commission by the London Sinfonietta and New York's Alarm Will Sound.

Start Date:

Tuesday 5 March 2013 - 19:30

End Date:

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Ticket Prices:

£28 £22 £16 £12 £9 Premium Seats £35

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

London Sinfonietta
Brad Lubman conductor
Steve Reich performer
Sound Intermedia sound projection

Repertoire:

Steve Reich: Clapping Music
Steve Reich: Electric Counterpoint
Steve Reich: 2 x 5 for 5 musicians & tape or 10 live musicians
Steve Reich: Radio Rewrite (World premiere)
Steve Reich: Double Sextet

Images

Conlon Nancarrow: Virtuoso of the Player Piano

Perfect Constructions: the music of Conlon Nancarrow

A biographical overview of composer Conlon Nancarrow's life and times, from his beginnings in Texarkana, his years in Boston and fighting in the Spanish Civil War, to his emigration to Mexico.

The film features interviews with his family members and those who were closest to Nancarrow during his amazing career, Yoko Nancarrow, Charles Amirkhanian, Kyle Gann and Trimpin among others.

It also presents a performance of his first published piano pieces, as well as a newly discovered set of two-part inventions he composed in his first years in Mexico performed at the Sacher Archive by pianist Helena Bugallo.

Other highlights including 'live' performances of his powerful player-piano studies, Nos.25, 3a, 37 and 21, his famous Canon X.

Please note - this free event requires a ticket. You can reserve your ticket online (£1.75 transaction fee) or by phone 0844 847 9910 (£2.75 transaction fee). Transaction fees apply per transaction, not per ticket. You can also reserve your seat without a transaction fee by visiting one of our Southbank Centre Ticket Offices in person.

Start Date:

Saturday 21 April 2012 - 12:00

End Date:

Saturday 21 April 2012

Ticket Prices:

Free

Facility Description:

Purcell Room

Nancarrow in the 21 Century

International study days exploring the continuing influence of Conlon Nancarrow

This conference brings together some of the most important Nancarrow scholars and commentators from around the world to explore the composer's continuing and developing influence on contemporary musical thinking.

Featuring key-note presentations from Charles Amirkhanian, Artistic Director of Other Minds, and Kyle Gann, author of The Music Of Conlon Nancarrow, plus presentations from Felix Meyer of the Paul Sacher Foundation and sound sculptor Trimpin, the conference is aimed at both academics and enthusiasts alike.

Of particular note is a short presentation by Yoko Sugiura-Nancarrow, the widow of Conlon.

The conference sessions are timed so delegates can also attend the majority of the Perfect constructions - The Music of Conlon Nancarrow festival events as well.

Start Date:

Saturday 21 April 2012 - 10:00

End Date:

Sunday 22 April 2012

Ticket Prices:

£15

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Best Available

Facility Description:

Level 5 Function Room

The Nu Civilisation Orchestra

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FIREBIRD - A Stravinsky-Parker Sound Clash

What happens when you fuse the musical worlds of 20th-century composing icon Igor Stravinsky and jazz superstar Charlie Parker?

Discover an exciting, experimental place where jazz and classical music meet, courtesy of the Nu Civilisation Orchestra. The orchestra's composers and arrangers explore this musical mash-up and others in a collection of new works.

The 16-piece orchestra's Firebird programme features a remodeled version of Stravinsky's Ebony Concerto (originally commissioned by jazz clarinetist, Woody Herman in 1946). They also perform Peter Edwards' new piece, Blues Ostinata, along with his arrangement of British jazz composer Steve Williamson's How High The Bird, Maenads Suite by Binker Golding and other creations.

The Nu Civilisation Orchestra is a professional touring ensemble and part of the Tomorrow's Warriors at Southbank Centre weekend residency, as well as being Associate Artists at Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton. This concert by the recently re-named outfit follows their hugely successful Purcell Room debut in July 2011, and is part of Music Nation.

Start Date:

Saturday 3 March 2012 - 19:45

End Date:

Saturday 3 March 2012

Ticket Prices:

£13

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

Gary Crosby artistic director
Peter Edwards musical director

Facility Description:

Purcell Room

Images

Surrogate Cities Exploded!

