highlights - Kings Place

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WHAT’S ON JANUARY–MARCH 2013
Classical
Fretwork
Schubert Ensemble
Britten Centenary
Contemporary
A Cappella Festival
Lore Lixenberg
Gravenhurst, Teitur
Spoken Word
Jewish Book Week:
Amos Oz & Fania Oz-Salzberger
Pat Barker
Jazz
Bobby Watson
Hans Koller
SLEEPERS
AWAKE!
CAROLYN SAMPSON
STARS IN BACH UNWRAPPED
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More than just a ticket
03
WELCOME
TO THE
SPRING 2013
SEASON AT
KINGS PLACE!
As we enter our fifth year we are proud to
announce our biggest composer series to
date: Bach Unwrapped. Beginning just after
Christmas 2012 with Florilegium (30 Dec 2012)
and closing with the magnificent B minor Mass
in late December (21 Dec 2013), we celebrate
Bach’s extraordinary legacy with an impressive
line-up that includes our cover star, soprano
Carolyn Sampson, and the Academy of St
Martin in the Fields (22 Feb, 15 Jun & 27 Sep).
Celebrated viol consort Fretwork present
a brand-new series taking in music by
Dowland, White and Tallis (17–19 Jan), while
The Schubert Ensemble bring their 30thanniversary celebrations to Kings Place with a
retrospective programme. There’s a fascinating
and original tribute to Britten (7–9 Feb) by
two enterprising young pianists, John Reid and
Andrew Matthews-Owen, along with soprano
Claire Booth and rising star tenor Nicky Spence.
Visual and musical art meet with an exhibition
of Adam Birtwistle’s portraits at Kings Place
Gallery and a special concert of his father Sir
Harrison’s music (9 Jan).
Expect the unexpected as The Local
presents three days of new existential
songwriting with a host of off-kilter lo-fi bands
and troubadours, The Stranger, The Better
(10–12 Jan), while Alan Bearman Music
curates Hidden Treasure (13–16 Mar), featuring
much-loved stars Martin Simpson, Eliza Carthy
and Roy Bailey alongside newcomers Mawkin.
The Swingle Singers and London A Cappella
Festival (24–26 Jan) return with a Best of
British theme, featuring The King’s Singers, Clare
College Choir and the radical vocals of Danish
pioneers Postyr; whilst US jazz legend Bobby
Watson and celebrated songstress Claire Martin
join our jazz workshops and concerts for the
Global Music Foundation (28 Mar – 1 Apr).
Jewish Book Week (23 Feb – 3 Mar)
returns with an astonishing line-up that includes
Fania Oz-Salzberger and Dorian Lynskey, who
leads a tribute to Leonard Cohen.
On a celebratory note, we welcome the
Brodsky Quartet as our new resident quartet
and look forward to hearing more from them
throughout 2013–14.
Peter Millican, CEO
COVER: CAROLYN SAMPSON & ABOVE: PETER MILLICAN © NICK WHITE
CONTRIBUTORS
Anthony Clavane, who writes on
British Jews in football (p42), comes to
speak at JBW in February. His first book,
Promised Land, won both Football and
Sports Book of the Year 2011. His latest
book is Does Your Rabbi Know You’re
Here? and is published by Quercus.
Dr Simon Heighes, who writes on
Bach (p28), is a musicologist with a
passion for the Baroque; he’s also a
critic for International Record Review
and a familiar voice on BBC Radio 3.
He will be running a Bach study day
later in the season.
Dorian Lynskey, who assesses the
influence of Leonard Cohen’s music
(p34) and will chair the Cohen event
for Jewish Book Week, is author of the
blog and book 33 Revolutions Per
Minute, A History of Protest Songs,
and a music writer for The Guardian.
Fiona Maddocks, who writes on
painter Adam and composer
Sir Harrison Birtwistle (p44), is
classical music critic of The Observer.
She was chief arts feature writer of
the Evening Standard and has written
and broadcast widely.
CLASSICAL HIGHLIGHTS
8 A New Beat for the Brodskys
9 Musickʼs Monument:
Fretworkʼs new series
10 Schubert Ensemble at 30
28 DIVINE INVENTOR
Dr Simon Heighes on what
recent scholarship has
taught us about JS Bach
30 JOURNEYS OF THE HEART
Bach is at the centre of the
musical lives of Carolyn
Sampson (above), Elizabeth
Wallfisch and Rachel Podger
40 SUFFOLK LODESTAR
A Britten centenary tribute
from two enterprising pianists
REGULARS
JÉRÔME NOETINGER © MAT RANSON
GRAVENHURST © LUCY JOHNSTON
BOBBY WATSON © SUPPLIED PHOTO
CAROLYN SAMPSON © NICK WHITE
CLASSICAL
JAZZ
FOLK/
CONTEMPORARY
JAZZ HIGHLIGHTS
FOLK HIGHLIGHTS
16 Kollerʼs Dream Team
Sebastian Scotney on Hans
Kollerʼs new project
13 The Blessings of Busking
Colin Irwin meets ahab
16 Lockheart meets Ellington
15 Three Cane Whale
17 Get The Blessing
18 Kansas Hero down
with the kids
The legendary Bobby
Watson (above)
joins workshops and
performances at the
Global Music Foundation
this Easter
03
06
07
08
28
WELCOME
TICKET INFORMATION
PLANNING YOUR WEEK
HIGHLIGHTS
FEATURES
CONTEMPORARY
20
14 Party time with The Woes
38 THE STRANGER,
THE BETTER
Kate Mossman discusses
a new generation of
enigmatic, lo-fi bands,
from Gravenhurst (above)
to Meursault, with
promoter Howard Monk
82 Q&A Folk programmer and
promoter Alan Bearman
48
49
57
67
LISTINGS
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
21
21
22
34
76
77
78
82
CONTEMPORARY
HIGHLIGHTS
Immersive Interference
Jérôme Noetingerʼs (above)
reel-to-reel adventures
Lixenbergʼs Manifesto
From Futurism to Fluxus
Will Duttaʼs Glitch
A Cappella Festival
The Swingle Singers
welcome the Kingʼs Singers,
Clare College Choir and the
radical Danish group Postyr
IF TRUTH BE TOLD…
Dorian Lynskey pays
tribute to the great
songwriter Leonard Cohen
ART LISTINGS
ARTISTIC HIRES
CALENDAR
Q&A with Alan Bearman
WHAT’S ON
JANUARY –
MARCH 2013
SPOKEN WORD
SPOKEN WORD
HIGHLIGHTS
ART
12 Bringing the Dead to Life
Pat Barkerʼs new book
36 IN THE BEGINNING...
Fania Oz-Salzberger and
Amos Oz on a very Jewish
intergenerational dialogue
42 DOES YOUR RABBI
KNOW YOUʼRE HERE?
Anthony Clavane on
the Jewish contribution
to British football
19 Incense and Insensibility
The Milk Monitors (above)
promise a brand-new Jane
Austen novel, with a little
help from the audience...
INTERACT HIGHLIGHTS
26 Young Poets on a Quest
Four local schools join
the PoetryQuest at
Kings Place this spring
LISTINGS
ART HIGHLIGHTS
COMEDY HIGHLIGHTS
11 Poetry and Medicine
ABI WADE © KENNY MCCRAKEN
QUEEN VICTORIA © PAINTING BY ADAM BIRTWISTLE
ILLUSTRATION © HARDIE / WWW.HARDIEILLUSTRATOR.COM
AUSTENTATIOUS © IDIL SUKAN
COMEDY/
INTERACT
24 The Enduring Jurassic
Ian Collins on the paintings
of Jeremy Gardiner
25 Coventryʼs Creatures
A new exhibition of work by
the Cornish-based sculptor
44 FATHER AND SON
Composer Sir Harrison
Birtwistle always wanted to
be a painter; his son Adam
is one. Fiona Maddocks
spoke to them both as a
new exhibition of Adamʼs
portraits (see above) comes
to Kings Place Gallery
LISTINGS
48 Listings
76 Art Listings
77 Artistic Hires
78 Calendar
FOOD & DRINK
HIGHLIGHTS
23 Winter Warmers
Classic cocktails and
warming mulled wine at
Rotunda this season
EDITORIAL TEAM
Publisher
Kings Place
Music Foundation
Contact
+44 (0) 20 7520 1440
mag@kingsplace.co.uk
www.kingsplace.co.uk
Editor-in-Chief
Helen Wallace
Editorial Team
Janie Nicholas
Emrah Tokalaç
Michael Green
Lindsay Garfoot (web)
Alice Clark (web)
Art Direction
Ana Acosta / Moira Gil
Design Assistant
Samuel Kang
Picture Research
Sunita Sharma-Gibson
Proofreading
Susannah Howe
Print
Wyndeham Roche
Thanks to
Peter Millican, Jen Mitchell,
Tanya Cracknell, Amy
Sibley-Allen, Chris Nye,
Holly Thomas, Hervé
Bournas, Joanie Magill,
Zoë Jeyes, Aurelie Gillson,
Richard Hartwell, Nell
Halford, Annette Telesford
© Kings Place 2013
All material is strictly copyright and all rights are
reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part
without the written permission of Kings Place
is strictly forbidden. The greatest care has been
taken to ensure the accuracy of information in
this magazine at the time of going to press, but
we accept no responsibility for omissions or
errors. The views expressed in this magazine
are not necessarily those of Kings Place.
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
January—March 2013
TICKET
INFORMATION
Box Office 020 7520 1490
YOUR JOURNEY
We are located a short walk from
King’s Cross and St Pancras Stations.
Our main entrance is on York Way.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Visit www.tfl.gov.uk to help plan your
journey, or call London Travel Information
020 7222 1234.
BOOKING
Tickets for all performances from £9.50 online
The online ticket prices are shown in the listings. Please add £2
to the online ticket price if booking by other methods.
ONLINE
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HALL ONE
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be purchased online and are
subject to availability. Tickets
may be collected at any time during
the hour before the performance.
HALL TWO
All seating is unreserved, some
events may be standing only.
£9.50 Online Savers can only
be purchased online and are
subject to availability.
ST PANCRAS ROOM
All seating is unreserved, some
events may be standing only.
BY PHONE & IN PERSON
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12–8pm, Tue 12–6pm, Sun:
12–7pm (Closed Bank Holidays)
Opening hours may vary –
please check the website for the
most up-to-date information.
BY POST
Kings Place Box Office
90 York Way, London N1 9AG
GROUPS
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through the Box Office
and exclude Online Savers.
PARKING
NCP Car Park – Pancras Road.
Visit www.ncp.co.uk or call
0845 050 7080 for further details.
ACCESS
Kings Place aims to be accessible to all,
and the venue offers suitable seating for wheelchair users. Please inform us of any
access requirements when booking. There is
an induction loop at the Box Office to assist
those with hearing aids. An infrared system
is installed in Halls One and Two, with hearing
advancement headsets for audience members
who do not use a hearing aid. Neck loops are
available to use with hearing aids switched to the ‘T’ position. All areas of Kings Place are accessible to those with Guide & Hearing Dogs.
SPRING 2013 SPECIAL OFFERS
Available for the following events:
Bach Unwrapped;
Jewish Book Week; Schubert
Ensemble 30th Anniversary;
London A Cappella Festival;
London Chamber Music Series;
Not So Silent Movies
Please check kingsplace.co.uk
for additional offers.
KINGS PLACE HALL ONE © KEITH PAISLEY
TICKETS
06 TICKETS
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PLANNING YOUR
WEEK
WEEKLY FOCUS
PLANNING YOUR WEEK 07
WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY–SATURDAY EACH WEEK
A collaborative mix of artists, curators, organisations
and producers presenting an exciting series of events.
See Listings p48 for details or go to
A NEATLY EFFECTIVE
IDEA OF INVITING
DIFFERENT MUSICIANS
TO PLAN WEEKLY
THEMED CONCERTS...
THE GUARDIAN
CONTEMPORARY
COMEDY
SATURDAYS SUNDAYS
CLASSICAL
THURSDAYS FRIDAYS
JAZZ
MONDAYS
FOLK
MONDAYS
SPOKEN WORD
REGULAR NIGHTS
08 HIGHLIGHTS
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
CLASSICAL
HIGHLIGHTS
A NEW BEAT FOR THE BRODSKYS
Kings Place is proud to announce a new residency for the
Brodsky Quartet, beginning in December 2012. Helen Wallace
spoke to violist Paul Cassidy about their plans.
‘Kings Place feels like the perfect fit for us
– it’s a really happening space, there’s so much
going on, and it feels vibrant, there’s a sense
of possibility in the air.’ So says Paul Cassidy,
violist of the Brodsky Quartet, whose trio of
40th-birthday concerts in December 2012 will
launch a new residency at Kings Place.
The idea for a relationship was born before
the building of Hall One, as Cassidy recalls:
‘I can remember standing with Peter Millican
in a hard hat when Hall One was just a hole
in the ground. I loved the idea of the place:
when we played Maxwell Davies early on in
2008, we recognised what a fabulous hall it
was acoustically. But just at that time we were
embarking on an exclusive relationship with
Cadogan Place, so we had to wait for a while.’
IT FEELS LIKE THE
PERFECT FIT FOR US,
THERE’S A SENSE OF
POSSIBILITY IN THE AIR
The Brodsky’s acclaimed series of
Shostakovich Quartets in April this year set
the seal on a new association: ‘We knew
Shostakovich was going to sound tremendous
in that hall, and it did. In my opinion it’s the best
chamber music hall in London.’
Their three concerts in December are
a taste of things to come, combining 20thcentury classics like George Crumb’s Black
Angels with an evening of song with Jacqui
Dankworth and a finale featuring their ‘Wheel
of 4Tunes’, in which the audience gets to select
the music for the concert. ‘What we’d like to be
doing at Kings Place is showcasing the really
exciting projects we do all over the world,
some of which have been, to date, one-offs.
For instance, this year we worked with the
most amazing Australian countertenor, David
Hansen, at the Risør Festival, doing everything
from Handel to Björk, and another time we
worked on an brilliant new song-cycle with
Eddie Perfect in Melbourne (think Eddie Izzard
meets Tim Minchin) called ‘Songs from the
Middle’, which we really should do in London
one day. We’d love Kings Place to become the
platform for all the ground-breaking work we do
elsewhere.’ Future plans are still being cooked
up, but the Brodskys will definitely have a key
part to play in the next two Unwrapped series
in 2014 and 2015.
Brodsky Quartet
6–8 December 2012
Book tickets now:
HIGHLIGHTS
CLASSICAL
MUSICK’S MONUMENT
30 DEC – 4 JAN
Florilegium: Cantatas (30 Dec)
Wallfisch Band: Cantatas
(31 Dec & 1 Jan)
OSJ + G Simcock Qt (2 Jan)
La Nuova Musica: Cantata
& Psalm (3 Jan)
Christoph Richter cello (4 Jan)
29 JAN – 2 FEB
Kingʼs College Choir &
Academy of Ancient Music:
St Matthew Passion (29 Jan)
Rachel Podger violin
Sonatas & Partitas (30 Jan)
Miki Skuta piano: Goldberg
Variations (31 Jan)
London Sinfonietta (1 Feb)
Academy of Ancient Music:
The Suites in Focus (2 Feb)
13 – 22 FEBRUARY
Keyboard Convers. (13 Feb)
RAM Baroque Orch. (15 Feb)
Pekka Kuusisto violin (18 Feb)
Fretwork: The Art of Fugue
(20 Feb)
Katya Apekisheva piano:
Inventions & Sinfonias (21 Feb)
ASMF with C. Sampson (22 Feb)
16 – 24 MARCH
Clare College Choir & Aurora
Orch.: St John Passion (16 Mar)
Dmitry Sitkovetsky & Friends:
The Goldberg Arr. (20 Mar)
Charles Owen: Partitas (21 Mar)
OAE: The Brandenburg
Concertos (22 Mar)
Penelope Spencer & Friends:
Violin Sonatas (24 Mar)
Richard Boothby of Fretwork introduces the group’s new Kings
Place series, which is inspired by the memory of one of their
founding members and takes in music by White, Tallis and Dowland.
Richard Campbell was a founder
member of Fretwork, and it was
he who memorably suggested the
name. He played with us until he
took his own life in March 2011,
overcome by a melancholy that
was always present, but which
eventually overwhelmed him.
Fretwork’s mini-series
in January has a melancholy
theme: Lamentations, Tears &
Remembrances. While it wasn’t
designed to be ‘in memoriam’
Richard Campbell, it has turned
out to be just the kind of thing of
which he would have approved:
first of all, he was the contact
between the group and Peter
Millican of Kings Place, who
secured a place for us in the first
public event in Hall One; secondly,
he played the first performance of
Wild Winter I by Thea Musgrave,
which we’ll perform with Alamire;
thirdly, he was a fine exponent
of Dowland’s Lachrimae Pavans,
playing treble on our recording
of the work; and, lastly, it was his
idea to construct a programme
from Thomas Mace’s fascinating
THE INSPIRATION IS
MACE’S FASCINATING
BUT FRUSTRATING
BOOK OF 1676
and frustrating vanity-project of a
book, published in 1676, Musick’s
Monument. In it, amongst other
things, Mace reminisces about
music meetings of his youth, and
Richard was surely thinking to base
a programme on this passage:
We had for our grave musick,
fancies of 3, 4, 5 and 6 parts to the
organ; interpos’d (now and then)
with some pavans, allmaines,
solemn and sweet delightful ayres;
all which were (as it were) so many
pathetical stories, rhetorical, and
sublime discourses ... so suitable
and agreeing to the inward, secret
and intellectual faculties of the
soul and mind, that to set them
forth according to their true praise,
there are no words sufficient in
Fretwork at ease:
Richard Boothby
sits to the right of
the mirror.
BRODSKY QUARTET © ERIC RICHMOND | FRETWORK © CHRIS DAWES
SUNDAYS, 6.30 PM | HALL ONE
6 Jan LCMS New Year Concert
13 Jan Badke Qt & M. Todd
20 Jan Angell Piano Trio
27 Jan Allegri Qt: The Complete
Beethoven Quartets – 9
3 Feb Yannoula-LomeikoZhislin-Harwood Quartet
10 Feb Navarra Quartet
17 Feb Chilingirian Qt: The
Romantic Piano Quintets – 4
10 Mar Rosamunde Trio: The
Complete Beethoven Piano
Trios – 2
17 Mar Fine Arts Brass Ens.
24 Mar Madeleine Mitchell
& Andrew Ball
language; yet what I can best
speak of them, shall be only to
say, that they have been to myself
... as divine raptures, powerfully
captivating all our unruly faculties.’
He goes on to name the English
and Italian composers of these
pieces for viol consort, including
Alfonso Ferrabosco, John Ward, Mr
White, William Lawes, John Jenkins,
Mr Coperario and one Monteverdi,
‘a famous Italian author’.
The Lamentations of
Jeremiah have been set by many
composers, but those of Robert
White and Thomas Tallis stand out.
White’s setting was given pride
of place at the opening of Robert
Dow’s magnificently copied set
of partbooks, from which most
of the rest of the programme is
drawn. On the Friday we mark
the 450th anniversary of one of
Britain’s greatest composers,
John Dowland, by performing his
extraordinary Lachrimae Pavans
of 1604. The work is unique in
explicitly combining viols and
lute, and unique in its far-reaching
structural ambition. He presents
us with a mystical, transcendental
journey based on his most famous
song, ‘Flow my teares’, with a
sequence that maps a voyage
from despair to hope, minor to
major. As the composer wrote
in his dedication to Queen Anne
of Denmark: ‘And though the
title doth promise teares, unfit
guests in these ioyfull times, yet
no doubt pleasant are the teares
which Musicke weepes, neither are
teares shed alwayes in sorrow, but
sometime in ioy and gladnesse.’
Fretwork: Lamentations,
Teares and Remembrances
17–19 January
See Listings pp52–53 for details
09
10 HIGHLIGHTS
CLASSICAL
HIGHLIGHTS
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
A SEED SOWN WITH SCHUBERT
When pianist William Howard formed The Schubert Ensemble,
he never dreamed they’d still have a ‘to do’ list 30 years later…
Elizabeth Kenny
9 JANUARY
Sir Harrison Birtwistle
Birtwistles in Residence
with Nicolas Hodges (piano),
Christian Dierstein (percussion),
Andrew Watts (countertenor),
Melinda Maxwell (oboe)
Helen Tunstall (harp)
17 – 19 JANUARY
Fretwork performs the music of
Robert White, Thomas Tallis and
John Dowland
17 Feb Lamentations
(with Alamire vocal consort)
18 Feb Dowland’s Lachrimae
(with Elizabeth Kenny)
19 Feb Musick’s Monument
24 – 26 JANUARY
London A Cappella
Festival
19 Feb Choir of Clare College
7 – 9 FEBRUARY
Britten at 100: Pianist;
Collaborator; Artistic
Crucible
7 Feb Songs With & Without Words
8 Feb The Pity of War
9 Feb Metamorphoses
13 – 16 FEBRUARY
Royal Academy of Music
14 Feb The Haydn Symphonies
with the Royal Academy of Music
Chamber Orchestra
15 Feb Royal Academy of Music
Baroque Orchestra plays Bach
7 – 9 MARCH
Schubert Ensemble:
30th Anniversary
7 Mar Schubertiade
8 Mar Enescu: Neglected Genius
9 Mar Looking to the Future – 1:
Chamber Music 2000+
9 Mar Looking to the Future – 2:
Schubert Ensemble Commissions
‘It all started because I wanted
to play the Trout Quintet,’ recalls
William Howard of the birth of
The Schubert Ensemble 30 years
ago. At the time he was part of
a successful duo with violinist
Paul Barritt but missed playing
larger-scale chamber music. A
group of friends gathered for a
few performances, and found they
needed a name: ‘We agonised
and plumped for this in a hurry.
I think it’s actually been a great
advantage: we’ve always been
adventurous in our repertoire,
but people feel reassured by the
idea of Schubert!’ In his honour,
their Kings Place series begins
with a ‘Schubertiade’, followed
by concert that reflects their
championing of less well-known
repertoire, in this case Enescu’s
First Piano Quartet.
Initially there was no longterm plan, but Howard soon
realised the time was ripe to
explore a largely neglected piano
quartet and quintet repertoire:
‘It was a fantastic opportunity.
WE STILL HAVE A LONG
WISH LIST OF PIECES
WE’D LOVE TO PLAY
As we began to research, our
enthusiasm grew and we
assembled an amazingly long
wish-list of pieces , which we still
haven’t got through. There’ve
been some real revelations – by
Fauré, Enescu, Dohnányi, for
example.’ The Ensemble’s 30-plus
discography stands testament to
the quality of these discoveries
and performances.
The spirit of adventure
has extended to the creation
of new work: the group have
commissioned no fewer than 45
chamber pieces: ‘We’ve developed
some very creative relationships
with composers: those with Piers
Hellawell, Judith Weir, Colin and
David Matthews, Martin Butler,
Joe Cutler, Pavel Novák and many
others have blossomed and
produced several pieces.’ Their
birthday series will culminate in a
celebration of new work, including
two new piano quartets by Huw
Watkins and Edward Rushton.
Reflecting on their history,
Howard is particularly proud
of their Chamber Music 2000
project: ‘It was a crazy idea, but
we wanted to create a new body
of work so that young pianists
could become involved in
playing new music with strings.
It resulted in 30 amazing concerts
and two recordings on NMC.’
The young Lawson Trio, whose
concert will preface the final
event, took the idea and ran with
it, commissioning 12 new works
themselves, some of which will
be performed by student groups
coached by the Trio.
Schubert Ensemble 30thAnniversary Celebrations
7–9 March
SCHUBERT ENSEMBLE © JOHN CLARK | ANDREW SOLOMON © ANNIE LEIBOVITZ
Fretwork:
Musick’s Monument
Book tickets now:
SPOKEN WORD
HIGHLIGHTS
KEATS’S
POETRY DRAWS
LIBERALLY ON
THE MEDICAL
LANGUAGE
HE STUDIED
HIGHLIGHTS
SPOKEN WORD
THE ANATOMY OF
POETRY AND PEOPLE
Graham Henderson from Poet in the City introduces
a unique collaboration between poetry and medicine,
featuring poet Jo Shapcott and oncologist Sam Guglani.
Poet in the City has a long tradition
of working on events which highlight
the connections between poetry and
areas such as medicine, mental health,
science and maths. In the past these
have included collaborations with the
Wellcome Collection, The Royal College
of Psychiatrists, Imperial College and
other creative partners.
The surprising thing is not only
how much poetry has to say about
a subject like medicine, but how
successful an event of this sort is at
connecting with new audiences for
poetry. It’s clear that people in all
walks of life realise the significance of
poetry as an art form, and its amazing
potential to speak to them about
profoundly important life experiences.
Once you start looking you
also discover that many poets have
had medical training, or come from
medical families. Most famously,
the poet John Keats was a medical
student, and his poems draw liberally
on both medical language and
contemporary ideas about how the
body and mind functioned. Many
modern poets, too, draw on a similar
depth of awareness and knowledge to
communicate human aspects of the
medical sciences. Distinguished poet
Jo Shapcott, one of the patrons of Poet
in the City, recently won the Costa Prize
for her collection Of Mutability, which
contains some subtle and truthful
poems about the human body and
illness, following her own experience
of cancer, such as Hairless:
‘Can the bald lie? The nature of the
skin says not:/ it’s newborn-pale,
erection-tender stuff, /every thought
visible – pure knowledge,/ mind in
action – shining through the skull.’
It was Jo who suggested that
we hold an event with the dynamic
MONDAYS, 7PM – HALL ONE
Elkie Brooks
21 JANUARY
Elkie Brooks:
Finding My Voice
28 JANUARY
Feeding Seven Billion
Global Food Security Debates:
Intensification versus
extensification of global
agriculture
4 FEBRUARY
The Sebald Lecture
Boris Akunin: ‘Paradise Lost:
Confessions of an apostate
translator’
organisation Medicine Unboxed,
of which she is also a patron. Run
by senior oncologist Sam Guglani,
and based in Cheltenham, Medicine
Unboxed has been doing fabulous
work, bringing poetry and medical
audiences together: ‘Our organisation
provides a forum to engage the public
and healthcare professionals in a
wider view of medicine’s aims and
resonances: a view informed by art,
philosophy and the imagination, as
much as science,’ explains Guglani.
Poet in the City hopes to recreate
this magic at Kings Place, featuring
some of the best poetry ever written
about medicine and the body. It
should appeal equally to poetry
fans, those involved in the medical
profession, and all those with
experience of illness or caring for
a loved one.
11 FEBRUARY
Howard Goodall:
The Story of Music
Notes & Letters presents...
18 FEBRUARY
Benjamin Britten:
A Life in the
Twentieth Century
Paul Kildea
4 MARCH
Poetry and Medicine
Poet in the City presents...
11 MARCH
Rock’n’Roll Politics
with Steve Richards & Guests
18 MARCH
Pat Barker:
Toby’s Room
25 MARCH
Coleridge
with biographer Richard Holmes
27 MARCH
Words on Monday:
Poetry and Medicine 4 March
See Listings p68 for details
An Evening with
Jodi Picoult
Book Launch: The Storyteller
11
HIGHLIGHTS
SPOKEN WORD
Book tickets now:
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BRINGING THE DEAD TO LIFE
The novels of Pat Barker have cast a spotlight on
the generation growing up before and during the First
World War. Conjuring up the lives of literary figures such
as Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, her Regeneration
trilogy became a best-seller. With Life Class, she turned
her attention to the visual arts, and her latest book, Toby’s
Room, continues that story of a group of young artists
trained at the Slade. Pat Barker will discuss her fascination
with the Great War and the devastating aftermath that
she chronicles so graphically – with its gruesome images
of wounded soldiers undergoing rudimentary facial
reconstruction, Toby’s Room is not for the squeamish.
Nor, in some ways, is Richard Holmes’s masterly
two-volume biography of Coleridge – no details of his
opium-induced constipation are spared the reader – but
Holmes’s affection for this gifted, infuriating and often
misunderstood poet is infectious. Poet in the City’s event
will provide an opportunity to hear some of Coleridge’s
greatest poetry performed and to hear Holmes’s
reflections on his life and times, a subject which led him
to write on the poet’s scientific contemporaries such as
Joseph Banks and Humphrey Davy in The Age of Wonder.
For Holmes, biography is not only an art – ‘biography
is also a vocation, a calling. The dead call to us out of
the past, like owls calling out of the dark. They ask to be
heard, remembered, understood.’
Distinguished novelist Pat Barker and biographer
Richard Holmes will be reflecting on past lives in
two key Words on Monday events this spring.
Words on Monday: Pat Barker on Toby’s Room 18 March
Poet in the City: Coleridge with Richard Holmes 25 March
See Listings p72 and p74 for details
PAT BARKER © ELLEN WARNER | AHAB © PETER DUNWELL
12
Book tickets now:
FOLK
HIGHLIGHTS
THE BLESSINGS
OF BUSKING
From busking to festival headliner,
ahab is an exciting young band firmly
on the march. Callum Anderson
wonders how it all happened…
HIGHLIGHTS
FOLK
Is that how you evolved your trademark
close harmonies?
Yes. When you’re busking you think, what
can you do that’s original? And we thought
right, let’s try harmonies because that attracts
a lot of attention, so rather than add a lot of
instruments we added a lot of layers vocally.
Who are your influences?
Anybody who writes great songs. Nirvana, The
Doors, The Eagles, Fleet Foxes, Kings Of Leon…
anybody who writes great songs.
Are you surprised how popular you’ve
become in such a short time?
Yes. We’re still coming to terms with the fact
that people buy tickets to see us standing up
and playing songs conceived in a kitchen one
night. But it puts a lot of strain on the band.
It’s easy to lose sight of what it was you were
supposed to be doing in the first place so it’s
been a blessing and a curse.
Did you have a master plan?
No, that’s our biggest problem. People kept
asking us to play and we always said yes.
We’ve done that for two years and we haven’t
stopped, but we haven’t thought about any
of it – the sort of band we wanted to look or
sound like or what we should be putting out
and how we want to be portrayed. Now is the
time to do that.
You haven’t done a studio album yet…
We’ve had two EPs and one live album but
we’ve been too busy to get a studio album
done. We’ve got enough material and we know
what we want to do.
Is it true you started as buskers?
Yes. Dave (Burn) and I had a two-piece alt.
folk/grungy band and we got offered this show
in Nashville. We played it as a four-piece, liked
each other and decided to be a band. We
came back and didn’t have any gigs so just
went busking. Somebody saw a video of us
busking and gave us an opportunity and we’ve
been playing ever since.
WE’RE STILL COMING
TO TERMS WITH THE
FACT THAT PEOPLE PAY
TO HEAR US SING
You get categorised in all sorts of ways…
folk, country, Americana… is that
a problem?
It’s fine at the moment. We don’t really know
what we want to be so we’re quite happy for
people to stick labels on us. We are essentially
a song band and a harmony band and
whether that’s in a country vein or a folk vein
or a pop vein, it’s just guitars and vocals, so
whatever anybody wants to call us is cool. If
we ever decide ourselves what we want to be,
we’ll tell everybody else.
Folk Union: ahab 18 January
13
14 HIGHLIGHTS
Book tickets now:
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FRIDAYS, 8pm – HALL TWO
11 JANUARY
Tim Edey
18 JANUARY
ahab
1 FEBRUARY
Lady Maisery
8 FEBRUARY
An Evening with
Alistair Anderson
15 FEBRUARY
The Wagon Tales
22 FEBRUARY
Olivia Chaney
& Friends
8 MARCH
Three Cane Whale
15 MARCH
Mawkin
22 MARCH
The Woes
FOLK HIGHLIGHTS
13 – 15 MARCH
Alan Bearman Music presents
Hidden Treasure
featuring:
Martin Simpson
Roy Bailey & Tony Benn
Marry Waterson
& Oliver Knight
Eliza Carthy, Bella Hardy,
Lucy Farrell & Kate Young
Brass Monkey
Mawkin
PARTY TIME WITH THE WOES
Take a deep breath, hold on tight and prepare to
be amazed when US band The Woes hit Kings Place,
says Colin Irwin.
Nobody knows quite what to expect when
The Woes are in town, least of all, seemingly, the
band themselves, an unpredictably maverick and
motley bunch from Brooklyn, New York, who may turn
up with anything between seven and 30 musicians,
delivering a dizzying mixture of styles. Ultimately they
defy description… though plenty have tried. ‘Twisted
alt.country’, ‘Tom Waits meets Bob Dylan’, ‘acid jazz’,
‘Americana skiffle’, ‘good-time blues’, ‘bayou funk’,
‘anti-folk’… these are some of the unlikely descriptions
that have variously been applied to make some sense
of their dizzying mix of styles, but in truth The Woes
have an attitude and character that defy description.
Here is a band in a category of one.
Their front man is Osei Essed, a larger-than-life
character with a hypnotically gruff voice, an arrestingly
vibrant guitar style, a sharp sense of humour, a love
of organised mayhem and an unstoppable flood
of ideas. He formed The Woes in 2002 with Cicero
Jones, a similarly adventurous experimentalist and
free-thinker and they’ve operated as potent musical
guerrillas ever since, eschewing the mainstream
industry to turn up here, there and everywhere to
play whatever they happen to fancy, unrestricted by
commercial pressures or public expectation.
Blending Essed’s guitar and banjo with Jones’s
keyboards and French horn, they gradually assembled
a likeminded army of free musical spirits, including a
formidable line-up of brass, accordion, steel guitar and
a frantic rhythm section, drawn liberally from students
at New York’s Purchase College of Theatre Arts. The
raucously uplifting results have subsequently resulted
in a series of highly regarded self-released cult albums
joyously regenerating many unlikely backwaters of
America’s hidden musical heritage, from Delta blues,
Dustbowl folk, gypsy jazz and vaudeville to early
bluegrass, hillbilly and a little punk ideology… But
most of all, they reflect the desire to have a rollicking
good time.