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Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance

Trinity Laban students and staff collaborate with community participants to deconstruct Goebbel's work throughout the Foyers of Royal Festival Hall as part of Music Nation, a countdown event for the London 2012 Festival, the finale of the Cultural Olympiad.

Start Date:

Saturday 3 March 2012 - 15:00

End Date:

Saturday 3 March 2012

Ticket Prices:

Free

Facility Description:

The Clore Ballroom

Images

Heiner Goebbels: Surrogate Cities

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Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance/ Music Nation

Trinity Laban's young musicians collaborate with the London Philharmonic Orchestra's Foyle Future Firsts and players from the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain to explore Goebbels' extraordinary work which - drawing upon an eclectic mix of musical influences, texts and sampled sounds - translates the mechanics and architecture of the city into music.

Start Date:

Saturday 3 March 2012 - 18:00

End Date:

Saturday 3 March 2012

Ticket Prices:

£25 £22 £18 £16 £12.50 £8 £6

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

Jonathan Stockhammer conductor
David Moss voice
Jocelyn B Smith mezzo-soprano
Trinity Laban Symphony Orchestra
National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain
LPO Foyle Future Firsts

Facility Description:

Royal Festival Hall

Images

Arditti String Quartet

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Perfect Constructions: the music of Conlon Nancarrow

Conlon Nancarrow was one of the most enigmatic, freethinking composers of 20th-century American music. Ostracised in the US for his communist politics, he moved to Mexico and lived there until his death in the 90s. There he experimented with player-pianos - mechanised instruments that play pre-programmed compositions - and wrote music with a wide range of influences, including jazz.

As part of Southbank Centre's weekend-long celebration of Nancarrow's music, regular visitors to the International Chamber Music Season the Arditti Quartet perform two of his quartets, which are at turns funky and lyrical. The concert also features an arrangement of one of Nancarrow's fearsomely difficult studies for player-piano and the second quartet from György Ligeti, who described Nancarrow as 'the greatest discovery since Webern and Ives... the best of any composer living today'.

Start Date:

Sunday 22 April 2012 - 18:00

End Date:

Sunday 22 April 2012

Ticket Prices:

£15 £12 £9

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

Arditti String Quartet

Repertoire:

Conlon Nancarrow: String Quartet No.1
Gyorgy Ligeti: String Quartet No.2
Conlon Nancarrow: String Quartet No.3
Conlon Nancarrow: Player Piano Study No.33 arr. Paul Usher for string quartet

Facility Description:

Queen Elizabeth Hall

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Sounds From A Room: Heiner Goebbels' Up River Book

The German composer Heiner Goebbels, known for his compositions for ensembles and large orchestras, gives a musical response to Joseph Conrad's 1890 journal 'Up-River Book'. He is joined by Senegalese Griots Sira and Boubakar Djebaté (voice and kora), the French musician Xavier Garcia (electronics) and the actor André Wilms.

Watch a live relay of this performance from A Room for London on our big screen.

Start Date:

Sunday 26 February 2012 - 18:00

End Date:

Sunday 26 February 2012

Ticket Prices:

Free

Facility Description:

The Front Room at QEH

London Sinfonietta

peter.mallon

In Portrait: Olga Neuwirth

Pastry chef turned rule-breaking cabaret act. Backing singer turned striking solo artist. Visionary pop star Klaus Nomi took New York's East Village by storm in the 1980s. Reacting against the ordinariness of punk and disco, Nomi produced a never before seen brand of entertainment with synthesized covers of music from Henry Purcell to Marlene Dietrich.

Nomi's songs are central to the concert on Saturday 11 February 2012. His music has been arranged by composer Olga Neuwirth to recreate the spirit of this groundbreaking artist and the times in which he lived. Countertenor Andrew Watts sings Neuwirth's music in this concert performance with the London Sinfonietta.

Neuwirth gained prominence in the UK with her adaptation of David Lynch's Lost Highway for ENO and Young Vic and is now taking Nomi's voice into the concert hall. Also taking centre stage is Alistair Mackie, the London Sinfonietta's Principal trumpet for ...miramondo multiplo... a concerto echoing the soundworlds of Miles Davis, Berg, Mahler, Messiaen and Handel.