Their 2004 album Coalmine alerted a lot of
people to their devil-may-care wonder. That success
compounded by That Coke Oven March a couple of
years later and, in 2009, Heaven Knows, a veritable
jamboree blending country tracks such as ‘Who’s On
Your Pillow’ with vigorously edgy banjo-led romps such
as ‘Hanging’s Fair’. Subsequent EP The Bird and The
Bear also turned on a lot of people to the fact that there
exists a fulfilling antidote to the sanitised homogeneity
of popular music… it’s called The Woes. ‘We know how
to have fun,’ says Osei Essed. You better believe it…
Folk Union: The Woes 22 March
Book tickets now:
West Country Whales
Tim Woodall meets Pete Judge of Bristol trio
Three Cane Whale, and finds out why runner
beans and birdsong play a part in their story.
‘I usually tell people that it’s
a misspelling of a mishearing of
a misunderstanding,’ says Pete
Judge of the origins of the name
Three Cane Whale. His explanation
is complex, involving an allotment
and growing runner beans but
the title does link intimately to the
concepts underpinning the band.
‘It fitted because there are three
intertwining instrumental voices
and it alludes to the organic,
landscape-inspired nature of our
music,’ he continues. ‘And it is also
because the name came from the
local area.’
The region in question is
Bristol, home to this innovative
acoustic, multi-instrumental folk
trio. ‘I don’t think the band would
exist if we’d met in a different city,’
says Judge. ‘There’s an acceptance
of all things left-field in Bristol,
more so than in other places.
There is cross-fertilisation between
the different scenes: folk, jazz,
world music and rock. Everything
coalesces and finds its own shape.’
Three Cane Whale are living proof
of this trend. Also a member of jazz
rock band Get the Blessing, Judge
plays soft-edged trumpet in Three
Cane Whale alongside mandolin
player Alex Vann, also a member
of instrumental folk group Spiro,
and guitarist Paul Bradley, who
is behind experimental rock
band Organelles.
Together, the trio were looking
for something new, a diversion
perhaps from their other activities,
and they found it in the quiet,
delicate sound-world of acoustic
instrumental pieces, music that
has been described as chamber
folk. Judge observes that they
all found it ‘liberating’ to play
music with no improvisation.
Surely musicians usually say the
opposite? ‘We’re used to working
in collaboratively creative contexts,
so we were pleasantly surprised
by how exciting it is to play precomposed music,’ he says.
There’s an
acceptance of
all things leftfield in Bristol
the woes © Chris Windsor | three cane whale © Paul Wigens
HIGHLIGHTS
FOLK
Three Cane Whale recorded
their eponymous debut album in a
single session at a Bristol church,
leaving at the end of just one day
with 20 hushed, introspective
and texturally detailed tracks
in the can. ‘It was an epic shift,
but it was really amazing to play
in that space, for the acoustic,
the ambience, the light and the
birdsong outside,’ remembers
Judge. This appreciation for the
evocative aspect of creating music
demonstrates the importance
Three Cane Whale place on
atmosphere. Accordingly, the band
are planning to record their second
album (which they hope to launch
at their Kings Place gig) in multiple
locations, including in the great
outdoors: ‘We’re trying to record
in places relevant to the tunes,
because of the inspirations we
take from the landscape.’
Folk Union:
Three Cane Whale
8 March. See Listings
p69 for details
15
16 HIGHLIGHTS
Mark Lockheart’s slow-burning
Ellington project reaches fruition.
Among the radical re-workings of Duke
Ellington tunes which Mark Lockheart’s
‘Ellington in Anticipation’ concert will
present at The Base on 23 March will be
‘Satin Doll’. Rumour has it that Lockheart
has cloaked the 60-year-old tune in such a
subtle arrangement, she probably won’t be
recognised. ‘Satin Doll’ has never led the
simple life. She courted controversy from
the moment she saw the light of day in April
1953. Was she Billy Strayhorn’s mother? Or
Ellington’s common-law wife? She spent
her 40th birthday in 1993 in court, where
Ellington’s and Strayhorn’s estates were
fighting over her harmonic progression.
Prize-winning saxophonist and composer
Mark Lockheart is a former member of Loose
Tubes. This project involves other Ellington
compositions such as ‘Mood Indigo’, ‘Take
The A Train’, ‘Creole Love Call’ and what
Lockheart calls a ‘Persian/hippy’ version of
‘Caravan’. With a top-flight seven-piece band
including pianist Liam Noble and drummer
Seb Rochford, this concert, the fruition of
work which has been in progress since 2010,
will coincide with the release of a CD on
Subtone Records.
KOLLER’S DREAM TEAM
Distinguished German jazz composer Hans
Koller comes to The Base with his dream
team of international soloists to present two
major new creative projects. It’s a dream
come true, he tells Sebastian Scotney.
‘A dream project, a genuine one-off ’ is
how Hans Koller describes his concert in
The Base series on 9 February. The evening
will contain two world premieres by the
Bavarian-born composer who has lived for 20
years in the UK. It will also present a 10-piece
ensemble of major talents from far and wide,
gathered together especially for the occasion.
They include players rarely heard in
London, such as guitarist Jakob Bro from
Copenhagen. Bro has toured and recorded
with Bill Frisell, Paul Motian, Lee Konitz, Joe
Lovano and Tomasz Stańko. Frisell has said
of him: ‘Jakob has something going on, this
ego-less thing. There’s a quality he has as
a person that allows the music to happen.’
Koller will pair him with another world-class
guitarist of the same generation, one equally
capable of moving from sideman to soloist,
Derby-born Phil Robson.
Other players involved are delicatetoned tenor saxophonist François Théberge,
originally from Quebec and now head of jazz
studies at the Paris Conservatoire, and alto
saxophonist John O’Gallagher from New York.
‘They’re all friends of my generation – they
all have their distinct individual voices. It’s
not a situation where the superstar just gets
dropped in.’
The evening will present two new,
contrasting, major compositional
projects. Both are central to Hans Koller’s
development. The first half will be a
celebration of the spirit of Gil Evans. This
project started off as a centenary tribute
to the Canadian composer known best for
his legendary projects with Miles Davis, but
Koller has taken that original idea further: ‘The
project has moved on,’ explains Koller. ‘It’s
about his approach, more than his music. The
style of each piece emerges by questioning.
JAZZ
LOCKHEART MEETS
ELLINGTON
The Base:
Ellington In Anticipation
23 March
Book tickets now:
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HIGHLIGHTS
TO ME,
HÖLDERLIN’S
POEMS SOUND
LIKE A BLUES
“What do I want to do now?” I ask myself. You
go by intuition but let the intellect help you.
You study intellectually what’s going on, but
learn to trust happy accidents.’
The second half has a very different
inspiration, the German lyric poet Friedrich
Hölderlin (1770–1843), in translations by
Michael Hamburger. Other contemporary
composers such as Kaija Saariaho have
been drawn to these poems by their sense
of dislocation. What inspires Koller is the
strength and directness of feeling. ‘They
sound like a blues,’ he says. From the start of
this project, Koller had the voice of Christine
Tobin in mind. She will perform them for the
first time in Hall Two.
The Base: Hans Koller Ensemble
9 February. See Listings p59 for details
Book tickets now:
HIGHLIGHTS
JAZZ
SATURDAYS, 8PM – HALL TWO
12 JANUARY
Aquarium: ‘Places’
Jellymould Jazz Album Launch
19 JANUARY
Martin Speake Trio
with Mike Outram
and Jeff Williams
2 FEBRUARY
Roller Trio
9 FEBRUARY
Hans Koller Ensemble
feat. Christine Tobin (voice)
16 FEBRUARY
Royal Academy
of Music Big Band
A Tribute to Sir John Dankworth
feat. Alec Dankworth
9 MARCH
Alexander Hawkins
Ensemble
16 MARCH
Get The Blessing
MARK LOCKHEART © BRANCA JUKIC | HANS KOLLER © WILLIAM ELLIS | GET THE BLESSING © SUPPLIED PHOTO
23 MARCH
Mark Lockheart:
Ellington in
Anticipation
JAZZ HIGHLIGHTS
GET THE BLESSING
Get The Blessing have come a long
way. In the late 1990s the quartet
emerged from a Friday-morning
rehearsal project in Bristol. These days
they cross continents. They may not yet
be in the ‘Low Earth Orbit’ described
in a track from their 2012 CD ‘OC DC’
(Naim), but their recent tour of North
American festivals certainly brought
out big, appreciative crowds. As one
28 MARCH – 1 APRIL
French-Canadian journalist wrote of
their appearance at the Montreal Jazz
Festival: ‘Something happens when Get
The Blessing arrive on stage ... We may
be jet-lagged, ill or sleep-deprived, no
matter. When the show gets going, our
tiredness disappears.’
The Base: Get the Blessing
16 March. See Listings p71 for details
London Jazz
Workshops
& Music Festival
featuring:
Bobby Watson’s
International All Stars
Claire Martin & Friends
Perico Sambeat Quartet
Kevin Dean & Jean Toussaint
Barry Green
Francesco Petreni
Pete Churchill Trio
and many more
17
18
HIGHLIGHTS
JAZZ
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
They say jazz
was born in New
Orleans but grew
up in Kansas City
Kansas hero down
with the kids
The Global Music Foundation returns to Kings
Place this Easter for concerts and workshops
with a vintage line-up including legendary
saxophonist Bobby Watson, Bruce Barth, Claire
Martin and Kevin Dean. Sebastian Scotney
caught up with the Kansas-based Watson.
‘A soloist of real authority’
and ‘among the most sheerly
enjoyable of musicians to
hear in a live context’, is jazz
historian Richard Cook’s verdict
on Bobby Watson. The alto
saxophonist, arranger and
educator makes his Kings Place
debut in Hall One this March,
as part of the Global Music
Foundation’s Easter Workshop
and Festival, sharing the stage
with Montreal-based trumpeter
Kevin Dean and a trio led by
pianist Bruce Barth.
Watson has the ultimate
jazz pedigree, membership of
Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers
from 1977 to 1981. He was
also the Messengers’ music
director, a post he relinquished
to a younger colleague in
the band: Wynton Marsalis.
Major projects since then have
included 15 years with the
energetic, theatrical 29th Street
Saxophone Quartet, and various
incarnations of the post-bop
band Horizon.
Watson is also renowned
as a skilful composer/arranger
for big band. One factor, he
explains, is that as a teenager
‘I had the key to the band
room and would take all the
instruments home every night,
and try them out.’ Arranger
Frank Griffith, a huge admirer
of Watson’s 1993 album
Tailor Made, says: ‘What is so
distinctive about his writing
is that he drives the band
from the engine room of the
rhythm section.’
There can be no mystery
where that strong sense of
rhythmic propulsion comes
from. Watson’s home town is
Kansas City, whose significance
for jazz Watson explained
eloquently when we spoke in
September: ‘They say jazz was
born in New Orleans but grew up
in Kansas City. It’s where swing
started, with Benny Moten.
It’s where the bass began
to walk.’ The roll-call of jazz
musicians born in and around
the city is unique: Charlie Parker,
Ben Webster, Pat Metheny...
Watson’s most recent record,
Gates BBQ Suite (2010), is a
homage to Kansas City…
What was it that lured
Watson back in 2000 after a
quarter century in New York?
‘I was the first recipient of an
endowed professorship in jazz.’
And what does he consider
important in jazz education?
‘Individualism. Everyone has
their own sound. You catch the
students where they are and
bring them out in their own way.
You can’t have a class plan. You
stretch their imagination.’
Watson will be in London
to bring his experience as an
educator to the GMF workshops.
But the evening will showcase
his playing. He’s a legend of the
music world, and his visits to
London are all too rare.
28 March – 1 April
Book tickets now:
COMEDY
INCENSE AND
INSENSIBILITY…
Or Man-filled Park? With your help, Andrew
Murray and the Milk Monitors will be
improvising a new Jane Austen novel at Kings
Place. He explains how to Helen Wallace.
10 JANUARY
Ian D Montfort: Unbelievable
17 JANUARY
Bad Musical
24 JANUARY
Austentatious: An Improvised
Jane Austen Novel
31 JANUARY
The Looking Screen
14 FEBRUARY
Impropera Valentine’s Special
BOBBY WATSON © SUPPLIED PHOTO | AUSTENTATIOUS © IDIL SUKAN
21 FEBRUARY
Storytellers’ Club
7 MARCH
Rachel Stubbings is…
Stubbing Out Problems
14 MARCH
Double Bill: Colin Hoult
+ Jonny & the Baptists
21 MARCH
The Complete Guide to
Everything – Live!
28 MARCH
Rob Deering: The One
Sending the audience to sleep,
or making them throw bottles.
Unless they’re bottles of vintage
port, which would be appropriate.
Where was the idea born?
Two of us, Amy and Rachel, came
up with it and called up the other
four of us. We gave the idea a
few rehearsals, found our brilliant
cellist Carol, and then launched
the idea upon a frenzied public.
What are your favourite
audience titles for shows?
Either titles which spoof Austen’s
own works – Lust and Frigidity,
say, or Man-Filled Park – or titles
which just go completely off the
rails. Time Travel, Jet Pack and
The Lady Boys of Bangkok are all
honourable examples.
HIGHLIGHTS
THURSDAYS, 8PM – HALL TWO
HIGHLIGHTS
COMEDY
In a nutshell, what can we expect
from an Austentatious show?
An hour of an improvised, entirely
made-up-on-the-spot Jane
Austen. The audience writes lots
of suggestions for a title (‘Incense
and Insensibility’, say, or ‘Pride
and Extreme Prejudice’) – and
whichever of Jane’s ‘lost works’ we
pick out of the hat, we perform.
And it’s funny.
Are we talking Downton Abbey
on speed or Whose Line Is It
Anyway? in period costume?
It’s somewhere in the middle – it’s
a full play, so it’s a bit more of
a complete piece of work than
Whose Line Is It Anyway?. Then
again, it’s not by Julian Fellowes,
so it’s not really like Downton.
Imagine if Austen kept her subtle
plotting, but turned her comedy
a bit broader, and then wrote
whatever she liked during an
opium binge.
Does the audience have to
have a working knowledge of
Austen’s oeuvre?
Not at all. Because it’s entirely
improvised, we tend not to
throw in references that only
Austen buffs will understand.
The show takes place in Austen’s
universe, with all of those tropes,
but it’s still enjoyable even if
you’ve never so much as watched
Pride and Prejudice on the telly.
So you’re even conversant with
Sanditon and The Watsons?
Two of us studied Austen for a
full term at university, so we’ve
certainly done our homework! The
work Jane wrote as a young girl is
very cool, too – it’s much madder
and more exciting than her later
work. People get thrown out of
windows or die unexpectedly.
What are you trying to avoid
doing with this show?
What’s been the most inspired
suggestion ever?
It’s a tie between Northanger
Rabbi and Pride and Predator.
Why the Milk Monitors?
Four of us met in 2006, in a
university improv group called
the Oxford Imps. We’ve all worked
together on and off since, and
started doing this show in 2011.
The Milk Monitors is just a fun
name; I suspect we’re all the sort
of people who would have been
milk monitors at school.
What’s your favourite Jane
Austen character and why?
Mr Collins from Pride and
Prejudice has a peculiar kind
of awfulness which is just
unbeatable. The idea of being
refused by the oldest sister in
a household and turning your
attention to the second-oldest is
hilariously creepy…
What’s your next big project?
Getting Jane Austen into the O2,
where she belongs...
Off with their Heads!
Austentatious 24 January
19
20 HIGHLIGHTS
mechanisms and so on. Some
he will record and make into
tape loops live, and then play
back through the same system,
recording again, looping and so
on. This might serve as a selfsustaining ecosystem, except for
Noetinger’s playful interjections.
‘Different kinds of interferences’ is
how he describes them, and they
ceaselessly explore the interface
between the physical and the
electronic. So microphones might
be arranged to produce varying
kinds of feedback howl, ping-pong
balls might be left to bounce inside
an active speaker membrane, the
path of a tape loop might run over
a bass drum skin.
For a musician working
with electroacoustic means,
Noetinger’s methods are unusually
tactile. ‘I love the possibility of
Immersive Interference
Tim Rutherford-Johnson meets Grenoblebased Jérôme Noetinger, who finds inspiration
in reel-to-reel tape and comes to Out Hear with
saxophonist Antoine Chessex in February.
recording and processing live,
the loop, the tape itself that
you can touch,’ he tells me. The
results are surprisingly rich. The
first impression may be of an
overwhelming mechanical sound,
energised by different rhythms
and textures, but still an industrial
wall of noise, conditioned by
the clunks and whirrs and hums
of mechanical technology –
tapeheads, motors, transport
mechanisms. But close listening
reveals detail and, if not quite
warmth, then something vital, even
charming, as the unpredictable
results of all those interferences
grow into life.
Noetinger brings his unique
approach to Kings Place with
saxophonist Antoine Chessex,
with whom he has played as a
duo once before, in Geneva in
2011. Like Noetinger, Chessex
works with his performance
environment, using electronics
to magnify the resonances of his
saxophone and the architecture
of the space. A video from their
Geneva performance (available on
YouTube), suggests that Hall Two
can look forward to an immersive
musical experience.
Out Hear: Jérôme Noetinger &
Antoine Chessex 11 February
CONTEMPORARY
Jérôme Noetinger’s onstage music
desk looks more like the workshop
of a 1960s radio ham than the
tools of one of Europe’s leading
improvisers. It’s strewn chaotically
with various microphones, a mixing
console, bare speaker cones,
unnamed electronic devices and
components – and lots of cables.
At its heart is a Revox B77 reel-toreel tape recorder, a famous piece
of vintage home audio hardware
and Noetinger’s signature
instrument. He first began working
with reel-to-reel tape in 1986 as
a composer. ‘At this time it was
the way to record and work with
sound. Then step by step I brought
the machine on stage and played
with it live.’
His music starts from
automatically generated sounds
– electronic hum, motor
Book tickets now:
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HIGHLIGHTS
ping-pong balls
might be left to
bounce inside an
active speaker
membrane
Book tickets now:
HIGHLIGHTS
CONTEMPORARY
21
LIXENBERG’S MANIFESTO
Lore Lixenberg’s new project for Out Hear takes in
Futurism and Fluxus, as she tells Kate Wakeling.
ARTISTS WANTED TO
DEFINE THEMSELVES
RATHER THAN BE
DEFINED BY CRITICS
‘We have been up all night,
my friends and I … illuminated
by the internal glow of electric
hearts.’ So begins the Futurist
Manifesto of 1909, the text
set to open Lore Lixenberg’s
musical adventure through
the word of the avant-garde
manifesto this March. Electric
hearts will continue to glow in
this arresting programme that
weaves together 20th-century
experimental music and newly
commissioned electronica.
Curated by opera singer
and experimental vocalist Lore
Lixenberg, the programme
centres around different
artistic manifestos. Lixenberg
explains: ‘I’m fascinated
by how in the 20th century
these art movements and
music movements began
moving together in a very
practical way. It’s a treat for
me to explore them, and the
culmination of many years of
discovery.’ The programme
presents each manifesto
(spanning ‘feverish Futurism to
the laid-back world of Fluxus’)
as a vocal performance piece
by Lixenberg, before spinning
off into contemporaneous
works from each era, including
rarely heard gems such as
Isou’s Poèmes joyeux and
songs by ‘outsider artist’
Adolf Wölfli, alongside music
by Cage and Duchamp, and
newly commissioned works
by composers Aleks Kolkowski
and Federico Reuben.
Lixenberg is eager to
emphasise that the event
has been conceived from
an artistic not an academic
standpoint. Indeed, an artistled approach is what, for
Lixenberg, drove these early
manifestos: ‘You could argue
that this is when performance
art began, when artists wanted
to define themselves rather
than being defined by critics.
They said: “this is what we are,
what we do and how we’re
going to do it”. Bam! They’ve
got that extremity and energy
to them.’
Extremity and energy will
pulsate through Manifesto,
which charts an intense but
playful journey through the
music and imagination of the
20th-century avant-garde. As
the Dadaist Manifesto of 1916
advocates, ‘it’s a question of
connections, and of loosening
them up a bit to start with’.
Out Hear:
Manifesto 4 March
COLLECTRESS MEETS THE SPECTRAL
JÉRÔME NOETINGER © MAT RANSON | LORE LIXENBERG © SAM BELINFANTE | WILL DUTTA © MICHAEL WILLIAMS
Producer and pianist Will Dutta brings together cutting-edge
electronics and acoustic improvisation in his new project, Glitch.
Will Dutta and his innovative Chimera Productions
have been at the forefront of the new vogue for genrebending musical collaborations. Created in 2007 as
‘a home for our nonclassical projects and events,’
Dutta’s company has since specialised in staging
daring new music events and masterminding inventive
commissions, including Gabriel Prokofiev’s dazzling
Concerto for Turntables & Orchestra. Dutta describes
his mission as ‘connecting the dots between modern
dance music and contemporary and experimental
art music’, a challenge that his forthcoming Glitch
programme meets head-on.
Glitch brings together artists from both the
electronic and acoustic worlds. Sound artist and 2012
Prix Ars Electronica-winner Jo Thomas will perform
Alpha, described by Dutta as ‘an improvisation which
works intuitively with the spectral shape of sound.
She creates a depth of sound unlike anything I’ve
heard before.’ The resoundingly acoustic all-female
ensemble Collectress complete the programme with
Improvisations for an eclectic mix of strings, vocals,
flute and bowed saw. ‘They bring such creativity and
fun to their work’, says Dutta, ‘that I’ve challenged
them to contrast Jo’s performance with an acoustic
“play” on a soundworld more often associated with
the leftfield corner of electronica.’ Renowned for their
playful approach and billed as ‘a band of process and
resourcefulness’, Collectress will doubtless answer the
summons in style.
Out Hear: Glitch 28 January. See Listings p56 for details
DUTTA CONNECTS THE
DOTS BETWEEN MODERN
DANCE MUSIC AND
EXPERIMENTAL ART MUSIC
HIGHLIGHTS
CONTEMPORARY
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MONDAYS, 8PM – HALL TWO
Jamie McDermott
14 JANUARY
Conversations
with Sound:
Opera of Surveillance
21 JANUARY
Lemur
28 JANUARY
Collectress with
Jo Thomas: Glitch
4 FEBRUARY
Jennifer Walshe:
ALL THE MANY
PEOPLS
11 FEBRUARY
Music Concrete
18 FEBRUARY
ALSO PART OF
BACH UNWRAPPED
Pekka Kuusisto:
Bach and electronic
improvisations
4 MARCH
Manifesto
11 MARCH
Decibel:
Big, Noisy, Quiet
18 MARCH
Ensemble Plus-minus:
New Propositions
25 MARCH
Karol Beffa Trio
THE RETURN OF THE NAKED VOICES…
The London A Cappella Festival has become a popular fixture
at Kings Place, to the delight of co-curators The Swingles.
Tenor Oliver Griffiths talked to Helen Wallace about this year’s line-up.
‘It’s just taken off!ʼ exclaims
Oliver Griffiths. ‘Last year there
was a real growth in the audience
catchment area – we had visitors
from Taiwan, California and all over
Europe. The feel of a community is
building too, since the first festival
in 2010. We showcase such diverse
acts, each audience gets exposed
to different musical styles, and the
enthusiasm spreads from there.’
A long-held wish that the Kingʼs
Singers join the festival has finally
been granted, and they will share
the billing with the Swingles on the
final night: ‘I feel this year there’s an
informal “Best of British” theme to
the festival. We’ve always wanted
the legendary Kingʼs Singers here.
They’re the masters of ensemble and
balance.ʼ Representing the English
choral tradition will be the Choir of
Clare College, Cambridge, ‘so vibrant
but refined’, while The Magnets
bring their ‘pop group magic’ to
the proceedings.
When we spoke, Griffiths had
just had ‘his socks blown off’ in
Stockholm by radical Danish group
Postyr, whom they’ve also invited
to the Festival: ‘They’re incredibly
innovative, using electronics, looping
WE WOULDN’T BE ABLE
TO TOUR THE WORLD
IF IT WASN’T FOR BACH
pedals, sampling epic beats and
bringing an urban feel to their singing.’
The Swingles themselves
celebrate 50 years in 2013 with what
Griffiths assures me, ‘will be a big
statement artistically, and will involve
some surprising collaborations and
original material as well as being a
celebration of our legacy.’ He says
the seven-strong group, who come
from backgrounds as diverse as
jazz, musical theatre, and opera, are
increasingly interested in creating
their own songs: ‘We’re still quite
purist in our approach, though,
relying on our own voices and the
complexity of the writing to create
effects.’ The group return in May
to sing in Bach Unwrapped, Bach
being a composer central to that
legacy: ‘We wouldn’t be able to
tour the world if it wasn’t for Bach,’
laughs Griffiths. ‘His music remains a
challenge and a joy.ʼ
London A Cappella Festival 2013
24–26 January.
JAMIE MCDERMOTT © MANUEL VASON | THE MAGNETS, SWINGLE SINGERS © SUPPLIED PHOTOS
22
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HIGHLIGHTS
FOOD & DRINK
Heering Bone:
Brandy, Grand
Marnier, Heering
Cherry Liqueur, sugar,
lemon juice, bitters.
CHRISTMAS COCKTAILS
AND WINTER WARMERS
Liz Reece, the Rotunda’s bar and restaurant
manager, introduces some tempting winter
cocktails and warming wines.
WE’RE GOING BACK
TO THE CLASSICS,
WITH AN ACCENT
ON PARTICULARLY
ENGLISH TIPPLES
‘The cocktail scene is very retro at the
moment, so we’re going back to the classics,
with an accent on particularly English tipples,’
says the ebullient Liz Reece of Rotunda. She’s
selected three winter cocktails from the bar
menu this season which win on taste and
simple good looks.
The aromatic ‘Heering Bone’ combines
Heering Cherry Liqueur, first produced in the
mid-19th century, with warming brandy, a
dash of Grand Marnier and just the right twist
of lemon and bitters. ‘Winter Mink’ is a lovely
chocolatey froth spiced with traditional English
quince liqueur, while the classic ‘Gentleman’s
Club’ is a ruby-red melange of grenadine
and Grand Marnier. ‘We’re getting away from
the very fancy, visually stimulating cocktails
and heading back to infusions and intense
flavours,’ says Reece. For those wanting a nonalcoholic alternative, she recommends the
delicious ‘Ginger Snap’, which ‘has a real kick’.
If you would like to explore the art of
cocktail-concocting further, gather a group of
five to ten friends and book a Mixology class
at the Rotunda. In these informal sessions you
learn how to mix, shake and stir two classic
cocktails from the resident expert. The price
includes a glass of prosecco on arrival and
Rotunda’s signature cocktail as well as those
you make, and some nibbles to finish it all off.
‘I think some of our customers assume these
sessions are only for youngsters, but we have
all sorts coming along, from hen parties to
team-building groups. We even have groups
where half of them want to make non-alcoholic
“mocktails” and they love it.’
It's not just cocktails on the menu this
Winter. Rotunda’s own-recipe mulled wine
tops the list of popular drinks in the winter
months. ‘Everyone loves a warming glass of
mulled wine, but there’s nothing worse than
too many cloves and too much sweetness,’
says Reece. ‘We use fresh clementines stuck
with cloves, and the effect should be of
drinking a red wine with a hint of spice. We also
do a warm spiced rum which will bring some
colour to the cheeks.’
Alternatively as an accompaniment to the
rich stews, casseroles and meat dishes in the
restaurant, Reece recommends full-bodied
red wines like the Chilean Malbec: ʻThatʼs a
great, ballsy, full-on wine but not heavy on
the tannins. Donʼt overlook the whites when
you are eating winter food: a white Viognier
gives you a buttery, aromatic flavour, while
the Gewürtztraminers and Rieslings make
flavoursome aperitifs. Weʼve also got a Croatian
Pinot Gris which has a beautiful lychee finish.
Winter is a great season to try out all of these
different tipples.ʼ
Mixology classes at Rotunda Bar; £30 pp
(for groups of 5 – 12 people). Lasts 1.5 hrs
To book : 020 7014 2840
enquiries@rotundabarandrestaurant.co.uk
23
24 HIGHLIGHTS
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ART
HIGHLIGHTS
Jeremy Gardiner
Evening,
Mullion Cove 2010
The enduring
Jurassic
Ian Collins introduces
the work of landscape artist
Jeremy Gardiner, whose
formidable visions of Dorset
come to the Kings Place
Gallery this spring.
Jeremy Gardiner makes art of many
layers. Abstracted on the surface, his airy and
excavatory pictures soar over and dig deep
into the wide variety of coastal landscapes he
dearly loves.
‘Dorset is the baseline for all my work,
the one place I go back to,’ says this longterm traveller to Florida and New York, and
to islands off the coasts of both Britain and
Brazil. ‘It’s important to leave and then return
to understand a place properly – you’ve got the
contrast and context then.’
So, even amid a developing affection for
Cornwall and lately for the Lake District, he
has returned again and again for a complex
exploration of the craggy and shingly swathe
of Jurassic Coast ranging from Purbeck to
Lyme Regis he has admired since childhood –
charting fantastic formations of stacks, caves,
arches and banks. Like the elements, he opens
the burial grounds of dinosaurs in an art taking
in 185 million years of tumultuous history.
Panoramic Gardiner pictures are deeply
researched and densely structured, with added
perspectives of time and distance. Gouged and
constructed, as well as painted, they uniquely
reveal the remorseless tides of accretion and
erosion, generation and extinction, acting over
immense ages.
It’s the instant beauty of the imagery that
captures our attention, but then, as he wishes,
the contrast and the context of each very
individual composition that holds us.
This artist may note the constantly
changing face of a field over the seasons
(brown, green, gold) as he distils a moving
timeframe into a single multi-faceted image
worked in semi-cubist shards and planes of
colour. But the visual effect usually echoes the
encrustation of rock by shell and lichen, and
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HIGHLIGHTS
ART
ART HIGHLIGHTS
GOUGED AND CONSTRUCTED,
AS WELL AS PAINTED, THEY
UNIQUELY REVEAL THE
REMORSELESS TIDES OF
ACCRETION AND EROSION
9 JANUARY – 3 MARCH
Kings Place Gallery
Adam Birtwistle: Paintings
11 JANUARY – 22 FEBRUARY
Kings Place Gallery
John Lessore: Paintings
11 JANUARY – 23 FEBRUARY
Pangolin London
Terence Coventry: Three Decades
of Sculpture & Works on Paper
SCULPTURES PHOTOS © PANGOLIN LONDON – STEVE RUSSELL
28 FEBRUARY – 9 MARCH
weathering by wind and water in mineral time.
And while people never appear in these
pictures, an occasional boat, folly or chapel
provides a minute motif – a note on scale and
a little joke on the nature of time. Far more
pressing presences are the fossils (ammonite,
brittle star, ichthyosaur) looming large within
and alongside some of his landscape paintings
and monoprints.
‘It’s the intersection of space and time that
gives a place significance for me,’ he says. ‘My
pictures are all about recapturing past and lost
time, so all my earlier thoughts and feelings are
in there too.’
Although he is still building an archive
of books, maps and vintage postcards, his
investigation is now intensified with models
and with contour patterns seen from the air and
captured by LiDAR, an optical remote sensing
technology measuring changes in landscape
elevation via laser pulses.
So dedicated a detective is also
interested in other identities. Most tellingly, he
has viewed Swanage through Paul Nash’s eyes,
renting his hero’s former home at 2 The Parade
– painting on the balcony and indoors, looking
from shadow into light and from an enclosed
space towards an expanse of sea and sky and
the beacon of Ballard Point. But even then
the result has been a series of highly
personal pictures.
A large number of major works so far into
this millennium now stand as so many markers
of intent – pointing to a place both in a line of
pioneering artists and the romantic tradition of
British painting. Jeremy Gardiner recreates the
visual world in his own visionary image.
Ian Collins is an art writer and curator whose
recent books include a best-selling monograph
on John Craxton.
Jeremy Gardiner: Unfolding Landscape
8 March – 26 April
See Art Listings p76 for details
Pangolin London
Steve Russell Photography
COVENTRY’S
CREATURES
The story of how a successful Cornish
pig-farmer and land-owner became one
of Britain’s most distinguished sculptors
is unique. Terence Coventry’s rugged
animal and human forms are hewn with
the integrity of his experience of nature
and materials. Pangolin, whose Foundry
played such a key role in his move into
bronze casting, will exhibit his most
recent work. Don’t miss it.
Pangolin London: Terence Coventry
11 January – 23 February
See Art Listings p76 for details
Kings Place Gallery
Jeremy Gardiner:
Unfolding Landscape
Pangolin London
Jonathan Kenworthy:
Celebrating 70 Years
TALKING ART
11 MARCH
Jeremy Gardiner:
Unfolding Landscape
Terence Coventry
Woman on a Bench
Bronze
Edition of 10
Image courtesy
of Pangolin London;
25
Amanda Holloway reports on an inspirational
poetry project for local primary school children
being rolled out at Kings Place.
INTERACT
YOUNG POETS ON A QUEST
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
HIGHLIGHTS
‘Yeah! We’re poets, we’ve created our own
poems.’ A 10-year-old with a passion for poetry
is not something you find every day. Unless,
that is, they’ve taken part in PoetryQuest, a
dynamic children’s arts project coming to Kings
Place in December.
Project manager Thomas MacAndrew,
from the Prince’s Foundation for Children & the
Arts, says the charity’s aim is to get children
into arts venues, ‘particularly children who
have no experience of an arts venue and might
think of it as an imposing, threatening place’.
PoetryQuest doesn’t just get them through the
door, it invites them onto the stage to perform
poetry they’ve written themselves with the
input of practising poets. ‘It improves their
confidence and self-esteem,’ says Thomas, ‘and
that in turn impacts on their schoolwork.’
The project starts with Year 5 and 6 classes
attending a poetry performance in their local
arts venue; those poets go into the schools to
work with children on their poems, then the
children themselves take to the stage.
Working with Kings Place and schools
from Islington and Camden are poet Francesca
Beard and poet/rapper BREIS. They worked
with PoetryQuest in Limehouse last year,
and their charismatic performance style and
inclusive approach went down very well with
PHOTOS © ELLIE FARMER
26 HIGHLIGHTS
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HIGHLIGHTS
INTERACT
INTERACT HIGHLIGHTS
26 JANUARY
LONDON A CAPPELLA FESTIVAL
Panel Discussion
A panel discussion with leading figures
from various musical backgrounds
discussing the new trends in a cappella.