Start Date:

Saturday 11 February 2012 - 19:30

End Date:

Saturday 11 February 2012

Ticket Prices:

£12

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

London Sinfonietta
Garry Walker conductor
Gerry Cornelius conductor
Andrew Watts countertenor
Alistair Mackie trumpet
Sound Intermedia sound projection

Repertoire:

Olga Neuwirth: Five Daily Miniatures for countertenor & ensemble (UK premiere)
Olga Neuwirth: ... miramondo multiplo ... for trumpet & orchestra (UK premiere of ensemble version)
Olga Neuwirth: Hommage à Klaus Nomi for countertenor & ensemble (UK premiere)

Facility Description:

Queen Elizabeth Hall

Images

Close up with Charles Hazlewood & The Philharmonia Orchestra: Pictures at an Exhibition

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Charles Hazlewood joins 250 schoolchildren to bring you a colourful concert that combines painting, music and lots of singing! Conductor Charles Hazlewood conducts a young choir, part of Southwark Excellence in Schools, who share a stage with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

The concert allows families to experience classical music together. Help find the pictures within the music in Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and in other works that explore the links between pictures and sound. The children have also worked with Matt Deely to make a spectacular projection for the concert.

'What Heston Blumenthal is to food, Charles Hazlewood is to music.' (The Guardian)

Start Date:

Saturday 11 February 2012 - 16:00

End Date:

Saturday 11 February 2012

Ticket Prices:

£10

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (unlimited availability)

Performer(s):

Philharmonia Orchestra
Charles Hazlewood conductor

Repertoire:

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition orch. Ravel

Facility Description:

Royal Festival Hall

Images

Nigel Kennedy Presents: Bach Meets Fats Waller

Leap through time with violinist virtuoso Nigel Kennedy in a concert that takes on baroque and jazz, back to back.

Kennedy, whose accolades include Outstanding Contribution to British Music and Male Artist of the Year at the UK Brit Awards, has never ceased to surprise audiences with his ingenious programming.

He burst onto the scene with his landmark recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, which earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the best-selling classical work of all time.

Start Date:

Saturday 15 September 2012 - 19:30

End Date:

Saturday 15 September 2012

Ticket Prices:

£45 £42.50 £38.50 £30 £25 £12

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

Nigel Kennedy violin
Jarek Smietana guitar
Yaron Stavi double bass
Krzysztof Dziedzic drums

Repertoire:

Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonata No.2 in A minor for solo violin, BWV.1003
Nigel Kennedy's arrangements of the music of the legendary Fats Waller
Interval

Facility Description:

Royal Festival Hall

Images

London Philharmonic Orchestra

peter.mallon

Shostakovich Symphony No.10

Vassily Sinaisky conducts Shostakovich's most powerful symphony - the mighty, uncompromising Tenth.

In July 1953, shortly after the death of Joseph Stalin, Shostakovich started composing his Tenth Symphony. Years of psychological torture at Stalin's hand found their way into the symphony's compelling obsession and relentless drive.

Gone, Shostakovich believed for a moment, was the censorship that had curtailed him for decades. In the most powerful symphony he wrote, we glimpse a liberated composer unleashing his all.

With Beethoven's own manifesto for musical freedom and the first UK performance of Australian composer Carl Vine's Second Piano Concerto, here's a concert that promises to seize a fulsome hold on the emotions.

Carl Vine's Second Piano Concerto was commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Supported by Garf and Gill Collins.

Free pre-concert event, 6.15pm until 6.45pm, Royal Festival Hall
Pianist Piers Lane discusses the UK première of Carl Vine's Piano Concerto No. 2

Start Date:

Wednesday 17 October 2012 - 19:30

End Date:

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Ticket Prices:

£39 £33 £27 £21 £16 £12 £9 Premium £65

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vassily Sinaisky conductor
Piers Lane piano

Repertoire:

Ludwig Van Beethoven: Overture, Leonore No.3
Carl Vine: Piano Concerto No.2 (UK premiere)
Interval
Dmitry Shostakovich: Symphony No.10 in E minor

Facility Description:

Royal Festival Hall

Images

Karl Jenkins

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Karl Jenkins conducts the UK Premiere tour of The Peacemakers in a concert that also features excerpts from some of his most popular and highly acclaimed compositions.