Hall One 3.15pm
2 FEBRUARY
Academy of Ancient
Music: The Bach
Suites in Focus
A full day to explore Bach’s music,
culminating with a performance of the
complete Orchestral Suites, a series of
dances showcasing some of Bach’s
most varied, grand and graceful music.
PART I The English Suites – Concert
with Commentary with Richard Egarr
Hall One 1pm
PART II Discovering Bach with
Professor Christoph Wolff
St Pancras Room 2.30pm
PART III Playing Bach – the AAM
players inconversation with Sara
Mohr-Pietsch (BBC Radio 3)
YOU COULD REALLY
EXPRESS YOUR IDEAS
IN FRONT OF EVERYONE
AND NO ONE WOULD
SAY IT WAS GOOD
OR IT WASN’T
the children. Teacher Will Power
also found the whole experience
rewarding. ‘BREIS embodied
the type of creative, fun person
kids don’t normally get to
experience at school. On top
of this they were going through
a process with someone who
had writing at the centre of their
life. This had an incredible impact
on motivation.’
Many of the children had
English as an additional language
and found written work a
challenge. But with his hip-hop
background BREIS had no trouble
convincing them that poetry could
be cool, and that they could do it
too. ‘You could really express your
ideas in front of everyone and no
one would say it was good or it
wasn’t. We were just able to have
fun,’ said one afterwards.
In other parts of the country
the style is rather different. ‘In
Exeter the poets worked with
children in rural schools for whom
going into Exeter was a rare event,’
says Thomas. ‘Their poetry was full
of imagery about landscape and
nature, whereas London was all
hip hop and dangerously cool!’
Look out for those hip, cool,
10-year-old poets in Kings Place,
Hall One, in February and March
next year…
Poetry Quest is an ongoing
schools project involving students
from four primary schools in
London: Hungerford Primary
School; St Mary’s Bryanston
Square CE School, Holy Trinity
& St Silas; St John the Baptist
8 MARCH
THE SCHUBERT ENSEMBLE:
30TH ANNIVERSARY
Pre-concert Talk
Exploring Enescu
In this free talk, the members of the
Schubert Ensemble give a players’
perspective on Enescu’s extraordinary
First Piano Quartet, discussing the work
and performing illustrative extracts.
16 MARCH
BACH UNWRAPPED
Study Day
St John Passion
with Dr Timothy Jones (RAM)
I: Context and Style
A presentation by 18th-century specialist
Timothy Jones, illustrated by students
from the RAM, on the context and
musical style of the St John Passion.
II: Performance Traditions
Timothy Jones is joined by colleagues
from the RAM to discuss what we know
of Bach’s performances.
St Pancras Room 10.30am–4.30pm
St Pancras Room 6pm
20 JANUARY; 10 MARCH
PART IV The Complete Orchestral
Suites – Academy of Ancient Music
with Richar Egarr
NYJC Young Musicians
Programme
Hall One 7.30pm
7 & 9 FEBRUARY
BRITTEN AT 100: PIANIST,
COLLABORATOR, ARTISTIC CRUCIBLE
Pre-concert Talks
On 7 February, Andrew Matthews-Owen
talks to Martin Suckling and some of
tonight’s other performers about Britten
as composer, pianist and artistic director.
Later in the series, Katie Derham (BBC
Radio 3) and Frances Spalding discuss
Britten’s working relationship with John
and Myfanwy Piper. (9 February)
St Pancras Rm 6.30pm & 5pm resp.
22 FEBRUARY
BACH UNWRAPPED
Pre-concert Talk
This first programme by the Academy of
St Martin in the Fields sets two stunning
solo soprano arias – to be sung by
Carolyn Sampson – alongside Bach’s
concerto for two violins, and a second
with harpsichord and flute. There
will be a pre-concert talk prior to this
performance. Further details to follow.
NATIONAL YOUTH JAZZ COLLECTIVE
Workshops, jam sessions and
performance opportunities for schoolaged young jazz musicians led by Issie
Barratt, the NYCJ young musicians
programme focuses on small group
improvisation in streamed groups
designed to support all levels of ability.
Ends with an informal concert given to
the students’ families and friends.
Sundays 10am–5.30pm; 20 Jan, 10 Mar
These dates are now fully booked, but
there is a waiting list. To register your
interest, contact judith@nyjc.co.uk
A bursary scheme is available for young
people in receipt of benefits. NYJC also
offers a CPD programme for teachers
on the same dates. Details at kingsplace.
co.uk/interact/interact-events.
SPRING 2013
ChamberStudio
Sunday afternoon coaching and support
sesions for up-and-coming post-college
chamber groups. Eminent chamber
players and teachers will provide
coaching and guidance. Sessions at
affordable rates. Observers are welcome.
For more information and to book a
session, go to www.chamberstudio.org
27
28 CLASSICAL
Recent research
has dispelled the myth
that Bach ridiculed
the prototype pianos
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020 7520 1490
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THE DIVINE
INVENTOR
BACH UNWRAPPED ILLUSTRATION © STEPHEN SWAIN WWW.KROP.COM/STEPHEN_SWAIN
Each age has remade Bach in its own image. So how does
he fare in the 21st century, asks Simon Heighes, and what
recent scholarship has influenced our current view?
Our grandparents would have been shocked.
Bach is not the man today he was a century
ago. He’s faster, slimmer and slicker – but
is he any better? Bach’s music is probably
more adaptable and resilient to change than
that of any other composer. Since his death
in 1750 each new age has sought to make
him its own, dressing him in the current
fashions and remoulding him practically and
aesthetically. The secret of Bach’s supreme
malleability lies in the linearity of his music
– its ‘contrapuntal’ texture – a self-contained
conversation between independent voices so
intellectually rigorous that it loses little when
translated or transplanted.
Perhaps today we’ve lost the confidence of
earlier generations, because rather than simply
trying to perform Bach in a way which appeals
to contemporary ears, our current obsession is
with performing his music in a manner which
Bach himself would have recognised. We no
longer dare talk about absolute ‘authenticity’
since, over the past few decades, we’ve learnt
that complete historical fidelity is not only
impossible but also probably undesirable.
But rather than constraining performers, the
use of historically-informed performing styles
and period instruments has in fact opened up
exciting new possibilities, objectively improving
the clarity and tonal balance of Bach’s music.
Played on a modern instrument the trumpet
part in Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 drowns
out its delicate solo partners, the recorder and
violin; a quieter 18th-century trumpet blends
more effectively, vindicating Bach’s daring
instrumental combination.
The biggest change in our approach to
Bach’s music over the past 30 years has been
the discovery that the composer himself
actually performed his choral works – cantatas
and Passions – with choirs of just one singer
per part (with a back-up choir reinforcing the
important moments). It’s a performance style
which chimes in nicely with the current vogue
for minimalism, and it certainly puts Bach’s
Passions within the grasp of smaller ensembles
and smaller budgets. For some, this crash diet
has robbed Bach of his gravitas, turning the
B minor Mass into the B minor Madrigal; for
other listeners, it has inspired performances
of much greater textural clarity and lightness,
whatever the size of the choir and orchestra.
Despite our present-day taste for the
original colours of Bach’s sound world, the
piano refuses to be silenced. Quite right.
Recent research has dispelled the old myth
CLASSICAL
BACH UNWRAPPED
that Bach ridiculed the prototype pianos he
first heard. In fact, during the 1730s he helped
Gottfried Silbermann transform the fledgling
piano from its early light-weight design into
something much more substantial. Bach liked
the overall tonal palette of these early models,
though he found the treble a little weak and
the action rather stiff. Silbermann worked on
Bach’s refinements for a decade before his
new improved pianos hit the market in the
mid-1740s. Frederick the Great snapped up
15 straightaway and invited Bach over to play
them; he even persuaded him to improvise a
fugue on one. So enthused was he, that Bach
was soon marketing the pianos for Silbermann
at Leipzig’s international trade fairs.
But in later years the piano got carried
away: Liszt- and Busoni-inspired arrangements
of Bach’s keyboard music were allowed to
proliferate; only since the death of Glenn
Gould 30 years ago has the fashion for deeply
personal – even eccentric – interpretations
largely ceased. If Bach once served pianistic
ego, today’s players seem more interested in
utilising the piano’s unique touch-sensitive
qualities to reveal as much about the music’s
labyrinthine textures and rhetorical gestures
as possible. Conversely, it’s now more often
harpsichordists who are challenging us with
the most passionate and exploratory new
approaches to Bach’s preludes and fugues,
toccatas, suites and inventions.
Although musical archaeology hasn’t
unearthed any new Bach masterpieces since
the Neumeister Chorales in 1982, scholars
have at least been able to restore several of
Bach’s large-scale vocal works and concertos
to the repertory, albeit in speculative
reconstructions. Pieces like the little-known
St Mark Passion were economically assembled
by the busy composer from earlier music;
reassembling them today has proved
surprisingly effective, and in so doing we are
reminded that, as on so many fronts, Bach was
a profoundly practical musician – more man
than god, more tired father and methodical
teacher than self-absorbed genius. The true
‘authenticity’ which has so long eluded us is
surely pure pragmatism. Our grandparents
would indeed have been shocked by the way
we have demythologised Bach, but in getting
closer to the man and his world perhaps we
are freer than ever to rediscover the essence
of his music.
Bach Unwrapped Weeks 1–5
See Listings pp49–50, pp56–57, pp60–61,
pp62–63, pp72–73 for details
See also www.kingsplace.co.uk/bach for details
29
CLASSICAL
BACH UNWRAPPED
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CAROLYN SAMPSON
JOURNEYS
OF THE HEART
Bach has always been important to soprano
Carolyn Sampson, but her move to Germany
has brought his music even more vividly to life.
Looking ahead to her appearances in Bach
Unwrapped, she reflects on the composer.
WITH BACH
YOU ARE NOT ALWAYS
SINGING IN THE FIRST
PERSON, BUT ON
BEHALF OF THE TEXT
‘Bach is like an anchor in my musical life,’ says Carolyn Sampson. The
well-loved British soprano who made her name singing Mozart, Handel,
and Monteverdi opera roles, has graced many a treasured performance
of Bach’s Passions and cantatas, rapidly rising as a soloist from out of
the choral groups with whom she began her career. Calm, lucid and with
an easy laugh, Sampson patiently waits for her young son Oscar to leave
the room before recalling her earliest experiences of the composer: ‘The
first pieces I played were the Brandenburg Concertos as an extremely
bad violinist at school! I especially loved No. 3 – it’s an amazing feeling to
experience the melody going through all the parts and to be in the middle
of it. It gave me a sense of structure and musical form.’
Although her set work for A level was the first section of the St
Matthew Passion, she didn’t enjoy it: ‘At that time I found Handel’s Dixit
Dominus more immediately appealing, it’s easier to find your way into.
The St Matthew is so complex, but it’s since become my Desert Island
Disc. Its length invites such reflection; to perform it is to embark on a long
journey. The arias took me a long time to understand, but they shouldn’t
be facile, they are difficult, effortful, this is about Jesus carrying the cross.
Think of those incredible outpourings of grief: “Gebt mir meinen Jesum
wieder!” (“Give me back my Jesus”) and then “Mache dich, mein Herze,
rein” (“Cleanse yourself, my heart”), the idea of taking everything Jesus
suffered back into yourself. After you’ve been on that journey, you should
feel something has been achieved; it’s incredibly moving.’
While she was still at university, Sampson began to sing with
ExCathedra in the Passions and the B minor Mass, and was soon singing
cantatas and motets with The Sixteen. An important moment came when
Philippe Herreweghe chose her as a soloist in a ‘slew of cantatas’ with
his Collegium Vocale Gent: ‘Herreweghe was always very clear on text;
recitative is a big focus for him. It was really helpful in developing a style
of singing Bach. He has a wonderful way of shaping the music from the
text: it’s not just about dynamics, but a way of clearly defining each word,
each phrase. He was also the first person to suggest to me that when you
sing Bach you are not necessarily singing in the first person, but singing
on behalf of the text. It’s not raw emotion you’re looking for, as you would
be in a Handel opera, but something at one remove which is nevertheless
personal. I’m still trying to find that balance between what is expressive
and what is detached.’
CAROLYN SAMPSON © NICK WHITE | ELIZABETH WALLFISCH © BENJAMIN EALOVEGA
30
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She then became a soloist for Masaki
Suzuki’s major Bach Collegium Japan recording
project, ‘which was amazing. I found it was
the religious aspects which informed Suzuki’s
approach in a profound way, the theological
significance. Working with both conductors
was a hugely educational experience.’
For Bach Unwrapped, Sampson has
devised a series of thrilling programmes
with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields
featuring some of the most challenging and
colourful secular soprano cantatas along with
some enchanting instrumental music: ‘Every
time I’m asked to sing in a cantata and I seem
to find a new one, and it’s always a delight.
I’ve chosen No. 209 for my first concert with
the ASMF: probably one of the most difficult
and demanding in the whole repertoire, with
a high coloratura. We’re also including ‘Ich
habe genug’ as it’s not only beautiful and very
famous, but it has an important flute solo and
then we’re moving on to the Italian Concerto
with its wonderful flute part. I think the great
theme of ‘Ich habe genug’ is the anticipation
of the afterlife: despite the sorrow, there is a
peacefulness there. The same could be said for
No. 199 with its first line ‘My heart is swimming
in blood’ – what a vivid, painful image that is,
but somehow contentment is finally found.
When we speak, Sampson is spending the
summer in England for performances of Purcell’s
Fairy Queen at Glyndebourne, though her home
is now in Freiburg, where her husband manages
the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. As she calls
him to rescue her from Oscar’s now enthusiastic
knocking on the door, she explains that her
improving German has played a significant
part in her deepening relationship with Bach’s
music: ‘As I speak better German I find myself
constantly discovering new meaning in Bach
– I keep catching new nuances, new layers of
reference, it’s fascinating.’
Though Carolyn would ‘miss an Easter
without a Passion’, her repertoire is everexpanding: she recently sang Anne Trulove in
Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, and would
love to sing in a Britten opera. She feels the
two repertoires can coincide very happily:
‘I think a certain colour will creep into the voice
when I’m playing with a Baroque flute rather
than a modern one, and a modern violin will
make a difference to my tone. But I don’t place
any restrictions on my voice to sing Bach: I use
all the colours.’
Bach Unwrapped – Academy of St Martin
in the Fields with Carolyn Sampson:
Concertos and Cantatas – 1 22 February
CLASSICAL
BACH UNWRAPPED
ELIZABETH WALLFISCH
MY GREATEST ALLY
Bach is at the centre of Elizabeth Wallfisch’s musical life,
as the violinist and director of the Wallfisch Band explains.
If you could keep only
one work of Bach in your
memory, what would
it be and why?
‘Am Abend’, and then ‘Mache
dich, mein Herze, rein’, from
the St Matthew Passion. It
makes me weep just to think
of it. It brings to mind those
deeply beloved people in my
life whom I have lost, brings
the grief up in an instant, the
tears flow, and then pass,
in the beauty of the music
and the text. I have happy
memories of 18 years at the
Carmel Bach Festival, with
Sanford Sylvan singing in this
recitative and aria (who’ll be
joining us in our concerts).
You cannot imagine the
colours he brings to the text…
When you are teaching
young players about
performing Bach do
you have some
basic principles?
Yes, three things inform
the whole performance:
text, text, text! There are
so many layers of text: the
words themselves and the
way they are pronounced
(consonants, articulations,
phrasing of sentences).
Bach has a special way of
using words, dividing and
repeating, going back over
parts of the sentence, as the
music illustrates the text,
enhances the meaning. The
‘word painting’ of Bach is
also important, the emotions
brought to the fore by
the text, and the spiritual
meanings therein. Technically
we, as instrumentalists, have
to learn to speak the text
in our playing: that is a big
challenge! Then there are the
origins of the texts and the
liturgical contexts in which
they are used, and so on…
What or who has influenced
the evolution of your own
Bach performing over the
last 30 years?
Gustav Leonhardt, for his
attention to the details
of text, and his complete
honesty, passion for and
understanding of this musical
language, and his sense of
wonder. Another big influence
has simply been being part
of an orchestra in hundreds
of performances of Cantatas
in the last 30 years, each one
an enlightenment. I’ve been
fortunate to live in a time
in musical history when we
can explore the delicacies,
strengths, passions and
fundamentals of the styles of
the period. Playing
Baroque violin
has also been
inspirational, with
all its colours and
potential to speak and
sing, and bring meaning
to music rhetorically.
What place does his
music occupy in your
musical life?
No.1: I cannot conceive
of life without Bach. He
is the centre of the wheel
of my life, musical and
otherwise. He is my greatest
teacher, friend, ally, comforter,
inspiration. He challenges
me constantly to deeper
understanding, and better
execution, to play better, to
teach better...
How would you introduce a
child to Bach?
To sing and shout with, the
opening of the Gloria of the
B minor Mass. To dance to,
the Osanna from the B minor
Mass. For suspense and then
joy, ‘Mache dich, mein Herze,
rein’, and the Gratias from the
B minor Mass. For ‘spooky’
music, the opening of the
St John Passion. For a baby,
‘Schlummert ein’.
31
CLASSICAL
BACH UNWRAPPED
years and that’s the best way to get to know
him, I realise in retrospect. I also listened
to the English Baroque Soloists, Academy
of Ancient Music, The Engalish Concert as
well as Harnoncourt and Musica Antiqua
Köln making their old instruments sing in
a non-conventional way and I yearned to
do the same... The first time I had a go on a
Baroque violin was when my family hosted
a Baroque violinist from the Hamburger
Barockorchester, and I found it very difficult
to make the sound I’d so clearly and easily
imagined in my head. It became clear to me
that some involvement was required to get
to know the best way of playing such
an instrument...
RACHEL PODGER
DIVINE
SPARK
Celebrated Baroque
violinist Rachel Podger,
who will play all Bach’s
Partitas and Sonatas,
reflects on a deepening
relationship.
You’ve said you were told when you
were younger that you needed to be very
mature before playing Bach; do you feel
that was misguided?
Yes, my ambitious Polish violin teacher
in Kassel, Germany, where I grew up, was
adamant about the necessity of being at
least 40 years old before attempting to play
any Bach! He told me this when, as an
11-year-old, I voiced an interest in playing
the A minor Concerto. I think I knew
instinctively that it couldn’t do me any harm
to practise some Bach, and I played plenty
at home. Bach solo violin music I attempted
later on, but that was a mixed blessing as I
felt strongly at odds with the style of all my
teachers’ playing... One from the Russian
school made me copy his bowings and
fingers into my part of the B minor Partita in
ink! When I challenged a bowing he asked
me whether I had been infected by the
illness of the ‘authentic movement’!
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Is dance always at the forefront of your
mind when playing the solo Partitas?
Yes, it is! I have always loved dancing,
organised or free style, and learnt ballet,
folk dancing and ballroom as a child and
teenager, so it has always been part of me.
You can’t help but be aware of the dance
elements in Baroque music, but especially
in Bach which has such compelling
rhythmic writing. I often try and ‘dance’
the pulse of a particular movement with
its various musical events – it helps me to
bring that essential rhythmic quality into
the body and to transform anything sluggish
or unclear into something meaningful.
BACH INDUCES A
CLARIFYING, YET
INVIGORATING EFFECT ON
BODY, SOUL AND MIND
Which came first – your acquaintance with
period practice and instruments or your
own sense of how Bach should be played?
His music had always felt straightforward
and crystal clear in its style and meaning to
me, even if I couldn’t execute and articulate
it at that time. I sang a lot during my school
You’ve said you have a deeper
relationship with Bach’s music than
with that of any other Baroque
composer, can you articulate why?
Bach has the knack of inducing a
clarifying, calming yet invigorating effect
on body, soul and mind. Playing and
listening to Bach is like a therapy... after
the birth of my second child I took a break
from playing concerts in order to take care
of my toddler and new baby. This was of
course a new and wonderful experience,
but I missed playing in general terribly,
and I remember thinking, ‘if only I could
play some Bach now, everything would fit
together better and be in the right place
again inside me and the world would
seem in order’. His connection with the
divine is apparent in everything he writes,
whether it be slow or fast, spirited or
contemplative, and I think he enables us
to relate to that divinity and the spark of
it we all carry within us. All we need to do
is to recognise his language and let it
speak through us...
RACHEL PODGER © JONAS SACKS
32
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34 Contemporary
if truth
be told...
Leonard Cohen was a poet before he turned
songwriter, influenced by Jewish cantors and
French chansonniers – and a vocation to tell
the truth. Dorian Lynskey on the subject of
a tribute event at Jewish Book Week.
One night in the late 1980s, Leonard Cohen
and Bob Dylan went for coffee after a
show in Paris and wound up talking about
songwriting. Dylan asked how long Cohen
had taken to write Hallelujah, not yet the
modern standard it has since become.
‘Two years maybe, at least,’ Cohen
estimated. He asked Dylan the same
question about his song I and I. ‘Fifteen
minutes,’ Dylan replied.
Even allowing for exaggeration in both
directions, the incident highlights the
differences between pop music’s two great
Jewish poets. To Dylan a song is a lump of
wet clay to be moulded before it sets fast; to
Cohen it’s a slab of rock to be chipped into
shape with immense dedication and care.
‘There’s a real slowness to the way he works
and it takes a long time for his songs to
form,’ said one of his admirers, Nick Cave.
‘They’re really high art.’
‘High art’ is a loaded term when it
comes to songwriting, and one that Cohen
would regard with his usual bone-dry selfdeprecation, but, uniquely among the
emergent singer-songwriters of the 1960s,
Cohen had experienced a creative life
outside the recording studio. He was born
in 1934 — just a few years before Dylan,
but a significant generational gulf. Trading
his bourgeois Jewish upbringing in Montreal
for more bohemian pursuits, he won
acclaim (though not many readers) as a
poet and novelist before turning to song in
his early 30s, and his first listeners sensed
that his roots were more literary than
musical. In an early write-up, the Canadian
folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie wondered
‘whether or not the original quality of his
melodies comes from simply not knowing
what he is doing’. Influenced by Jewish
cantors and French chansonniers rather
than folk singers, Cohen didn’t know the
rules of the game he was joining, so he
was free to make up his own. ‘I certainly
never had any musical standard to tyrannise
me,’ he once said. ‘I thought that it was
something to do with the truth, that if
you told the story, that’s what the song
was about.’
Cohen has often mocked the limitations
of his singing voice, which stvarted out
low to the ground and has since become
increasingly subterranean, but it is the
perfect vehicle for his carefully chosen
words. Nothing is lost in translation. To his
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For Cohen
a song is a slab of
rock to be chipped
into shape with
immense dedication
and care
CONTEMPORARY
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
fans, from those who first encountered him
on 1967’s The Songs of Leonard Cohen to
younger converts who fell under his spell at
Glastonbury 42 years later, he conveys the
weight of experience. He sings like a man
who has seen his fair share of beauty and
horror, and has acquired a few grains of
wisdom in the process. On his most recent
album, Old Ideas, he mentions writing ‘a
manual for living with defeat’, which is
both a sincere ambition and a mordant
joke from a man whose sense of humour is
perennially underrated.
It’s what makes Cohen so compelling,
this lack of self-importance even as he is
profoundly serious about his work. As an
influence, however, he is as daunting as
he is inspiring. While his craft has been
a beacon to almost every songwriter who
cares about finding the right words, from
indie troubadours to major stars such
as Bono and Michael Stipe, his patience
and persistence are harder to emulate.
Unusually for someone who has made a
living from music for almost half a
century, he has released nothing
disposable: no tossed-off B-sides or
contract-fulfilling stopgaps. Each album
is an effort to get at the truth of things, to
examine the hidden mechanics of love, sex,
war, religion and death.
The same quest is visible in his life.
While honouring his Jewish heritage
– one grandfather was a rabbi, the other a
Talmudic scholar, and Cohen loyally flew to
Israel to entertain troops during the 1973
Yom Kippur War – he has studied Buddhism
since the 1970s and even, at one point,
investigated scientology. His inquiries have
led him down some dark paths, glimpsed in
the acidic pessimism of Everybody Knows
(1988) and The Future (1992), although
since the floodwaters of depression
subsided around a decade ago, his outlook
has mellowed, and he has never quite
submitted to despair. In the oft-quoted
words of Anthem (1992): ‘There is a crack in
everything/That’s how the light gets in.’
At a press conference last year he
answered a question about old age
and death by saying, ‘I’ve come to the
conclusion, reluctantly, that I am going to
die. So naturally those questions arise and
are addressed. But, you know, I like to do
it with a beat.’
Jewish Book Week:
Leonard Cohen Tribute 23 February
35
Leonard Cohen © Rex Features
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In the
beginning...
Novelist Amos Oz and his historian
daughter Fania Oz-Salzberger know all
about the exchange of words between
generations. In this extract from their new
book, they ponder the power of written
words in the Jewish collective memory.
Jewish continuity has always hinged on
uttered and written words, on an expanding
maze of interpretations, debates, and
disagreements, and on a unique human
rapport. In synagogue, at school, and most
of all in the home, it has always involved two
or three generations deep in conversation.
Ours is not a bloodline but a textline. There
is a tangible sense in which Abraham and
Sarah, Rabban Yohanan, Glikl of Hameln, and
the present authors all belong to the same
family tree. Such continuity has recently been
disputed: there was no such thing as a ‘Jewish
nation,’ we are told, before modern ideologues
deviously dreamed it up. Well, we disagree. Not
because we are nationalists. One purpose of
this book is to reclaim our ancestry, but another
is to explain what kind of ancestry, in our view,
is worth the effort of reclaiming.
We are not about stones, clans, or
chromosomes. You don’t have to be an
archeologist, an anthropologist, or a geneticist
to trace and substantiate the Jewish continuum.
You don’t have to be an observant Jew. You
don’t have to be a Jew. Or, for that matter, an
anti-Semite. All you have to be is a reader. In his
wonderful poem ‘The Jews,’ the late Israeli poet
Yehuda Amichai wrote:
The Jews are not a historical people
And not even an archeological people, the Jews
Are a geological people with rifts
And collapses and strata and blazing lava.
Their annals must be measured
On the scale of a different measurement.
A geological people: this unique metaphor
may speak a deep truth about other nations,
too. It need not be only about the Jews. But
it resonates very powerfully for us when
we reflect on Jewish continuity as primarily
textual. The ‘historical,’ ethnic, genetic Jewish
nationhood is a tale of rift and calamity. It is a
landscape of geological disaster. Can we claim
a biological pedigree dating, say, to Roman-era
Galilean Jews? We doubt it. So much blood of
both converts and enemies, of emblematic
Khazars and Cossacks, might be flowing in
our veins. On the other hand, geneticists
today seem to tell us that some of our genes
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have been on the ride with us for a while. This
is interesting. But totally beside our point.
There is a lineage. Our annals can be gauged,
our history told. But our ‘scale of a different
measurement’ is made of words.[...]
The Jewish model of intergenerational
conversation merits close attention. Ancient
Hebrew texts are continually engaged
with two crucial pairings: parent and child,
teacher and pupil. These pairs are arguably
more important, even more important, than
woman and man. The word dor, generation,
appears dozens of times in both Bible and
Talmud. Both opuses love recounting chains
of generations, harking from the distant past
and pointing to the distant future. A great deal
is said about the chain’s most basic link, the
Father and the Son. From Adam and Noah
to the destruction of the Judean and Israelite
kingdoms, the Bible zooms in and out on
particular fathers and sons, most of whom
belong to meticulously listed genealogies.
This is by no means unique. Many cultures,
probably all cultures, possess patrofilial
paradigms at the roots of their collective
memory, mythology, ethos, and art. There is
a universal context to the numerous biblical
dramas of fathers and sons. These are the
perennial tales of love and hate, loyalty and
betrayal, resemblance and dissimilarity,
inheritance and disinheritance. Almost all
societies have cherished the imperative of
intergenerational storytelling. Almost all
cultures have gloried in the passing of the torch
from old to young. It has always been a primary
duty of human memory—familial, tribal, and
later national.
But there is a Jewish twist to this universal
imperative. ‘No ancient civilization,’ Mordecai
Kaplan writes, ‘can offer a parallel comparable
in intensity with Judaism’s insistence upon
teaching the young and inculcating in them
the traditions and customs of their people.’
Is such a generalization fair to other ancient
civilizations? We do not pretend to know or
judge. But we do know that Jewish boys, by
no means only the rich and privileged ones,
were put in touch with the written word at a
staggeringly young age.
Here is one astounding constant of Jewish
history since (at least) Mishnaic times: every
boy was expected to go to school from the age
of three to the age of thirteen. This duty was
imposed on male children and their parents,
administered and often subsidized by the
community. At school, often a tiny one-room,
one-teacher, multiage affair, the boys studied
Hebrew—not their mother tongue, and not a
living language even in Talmudic times—at a
level sufficient for both reading and writing.
LLUSTRATION © HARDIE | WWW.HARDIEILLUSTRATOR.COM
36 SPOKEN WORD
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This ten-year study was unconditional,
independent of class, pedigree, and means.
Some boys surely dropped out prior to becoming
a Bar Mitzvah, but few remained illiterate.
The secret was to teach them a great deal
in their earliest years, and wisely pamper them
with sweets to munch with their first alphabet.
Where other cultures left boys in their mothers’
care till they were old enough to pull a plough
or wave a sword, Jews started acculturating
their youngsters to the ancient narrative as
soon as the tots could understand words, at
two years old, and read them, often at the ripe
age of three. Schooling, in short, began soon
after weaning.
The Jewish twist also pertained to the
vessel in which the ancient narrative was
served up to the scions. Early in our history we
began to depend on written texts. On books.
The great story and its built-in imperatives
passed from generation to generation on
tablets, papyri, parchments, and paper.
JEWISH BOYS WERE
PUT IN TOUCH WITH
THE WRITTEN WORD
AT A STAGGERINGLY
SPOKEN WORD
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Today, as we write this book, the historian among
us checks all our references on her iPad, and
she cannot resist the sweet reflection that Jewish
textuality, indeed all textuality, has come full
circle. From tablet to tablet, from scroll to scroll.
This brings us to our second twain, the
teacher and student. All bookish cultures are
bound to generate them.
Who were our first Teacher and Pupil?
Jewish tradition positions Moses as the teacher
of all teachers; but neither Aaron nor Joshua,
later tagged as Moses’s students, behaves
like a student. Nor do they become great
teachers. We therefore pinpoint the earliest
teacher-student couplet with Eli the priest and
his pupil Samuel the prophet. Note that Eli’s
two biological sons turned evil, whereas his
spiritual son did exceedingly well. Therein lies
a poignant truth: children can become a great
disappointment, but a good pupil will seldom
let you down.
This is an extract from Jews and Words, which will be
published by Yale University Press in November 2012
Jewish Book Week: Fania Oz-Salzberger
26 February. See Listings p66 for details
37
38 CONTEMPORARY
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THE STRANGER
THE BETTER
10 JANUARY
Teitur
with special guests
The Singing Adams + Abi Wade
11 JANUARY
Gravenhurst
with the Ralfe Band
12 JANUARY
Meursault
Impresario Howard Monk
presents a host of intriguing
bands in his mini-festival at
Kings Place, from Teitur, and
Gravenhurst to Meursault.
What’s the link? High quality,
existential songwriting, he
tells Kate Mossman.
You need only to have been within sniffing
distance of the Green Man Festival to see
that folk music, for a whole generation,
is not a rosy-cheeked exercise in British
heritage and fol-di-rol but a young man in
a plaid shirt getting to grips with a loops
pedal. And that ‘psych’ has nothing to do
with LSD, Haight-Ashbury or the Chocolate
Watch Band any more – and a lot to do
with people whose parents had Bert Jansch
records in the house, and whose school
friends were listening to The Smiths. The
lingering, bucolic fantasies of the Sixties
have been absorbed into the lo-fi, do-ityourself aesthetic of indie music, giving rise
to the sort of magical, ghostly records that
sound like they’d disappear into dust if you
opened the curtains – like David Thomas
Broughton’s experimental meditation
Outbreeding, or last year’s Seasons On
Earth from New Jersey’s Meg Baird. As it
becomes harder to make money from the
record industry, and bedroom technology
becomes easier to navigate, there’s a
growing subset of these mysterious, Stig-ofthe-dump folk musicians with their plaintive
NOTES & LETTERS ILLUSTRATION © HARDIE / WWW.HARDIEILLUSTRATOR.COM
with Sons of Noel and Adrian
+ Woodpecker Wooliams
TGRAVENHURST © LUCY JOHNSTON | HOWARD MONK © BENJAMIN HARTE | TEITUR, MEURSAULT © SUPPLIED PHOTOS
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voices, laptops and twelve-string guitars – and
a cult following from Dalston to Williamsburg.
Promoter Howard Monk, whose three-day
festival comes to Kings Place in January has
named it The Stranger the Better: ‘It’s really
a celebration of excellence in songwriting,’
he says proudly, of a line-up that includes
Bristol doom-folk outfit Gravenhurst, the
uncharacterisable Ralfe Band, a cult mainstay,
the Scottish group Meursault, and Brighton’s
strange and delicate Woodpecker Wooliams (a
lady). ‘British pastoral excellence – and musical
innovation,’ he continues. He’s also invited
the well-connected Faroese troubadour Teitur,
who’ll appear with a string quartet and special
guests Singing Adams and cellist Abi Wade.
Gravenhurst (aka songwriter Nick Talbot),
who brings his new album The Ghost In
Daylight to Kings Place, has been at the front
of this ‘new psych’ scene since the late 1990s.
Johnny Marr inspired him to pick up the guitar;
Richard Thompson showed him you didn’t
have to use a finger pick – but poet and
‘psycho-geographer’ Iain Sinclair may have
had the strongest influence on his lyrics, which
connect the ancient and modern through
abstract refractions of location, memory and
internal human conflict. ‘The sun is sinking
palebluesaltwaterbreathing / It hits me again’,
he writes in ‘The Diver’. In ‘Fitzrovia’ (about the
anti-fascist riots of 1936) it’s ‘riot scenes on
Cable Street / government boots on civilian
dreams / a lost event consigned to history’.