Start Date:

Sunday 20 May 2012 - 19:30

End Date:

Sunday 20 May 2012

Ticket Prices:

£42.50 £36.50 £27.50 £22.50 £16.50 £14.50

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

Philharmonia Orchestra
Karl Jenkins conductor
City of London Choir
Trinity Boys Choir

Repertoire:

Karl Jenkins: The Peacemakers
Karl Jenkins: Excerpts from Adiemus
Karl Jenkins: Excerpts from The Armed Man - A Mass for Peace
Karl Jenkins: In caelum fero
Karl Jenkins: The Wooing of Etain
Karl Jenkins: Excerpts from Requiem
Karl Jenkins: Excerpts from Palladio for string orchestra

Facility Description:

Royal Festival Hall

Images

Musicians of the Royal Academy of Music

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Musical fireworks, brilliant instrumental effects and a haunting purity - an opportunity to hear dazzling chamber works by celebrated British composer George Benjamin.

Performed by students from the Royal Academy of Music and introduced by the composer himself.

The concert includes the highly virtuosic Viola, Viola, in which two violas combine to create a 'super' instrument displaying a breathtaking spectrum of range and emotions. Shadowlines is more recent work and exhibits the gorgeous and transformative effects of Benjamin's music. In contrast to these are the beautiful, texturally spare 3 Miniatures for Solo Violin.

Start Date:

Saturday 12 May 2012 - 17:30

End Date:

Saturday 12 May 2012

Ticket Prices:

£12 £10 £8

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

Royal Academy of Music Students
George Benjamin

Repertoire:

George Benjamin: Piano Figures - 10 pieces for solo piano
George Benjamin: 3 Miniatures for solo violin
George Benjamin: Viola viola
George Benjamin: Shadowlines for solo piano

Facility Description:

Purcell Room

Ramin - In Concert

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Leading West End artist Ramin Karimloo performs a varied programme with a live band of stunning new songs from his album, alongside some much loved West End favourites including Music of the Night from The Phantom of the Opera,'Til I Hear You Sing from Love Never Dies, Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific and Bring Him Home from Les Misérables.

Ramin Karimloo received global acclaim starring in The Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary concert, performed at the Royal Albert Hall and broadcast around the world. He is one of Sony's most exciting new signings, with a much anticipated new album released in February 2012.

Start Date:

Tuesday 1 May 2012 - 19:30

End Date:

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Ticket Prices:

£45 £39.50 £29.50 £23.50 £17.50 £14.50

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Facility Description:

Royal Festival Hall

Images

Salomé: 1923 movie and Charlie Barber's music live

m.critcher

A rare screening of the classic 1923 silent movie Salomé complete with a live score by Charlie Barber.

Opulent, extravagant, decadent - Salomé is a visual feast that brings together lavish art nouveau designs inspired by the artist Aubrey Beardsley with an unforgettable performance by the tempestuous actress Alla Nazimova in the title role.

Charlie Barber's score is equally dramatic - drawing on the evocative sounds and intricate rhythms of traditional Arabic ensembles. Performed by musicians playing from two towers flanking each side of the silver screen, this is a riveting blend of music and spectacle unlike anything else.

Start Date:

Thursday 9 February 2012 - 19:45

End Date:

Thursday 9 February 2012

Ticket Prices:

£14 £12 £9

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Facility Description:

Purcell Room

Images

London Sinfonietta

In Portrait: Harrison Birtwistle

The London Sinfonietta's long association with British composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle continues with an event which uncovers his musical language with help from the composer himself and live excerpts from London Sinfonietta. The concert also features examples from earlier works and the UK premiere of his latest composition for the ensemble In Broken Images, based on a poem by Robert Graves of the same name.

The first half is an on-stage introduction to the music led by music writer Tom Service in conversation with Sir Harrison Birtwistle and illustrated with musical extracts played live by the London Sinfonietta.