Talbot has a singularly English perspective; his
sound may be fairly modern – reverb, synths,
Pentangle harmonies – but his connection
to history lies in his natural pose at one
remove from modern life, surveying time and
event with a poet’s eye. Gravenhurst itself is
not just Talbot’s band (which lately includes
Geordie singer Rachel Lancaster) but a fantasy
concept – an entire imaginary village he has
created as a repository for all his lyrical ideas,
from snatches of old murder ballads to the
mundane, modern chill of lines like ‘cigarette
burns and the tide line / of last night’s cries of
despair’ (‘The Prize’).
‘I like the idea of listening to Gravenhurst
as being to some degree an active rather than
passive experience,’ Talbot says. ‘The songs
offer clues and form maps to a place that is
partly given, and partly open to the listener to
construct as they wish.’
Meursault (named after the character
in Camus’s novel L’Etranger) have coined
the phrase ‘epic lo-fi’ to describe their
music, though others have coined the term
‘folktronica’. There are seven of them, led by
Neil Pennycook, and they often perform with a
string quartet too; among their number is multi-
CONTEMPORARY
THE STRANGER THE BETTER
Gravenhurst
Howard Monk
THERE’S A
GROWING SUBSET OF
THESE MYSTERIOUS,
STIG-OF-THE-DUMP FOLK
instrumentalist Rob St John, whose stunning
solo debut Weald (2011) was another exercise
in reading the landscape, with Lancashire
moors, Yorkshire waterfalls and mysterious
islands all explored in his lush baritone.
‘Meursault are unapologetic when talking
about their “art” and their “craft”,’ says
Howard Monk, ‘and yet they’re completely
Meursault
unpretentious too – this is essentially
alternative rock sung in a Scottish accent.’
The band’s albums have amusing titles like
Something For The Weakened and Pissing
On Bonfires / Kissing With Tongues, and their
ominous chord progressions are softened by
warm, double-tracked vocals not a million
miles from King Creosote. Many of these
musicians are part of the same extended
new-folk family, after all – Monk once ran
a well-known club-night in Crouch End
where Creosote, Tunng, Bonnie Prince Billy
and others rubbed shoulders, and many
interesting collaborations were born. He
hopes there’ll be some at Kings Place too.
Looking back, Monk observes, he came to
psych folk in a roundabout way: ‘I used to be
the drummer in a post-rock band. But people
kept telling me to turn it down…’
The Stranger, The Better:
New Existential Songwriting
10–12 January See Listings pp51–52 for details
39
40 CLASSICAL
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
BRITTEN AT
100: PIANIST,
COLLABORATOR,
ARTISTIC CRUCIBLE
7 FEBRUARY
Songs With and
Without Words
8 FEBRUARY
The Pity of War
SUFFOLK
LODESTAR
Two young pianists, John Reid and Andrew MatthewsOwen, discuss their Britten tribute with Helen Wallace,
focusing on his role as an artistic catalyst.
Benjamin Britten
rehearsing with Peter
Pears, 1 December 1946,
Photo by George Rodgers,
Time Life Pictures
NOTES & LETTERS ILLUSTRATION © HARDIE / WWW.HARDIEILLUSTRATOR.COM
9 FEBRUARY
Metamorphoses
BENJAMIN BRITTEN & PETER PEARS © GETTY IMAGES | JOHN REID © BENJAMIN HARTE | ANDREW MATTHEWS-OWEN © NICHOLAS DAWKES
Book tickets now:
‘It’s exhausting even to read Britten’s
biography – he was just so unbelievably
productive, composing, performing,
organising,’ says pianist John Reid who, with
fellow pianist Andrew Matthews-Owen, curates
a three-concert series centred around Britten as
a collaborating musician, a catalyst for bringing
talents together. ‘In his music he sets the scene
in a single chord, the economy, the precision of
his writing, ambiguous yet clear, derives from
an incredibly well-ordered brain.’
These two enterprising young pianists
identify closely with Britten the performer and
programmer: both work as soloists, recitalists
with singers, and as chamber musicians, while
Reid is resident pianist for Aurora Orchestra and
Matthews-Owen is also Artistic Director of the
Louise Blouin Concert Series. Both are familiar
with the burdens of responsibility that fall to
collaborating pianists: ‘Like Britten, we work
with singers who are often away touring while
we are sorting out the music, getting the song
translations, making practical arrangements,’
explains Matthews-Owen. ‘Because of the
solitary nature of our existence we were
particularly keen to collaborate: it’s rare for
pianists to work together like this and to bring
different colleagues on to the stage. The early
Aldeburgh Festival must have been like that,
with Britten introducing his most respected
friends to each other, and producing something
of extraordinary musical richness.’
Each of their three concerts will take
up a Brittenesque theme, with works by the
composer interleaved with others by living
composers inspired by him, by his own
contemporaries and by composers he himself
loved to perform. In Songs With and Without
Words cellist Oliver Coates will present Britten’s
poignant Ciaccona from the Second Cello Suite
John Reid
Andrew Matthews-Owen
BECAUSE OF THE SOLITARY
NATURE OF OUR EXISTENCE,
WE WERE PARTICULARLY KEEN
TO COLLABORATE
and the elegiac Tema ‘Sacher’ alongside piano
works by Fauré and Schubert’s Die schöne
Müllerin, in a version with piano interludes
specially composed by Martin Suckling. John
Reid, who will accompany tenor Nicholas
Mulroy, takes up the story: ‘It was one of those
3 o’clock in the morning ideas that worked out!
I was wondering what would happen if you
expanded the narrative of the cycle. Martin’s
written one piece at the beginning, and two
at its turning point. The big possessive song
‘Mein!’ erupts into Martin’s ‘Toccata’. Then
there’s the song ‘Pause’, which morphs into a
reflective, but rather desperate rhapsody that
acts to fill the suggested time passing.’
Pianist Christine Croshaw, with whom Reid
and Matthews-Owen have studied, will be
performing Fauré, a composer whose music
Britten regularly played for sheer pleasure
at home: ʻChristine plays this wonderfully
ambiguous music better than anyone,ʼ says
Matthews-Owen. ʻShe lost her sight some
years ago, and has had to learn it left hand,
right hand, slowly and by heart: I actually think
itʼs the only way, as you need to absorb this
music into your muscles. Itʼs so sophisticated,
elusive and spectral. Fauré complained, “Why
do people play my music with only half their
energy?” and thatʼs important: you have to put
everything into it, with no inhibitions.ʼ
Their second event, The Pity of War,
contrasts Britten with a composer who shared
many of his beliefs, Michael Tippett. Reid finds
the contrast fascinating: ‘In many ways he
and Britten were Yin and Yang. Where Britten
composed with consummate ease, you can
feel Tippett wrestling with the process, but he
so often produces this special ebullience and
joy. Even in a work like The Heart’s Assurance,
in which he’s dealing with violence and death,
there’s a powerful redemptive quality.’ Tenors
Nicky Spence and Nicholas Mulroy will also
perform Britten’s spare Canticle III Still Falls the
Rain and Finzi’s Farewell to Arms.
For the final concert, folk-song settings of
Hoddinott and fellow Welsh composer Grace
CLASSICAL
BRITTEN
Williams will be interleaved with Britten’s own.
Andrew Matthews-Owen is keen that this
three-way relationship is highlighted: ‘Grace
took Britten under her wing when he was at
the Royal College of Music, and remained an
affectionate friend. I worked closely with Alun
and I remember him telling me that even when
he was an established composer, he would
receive postcards from Grace after a broadcast
of one of his pieces with “a few suggestions”.
It was the same for Britten; she managed to
make them both feel like schoolboys! We don’t
hear nearly enough of her music: her settings
are complex, more like Lieder than folksongs.
We’ll include a beautiful one called The Loom.’
Also in this evening Claire Booth will
premiere both Simon Holt’s The Wasp Queen,
and a new scoring of Jonathan Dove’s Seven
Angels alongside Britten’s Metamorphosen
for solo oboe. Resonant pictures by Britten’s
great friend and collaborator John Piper will be
projected above the stage at each event and
biographer Frances Spalding will be discussing
the relationships between Britten and John
and Myfanwy Piper, librettist for The Turn of the
Screw, Death in Venice and Owen Wingrave.
What would the composer have made
of their tribute? ‘Britten’s music divides me
unlike any other,’ says Reid. ‘His great skill lay
in controlling atmosphere, but the power of
his work lies in its profound, dark ambiguity.’
Andrew Matthews-Owen takes up the theme:
‘It’s strange, but people are still a little scared
of Britten… think he’d enjoy the fact that his
music still has the ability to shock and
unsettle us today.’
Britten at 100: Pianist, Collaborator
and Artistic Crucible 7–9 February
John Piper, Death in Venice II, 1973
41
42 SPOKEN WORD
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
Sport and Jews don’t mix. Or do they?
Anthony Clavane finds that British Jews have had an
important – and largely unrecognised – part to play in
the development of the Beautiful Game in this country.
country
In the film Airplane, a stewardess
asks a passenger if he’d like
something to read. ‘Do you have
anything light?’ he says. She brings
him a leaflet entitled Famous
Jewish Sports Legends.
My new book Does Your Rabbi
Know You’re Here? examines the
stereotype that Jews don’t do sport;
that we are a cerebral rather than
a physical culture. Our greatest
Anglo-Jewish novelist, Howard
Jacobson, perpetuated that myth in
Coming From Behind. ‘In the highly
improbable event of his being
asked to nominate the one most
un-Jewish thing he could think of,’
he wrote, ‘Sefton Goldberg would
have been hard pressed to decide
between Nature and football.
But he would almost certainly have
come down finally on the side of
football. The game was not Jewish.’
But we Jews have bodies
as well as minds. True, the first
generation of immigrants, refugees
from Tsarist Russia, had very little
to do with football for both cultural
and religious reasons. But by the
1920s, watching the game had,
for large numbers, become part
of the Saturday ritual – after first
going to the synagogue of course.
And there were already many top
players emerging. Louis Bookman
starred for West Bromwich Albion.
An East End boy called Harry
Morris (pictured, left) banged in
the goals for Swindon, becoming
the club’s all-time leading
goalscorer with 229 goals. Leeds
United’s Leslie Goldberg would
have been the first Jew to play for
England had the Second World
War not intervened. Spurs had a
succession of Yiddisher stars – like
Harry Gilberg, David Levene, Bert
Goodman and Micky Dulin.
Then, after the war came Mark
Lazarus, who is still considered
a club legend at Queens Park
Rangers, David Pleat, who went
on to manage Spurs and Barry
Silkman, who is now an agent.
Harry Zussman’s involvement at
Leyton Orient led to the club’s only
ever promotion to the top flight
and the 1992 ‘revolution’ – the
Louis Bookman was
the first Jew to play in
England’s First Division
Book tickets now:
creation of the Premier League – would not have
been possible without the likes of David Dein and
Irving Scholar.
And yet the Jewish contribution to English
football’s transformation from a working-class
pursuit played in crumbling arenas to a global
entertainment industry has not, until now, been
properly acknowledged. As classic outsiders, the
footballing pioneers in my book all share one trait:
they all overcame prejudice to become the very
model of thoroughly anglicised Jews. So anglicised
in fact that their role has often been a hidden one.
Hence the subtitle: ‘The story of English football’s
forgotten tribe’.
Writing about a hidden history, by definition,
presents problems in terms of sources. One of the
reasons Jews have been invisible in football is a
reluctance to discuss ethnic identity. The interesting
thing is that the groundbreaking research into this
area has been pursued by two Gentile academics:
LONDON JAZZ
WORKSHOP
& MUSIC FESTIVAL
28 March – 1 April 2013
ILLUSTRATION © FROM A NEWSPAPER IN THE COLLECTION OF JOYCE LEVY
IT’S ALMOST
IMPOSSIBLE TO BE
JEWISH AND MALE AND
NOT INTERESTED IN
FOOTBALL
Professor Tony Collins’ brilliant essay on antisemitism and sport paved the way and the historian
David Dee, who will be also be speaking at Jewish
Book Week, has written a fine new book, Sport
and British Jewry. Dee argues that sport ‘acted as a
powerful force in the erosion and re-construction of
Jewish ethnicity’.
In Britain today, as David Baddiel has observed,
‘it is virtually impossible to be Jewish and male and
not interested in football’. And yet some people
would rather keep schtum about their passion.
There is always the risk of supplying ammunition
to conspiracy theorists, especially those on the far
right who continue to fantasise about the existence
of a ‘kosher nostra’.
But cultural history is far too important to be
left to the anti-semites. My book shows how an
immigrant community has integrated into Britain
– and how its desire to belong has driven its
involvement in the Beautiful Game.
Jewish Book Week:
Does Your Rabbi Know You’re Here? 3 March
featuring:
Bobby Watson
Bruce Barth
Claire Martin
Perico Sambeat
any many more
44 ART
FATHER
AND SON
Adam Birtwistle’s debut show at Kings
Place Gallery will be marked by a concert
of music by his father, Sir Harrison
Birtwistle. Here they tell Fiona Maddocks
about their own and each other’s art.
The artist Adam Birtwistle (b. 1959), born in the UK but
resident in France, is best known for a body of portraits which
are at once stark and playful, idiosyncratic and immediately
recognisable. Six are on public display at Glyndebourne, East
Sussex, well known to diners in the Mildmay restaurant, and two
are owned by the National Portrait Gallery – of Elvis Costello
and of Birtwistle’s father, the composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle
(b. 1934). The eldest of three brothers, Adam grew up surrounded
– as he explains here – by musicians, rather than music, which
ignited his interest in portraiture. His debut exhibition at Kings
Place will coincide with a concert of music by Sir Harrison
Birtwistle performed by the London Sinfonietta.
Adam Birtwistle
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
ADAM BIRTWISTLE
‘Most of the works in the show will be portraits, whether from
life or from my head. Some will be of animals – I’ve just been
doing some cats – but not so they look soppy. For a long time
now I’ve been developing my own version of the kind of Old
Master portrait you see of wigged man or woman against a
dark background. Usually in mine there is more background
than person. Sometimes I add in objects, especially on their
head. When I painted my father, I put a ship on his head.
Why? I don’t know why. I’m always flipping through a huge
book I’ve got full of images. I especially like old toys, and
the kind of objects you find in Sears Roebuck mail order
catalogues from the 1920s. I’ve just done a diptych of two
very very fat girls in red dresses, each with a cat on their
head… They’ll be in the Kings Place exhibition. I’ve also been
writing tiny poems and illustrating them. I hope there’ll be a
few of those too.
The way I work depends on who I’m painting and how
long they give me. I once did a portrait of [the composer]
Luciano Berio. He said “I’ll give you five minutes”! Usually it’s
more like two hours or half a day. When I did Michael Tippett
I spent the weekend at his house. So basically I work with
what I’ve got – and that may mean doing loads of sketches
and taking photos too which I take back and work on in the
big barn in Normandy which is my home as well as my studio.
I work with tempura on paper. I love the sheen you can get
according to how much gum Arabic you use. It’s almost like
oil but you can see all the layers, like real skin. In some ways
it’s harder to work with than oil because it dries so much
quicker, but it’s the medium I like best.
As a child I always wanted to draw and paint. My father
encouraged me. We are close but he’s quite elusive. Although
he is a composer there wasn’t any music round the house
except a tiny radio in the kitchen. I remember buying
a record player when I was about 14 and annoying my father
by playing pop music when he was trying to work…
My mother didn’t say much one way or the other about my art
but they both let me do what I wanted, were always behind
me and never obstructed me. Even when I failed all my ‘O’
and ‘A’ levels I still managed to get into art school – you could
in those days, around 1980, if you showed you really wanted
to do it. At Chelsea I did sculpture mainly and then thought
“what do I now?” By then my parents were living in France
so I went there and began painting Harry. I was lucky
that a lot of their friends who came to stay were people
I could paint, so I began to earn a living: Pierre Boulez,
Alfred Brendel, Morton Feldman, Hans Werner Henze.
That’s where it all really started.’
Adam Birtwistle: Paintings 9 January – 3 March
Kings Place Gallery; See Art Listings p76 for details
ART
BIRTWISTLE
45
I REMEMBER BUYING
A RECORD PLAYER WHEN
I WAS 14 AND ANNOYING
MY FATHER BY PLAYING
POP MUSIC
PIA188906 Sir Harrison Birtwistle
(b.1934) 1993 (tempera & gouache on
paper) by Birtwistle, Adam (b.1959);
76.2x50.8 cm; National Portrait Gallery,
London, UK; Photo © Piano Nobile Fine
Paintings, London; British, in copyright
PLEASE NOTE: This image is
protected by the artist’s copyright which
needs to be cleared by you. If you require
assistance in clearing permission
we will be pleased to help you.
ADAM BIRTWISTLE © MATTHIAS PARILLAUD | PAINTING: ADAM BIRTWISTLE/PIANO NOBILE FINE PAINTINGS; LONDON/BRIDGEMAN
Book tickets now:
ART
BIRTWISTLE
HARRISON
BIRTWISTLE
I can’t immediately think of any
other situation quite like ours,
where the father is a composer,
the son a painter, though they
must exist. This overlapping of
our worlds – Adam’s show and
my concert – is a first for us,
and it’s touching. As the parent,
even when the child is well
into adulthood, you continue
to feel anxious – will it be all
right, will he choose the right
pictures, that kind of thing. You
take those worries about your
children forward all your life.