Once you've gained an insight into how the legendary composer thinks about his music, the London Sinfonietta then performs a selection of compelling works which encapsulate some of the most important elements of his compositional style.
This is an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of Birtwistle's music in the presence of the composer himself.

In Broken Images was co-commissioned by the London Sinfonietta and MiToSettembreMusica, and supported by the London Sinfonietta Pioneers.

Start Date:

Thursday 24 May 2012 - 19:30

End Date:

Thursday 24 May 2012

Ticket Prices:

£22 £15 £9

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

London Sinfonietta
David Atherton conductor
Tom Service presenter
Sir Harrison Birtwistle in conversation

Repertoire:

Music writer Tom Service discusses the music with Sir Harrison Birtwistle illustrated with live musical extracts played by the London Sinfonietta
Interval
Sir Harrison Birtwistle: Cortege
Sir Harrison Birtwistle: Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum for ensemble
Sir Harrison Birtwistle: Five Distances for five instruments
Sir Harrison Birtwistle: In Broken Images after the antiphonal music of Gabrieli for ensemble (UK premiere)

Facility Description:

Queen Elizabeth Hall

Images

Philharmonia Orchestra

A programme of intoxicating orchestral works mark the climax of Southbank Centre's celebration of composer George Benjamin. Hear the composer/conductor lead the Philharmonia Orchestra in performances of his works alongside those by Ligeti.

The concert opens with Jubilation. Originally commissioned by the ILEA (Inner London Education Authority) in 1985 for young performers, tonight the energy and vitality of the work is brought to life by a specially formed youth ensemble and choir made up of local young people.

Also featured is the more recent Palimpsests, a landscape where orchestral patterns constantly change and the listener encounters a rich canvas of floating musical shapes.

Ringed by the flat horizon, concludes the second half - the piece that initially propelled a 20-year-old Benjamin to fame in 1980 when it was performed at the Proms. Dedicated to his former teacher, Messiaen, it describes vividly a storm brewing over a desolate New Mexico desert.

Ligeti's mesmerising Lontano and Double Concerto for flute and oboe complete a concert full of dazzling textural works and orchestral colour.

Start Date:

Sunday 13 May 2012 - 19:30

End Date:

Sunday 13 May 2012

Ticket Prices:

£35 £28 £22 £17 £12 Premium £45

Concession/Group Prices:

50% off (limited availability)

Performer(s):

Philharmonia Orchestra
George Benjamin conductor

Repertoire:

George Benjamin: Jubilation for orchestra & mixed children's group
Gyorgy Ligeti: Double Concerto for flute and oboe
George Benjamin: Palimpsests for orchestra
Interval
Gyorgy Ligeti: Lontano
George Benjamin: Ringed by the flat horizon for orchestra

Facility Description:

Royal Festival Hall

Omnibus: Towards Antara

A Film by Barrie Gavin

Featuring rehearsal scenes and conversations from the composer himself, this fascinating documentary from 1987 throws light on the making of George Benjamin's pioneering work Antara.

Film maker Barrie Gavin captures the process of making that piece, involving an ensemble augmented by ancient panpipes whose sound is transformed by computer technology.

Talking about the piece George Benjamin explains that 'long held notes [on the panpipe] are impossible, as are large chords. Even some melodic lines cause considerable difficulty as, on larger tubes, they have to be shared between two or more players.

'The computer can solve all these problems and more, and so in this piece the sound of the oldest of all wind instruments has been recorded and transferred to the most modern of computers, initially the IRCAM 4X, creating an instrument ranging from the equivalent of panpipes 20 metres high to pipes of only a few millimetres.

These are played via two Yamaha keyboards, which are surrounded by an ensemble of fourteen players.'

The work was commissioned by Pierre Boulez to mark the 10th anniversary of his experimental music centre, IRCAM, at the Pompidou in Paris.

Start Date:

Saturday 12 May 2012 - 15:30

End Date:

Saturday 12 May 2012

Ticket Prices:

Free

Repertoire:

Film screening: Omnibus: Towards Antara - film by Barrie Gavin with music by George Benjamin

Facility Description:

Purcell Room