We’re very much opposites
in the way we work. Ever since
he was a young boy Adam
has always had amazing flair
and intuition as a painter. I
don’t see myself, or my work,
in that way at all. I think I’m
more of a traditionalist, and
perhaps more insecure. For
instance we are both cooks.
Adam cooks and I cook. But I
doubt he’s ever read a recipe
in his life… Even as a child
he was very self-willed and
independent. He didn’t need
THERE’S ALWAYS
BEEN AN UNRESOLVED
PAINTER IN ME,
SOMETHING I’VE
NEVER FULFILLED
ADAM BIRTWISTLE (b.1959)
Victoria, 2012
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
any encouragement. He knew
what he wanted to do. It was
never like that in my case…
There’s always been an
unresolved painter in me,
something I’ve never fulfilled.
I think I’m sensitive, visually,
and make many allusions
to pictures. In some ways
painters have an easier job. If
a painter makes a mark, it’s
immediately realised – it’s
there for you to see. If I make a
mark like a tadpole, it needs an
instrument, a player, a listener
to realise it. It exists only in
time and memory, whereas
painting is immediate, and in
that sense permanent.
The music in the concert
isn’t connected with Adam’s
work in any way. The Axe
Manual, for piano and
percussion, is a virtuoso piece
for two players. Nicholas
Hodges is the pianist. I’ve just
written him a new piece, Gigue
Machine, and I’m working on
another a sarabande, called
In the Nick of Time, which
is a pun on his name… The
Orpheus Elegies, for voice,
harp and oboe, relate to a set
of Rilke poems but they’re
meditations on them, rather
than settings, using only
fragments of text. The oboe,
not the singer, is the figure of
Orpheus. Each piece is like a
miniature postcard. I suppose,
very distantly, you might see
an echo in the tiny, surreal
cautionary tales Adam has
written and illustrated all his
life. Maybe…
Harrison Birtwistle
9 January
HARRISON BIRTWISTLE © HANYA CHLALA, ARENA PAL | PAINTINGS: ADAM BIRTWISTLE/PIANO NOBILE FINE PAINTINGS; LONDON/BRIDGEMAN
46
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JANUARY–MARCH 2012
STARTING JANUARY 2012,
PERFORMERS INCLUDE:
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Contemporary
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brahms Unwrapped
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Classical
Brahms Unwrapped
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atya apekisheva, avi avital, alasdair beatson,
ne Katrine bryndorf, terence Charlston,
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uusisto, robert d. levin, Charles owen,
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ffrey Siegel, dmitry Sitkovetsky, miki Skuta,
shley Solomon, Penelope Spencer, marcin
wiatkiewicz, wolfgang Zerer, Family Concerts,
udy days, and more
BRODSKY’S SHOSTAKOVICH | SIBELIUS: INNER VOICES | SONGLINES
xteen, Swingle Singers, apollo’s Fire, Chris
arrick Quartet, Florilegium, Fretwork, gwilym
mcock Quartet, Keller Quartet, onyx brass,
LE
espectable groove, wallfisch band, Sophie
SIMON SCHAMA – JEWISH BOOK WEEK | BRAHMS UNWRAPPED | NEW ZEALAND IN LONDON
SEPTEMBER–DECEMBER 2012
THE BRODSKYS
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Classical
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Dante Quartet: Britten
New Zealand in London
BRAHMS SILHOUTTE BY OTTO BOEHLER © THE TULLY POTTER COLLECTION
APRIL–JUNE 2012
ACADEMY OF ST MARTIN
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Y 2012
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AND MANY MORE...
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WHAT’S ON SEPTEMBER–DECEMBER
2012
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e age of enlightenment, oxford MIKHAIL
Philomusica, RUDY
Francesco Tristano
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hoir of King’s College, Cambridge,IVO
new College
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hoir,
the
CLAUDIA AURORA – LIFEM | NOTES & LETTERS | SONGBOOKS
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IN THE FIELDS
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Spoken Word
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WHAT’S ON JANUARY–MARCH 2012Notes
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THE SIXTEEN
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CONCERTS
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NATALIE CLEIN
AT
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Jazz
Spoken
Word N1 9AG | Box Office: 020 7520Robert
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WHAT’S ON APRIL–JUNE 2012
Jewish Book Week:
Classic Songbooks:
MIKHAIL RUDY
Henry Goodman on Ulysses
Joni Mitchell,
Umberto Eco
IVO VARBANOV
Bob Dylan and more
London Sinfonietta with
Matthew Bourne / Nils Økland
Folk
Fiddles on Fire
Arctic Circle
Emily Barker
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Orphy Robinson
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World
Darbar
Songlines Encounters
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LIFEM: Mari Boine
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YOUR FREE COPY
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and Alex Wilson
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Girls in Airports
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amit Chaudhuri
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maia
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Contemporary
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marcus roberts
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SEPTEMBER–DECEMBER 2011
‘Very 21st century’
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LISTINGS
49
57
67
76
77
78
January
February
march
ART LISTINGS
ARTISTIC HIRES
CALENDAR
In the following
pages, you will
find details of our
fantastic Spring
2013 Season. From
classical, jazz, folk
and world music
concerts to spoken
word and comedy
nights, with so
many events to
choose from and
tickets going very
quickly, book early
to secure your seats!
BOOK NOW
Box Office:
020 7520 1490
Cellist Abi Wade (left) will be one
of the special guests at Teitur’s
performance on 10 January.
See ‘The Stranger, The Better’ pp 38–39 and pp 51–52
Photo: Abi Wade
© Kenny McCraken
THIS WEEK’s FOCUS
NEW YEAR CONCERTS AND
BACH UNWRAPPED WEEK 1
Sunday 30 December
NEW YEAR AT KINGS PLACE
BACH UNWRAPPED
Florilegium: Christmas
& New Year Cantatas
30 DECEMBER – 4 JANUARY
LISTINGS 49
January 2013
JS Bach Cantata for the third day of
Christmas: ‘Süsser Trost, mein Jesus kömmt’, BWV 151
Concerto in A for oboe d’amore and strings, BWV 1055
Partita in A minor for solo flute, BWV 1013
Cantata for New Year’s Day: ‘Gott, wie dein
Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm’, BWV 171
Florilegium
Ashley Solomon flute (director)
Alexandra Bellamy oboe d’amore
Elin Manahan Thomas soprano
Sally Bruce-Payne mezzo-soprano
James Oxley tenor
Jimmy Holliday bass
by distinguished alto Michael Chance, and
the expressive early Weimar cantata
BWV 12, with its keen, lamenting quality.
Elizabeth Wallfisch will bring her virtuosic
verve to the Concerto in C for three violins,
reconstructed from the Concerto for three
harpsichords (BWV 1064).
‘Elizabeth Wallfisch’s playing is intelligent,
stylish and expressive … consistently
enthralling.’ Chicago Classical Review
Hall One 6pm
£19.50 £24.50 £29.50 £39.50
Online Savers £9.50
Wallfisch
Band
CLASSICAL
Leading early music ensemble Florilegium
open our Bach Unwrapped year with an
appropriately seasonal programme.
Soprano Elin Manahan Thomas will sing the
glorious opening aria of Cantata, BWV 151
for the third day of Christmas, with its
melting accompaniment of flutes, violins
and oboe d’amore, the instrument featured
in the lovely Concerto in A, while Ashley
Solomon will not only direct the blazing
New Year’s Day Cantata, BWV 171, but also
perform the delightful Partita for solo flute.
Hall One 3pm
£19.50 £24.50 £29.50 £39.50
Monday 31 December
FLORILEGIUM © AMIT LENNON | WALLFISCH BAND © BENJAMIN EALOVEGA | ABI WADE © KENNY MCCRAKEN
Florilegium
BACH UNWRAPPED
Wallfisch Band:
Cantatas 170 & 12
Florilegium launch Bach
Unwrapped, KINGS PLACE’s
exciting new series FOR 2013
Bach Unwrapped, our most ambitious composer series
yet, launches this week with a delightful programme from
Florilegium and continues with the vibrant Wallfisch Band,
La Nuova Musica, cellist Christoph Richter and the Gwilym
Simcock Quartet, who’ll be giving an imaginative twist to
Bach’s D minor Concerto, BWV 1052 with the OSJ.
See Bach Unwrapped feature pp28–32
JS Bach Overture No. 6 in G minor,
BWV 1070
Cantata: ‘Vergnügte Ruh’, beliebte Seelenlust’, BWV 170
Cantata: ‘Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen,
Zagen’, BWV 12
Concerto in C for three violins, strings
& continuo
Anna Fraser soprano
Michael Chance alto
Stuart Jackson tenor
Sanford Sylvan baritone
Wallfisch Band
CLASSICAL
Join the youthful Wallfisch Band for a most
civilised New Year’s Eve, featuring the
exquisite solo cantata BWV 170, to be sung
January
Tuesday 1 January
BACH UNWRAPPED
Wallfisch Band:
Cantatas 22 & 131
JS Bach Cantata: ‘Jesus nahm zu sich
die Zwölfe’, BWV 22
Overture in A minor, BWV 1067a
(arr. for strings)
Cantata: ‘Aus der Tiefen rufe ich,
Herr, zu dir’, BWV 131
Anna Fraser soprano
Michael Chance alto
Stuart Jackson tenor
Sanford Sylvan baritone
Wallfisch Band
CLASSICAL
In this dazzling concert for New Year’s Day,
the Wallfisch Band is joined by a quartet of
distinguished singers for two substantial
cantatas. ‘Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe’
was Bach’s trial piece when he applied for
the post of Thomaskantor in Leipzig and is
full of original invention, including a
famously serene final chorale over flowing
instruments and walking bass. Tenor
Stuart Jackson and baritone Sanford
Sylvan feature in Bach’s expansive
Cantata, BWV 131, full of dramatic block
chords and aching suspensions, written
at the request of a pastor in Mühlhausen.
Hall One 1pm
£19.50 £24.50 £29.50 £39.50
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50 LISTINGS
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January 2013
Wednesday 2 January
Thursday 3 January
Wednesday 9 January
BACH UNWRAPPED
BACH UNWRAPPED
sir HARRISON BIRTWISTLE
Jazz Bach! OSJ with the
Gwilym Simcock Quartet
La Nuova Musica
with Robin Blaze:
Cantata 169 & Psalm 51
Birtwistles in Residence
OSJ Voices
Gwilym Simcock Quartet
Orchestra of St John’s
John Lubbock conductor
CLASSICAL jazz
The Orchestra of St John’s and jazz stars
from the Gwilym Simcock Quartet bring a
whole new approach to Bach in this lively
event combining ‘straight’ movements
from famous concerti with jazz
improvisations. Says conductor Lubbock,
‘As a member of the Swingle Singers in
the 1970s I remember how wonderfully
Bach’s music could be embraced by the
jazz world and with Gwilym Simcock and
his colleagues we have the perfect
collaborators.’ Gwilym will be playing
the Harpsichord Concerto in D minor,
BWV 1052, followed by improvisations,
while the OSJ Voices will sing some
chorales with saxophone obbligati.
Hall One 7.30pm
£14.50 £19.50 £24.50 £29.50
Gwilym Simcock
Cantata: ‘Gott soll allein mein Herze
haben’, BWV 169
Overture to Orchestral Suite No. 1
in C, BWV 1066
Concerto in C minor for violin and oboe,
BWV 1060
Psalm 51: ‘Tilge, Höchster, meine
Sünden’, BWV 1083
Robin Blaze
Philippe Graffin
Nicolas Hodges piano
Christian Dierstein percussion
Andrew Watts countertenor
Melinda Maxwell oboe
Helen Tunstall harp
Robin Blaze countertenor
Helen-Jane Howells soprano
La Nuova Musica
David Bates director
CLASSICAL
Rising stars David Bates and La Nuova
Musica, described by The Times as ‘as
lively a collection of instrumentalists and
singers as the world offers’, are delighted
to be joined by countertenor Robin Blaze
for this concert featuring choral and vocal
masterpieces alongside some of Bach’s
most ebullient instrumental music. Like
Handel, Bach borrowed and recycled,
often with surprising results. ‘Tilge,
Höchster’ will be more familiar to listeners
as Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, while
movements from ‘Gott soll allein’ recall
Bach’s own instrumental concerti and
the St Matthew Passion.
CLASSICAL
is contrasted with the poignant Sonata in
G minor before the concert culminates in
the most ambitious suite of all, the radiant
D major, written for a five-string cello,
which achieves organ-like scale and
resonance. Richter will return to complete
the set in April and December 2013.
Hall One 7.30pm
£14.50 £19.50 £24.50 £29.50
Hall One 7.30pm
£14.50 £19.50 £24.50 £29.50
LONDON CHAMBER
MUSIC SERIES
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
LCMS New Year Concert
Beethoven String Trio in G, Op. 9 No. 1
Britten Phantasy Quartet in F minor for
oboe and string trio, Op. 2
Brahms Piano Quartet No. 2 in A, Op. 26
Christoph Richter cello
Alasdair Beatson piano
CLASSICAL
Christoph Richter
Performance – Hall One 8pm
Post-performance interview 9.15pm
BACH UNWRAPPED
Suite No. 1 in G for solo cello, BWV 1007
Sonata in G minor for cello and piano
(originally for viola da gamba and
harpsichord, BWV 1029)
Suite No. 6 in D for solo cello, BWV 1012
The first of three recitals this year given by
celebrated cellist Christoph Richter with
pianist Alasdair Beatson, taking in the
Solo Suites for cello and the Sonatas for
cello and keyboard. In this programme,
Richter will play the magnificent First Suite
for cello in G major with its famously
flowing Prelude and piquant dances. This
On the day painter Adam Birtwistle’s
debut show opens at Kings Place Gallery,
we host a special concert featuring the
music of his father, Sir Harrison Birtwistle.
The programme is based around two
main works – the Orpheus Elegies for
voice, oboe and harp to a text by Rilke
which were first performed complete at
the Lucerne Festival in 2004, and The Axe
Manual for piano and percussion, described
in Gramophone as ‘an exuberant, and, in
its central stages, delicate essay in
“extending” piano sound by means of
metal and wood percussion’. Sir Harrison
Birtwistle will be in conversation during a
post-concert interview.
Sunday 6 January
Friday 4 January
Christoph Richter:
The Cello Suites and
Sonatas – 1
with Sir Harrison Birtwistle
in conversation during a
post-concert interview
Saraband: The King’s Farewell for piano
26 Orpheus Elegies (2003–04) for voice,
oboe & harp
Ostinato with Melody (2000) for piano
Gigue machine (2011) for piano
The Axe Manual (2000) for piano and
percussion
Philippe Graffin violin
Roger Chase viola
Amy Norrington cello
TBC oboe
Alasdair Beatson piano
CLASSICAL
An invigorating musical start to 2013,
with one of Beethoven’s marvellous Op. 9
string trios (every bit as exciting and
audacious as his first set of quartets),
the beautiful A major Brahms Quartet
for piano and strings, and the first of our
centenary celebrations of Britten’s birth –
his youthful Oboe Quartet, dating from
the early 1930s.
Hall One 6.30pm
£14.50 £18.50 | Online Savers £9.50
Sir Harrison Birtwistle
Nicolas Hodges
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LISTINGS 51
LISTINGS
January 2013
THIS WEEK’S FOCUS
THE STRANGER, THE BETTER
GWILYM SIMCOCK © MARY DUNKIN | ROBIN BLAZE © DOROTHEA HEISE | PHILIPPE GRAFFIN © BENJAMIN EALOVEGA | SIR HARRISON BIRTWISTLE © HANYA CHLALA/ARENA PAL | NICOLAS HODGES © MARCO BORGGREVE | GRAVENHURST © LUCY JOHNSTON | TEITUR, IAN D MONTFORD © SUPPLIED PHOTOS
10 – 12 JANUARY
Teitur
THURSDAY 10 JANUARY
Teitur
with special guests
Singing Adams + Abi Wade
CONTEMPORARY
Nicholas Daniel
Gravenhurst
London live-music promoters The Local
present an intriguing line-up of bands in a
three-day mini-festival of modern-day
existential songwriting. The opening night
features idiosyncratic Faroese
singer-songwriter Teitur who has toured
with artists such as Suzanne Vega, Aimee
Mann and John Mayer, and whose songs
are known for their classical simplicity
and beauty. Tonight he plays with a string
quartet and some very special guests.
Singing Adams frontman Steven Adams
(ex Broken Family Band) is a sardonic
master-craftsman of the song,
self-effacing, witty and incredibly subtle.
Stunningly inventive cellist/percussionist
Abi Wade has been compared to Joanna
Newsom and Regina Spektor.
Hall One 7.30pm
THE BEST IN CONTEMPORARY
SONG-WRITING FROM TEITUR AND
GRAVENHURST TO MEURSAULT
Expect the unexpected in this exciting three-day minifestival of modern-day existential song-writing. The Local
presents a host of intriguing bands, from the understated
art of Gravenhurst’s Nick Talbot (above) to the haunting
folktronica of Meursault, the unclassifiable Faroese
troubador Teitur to cult British mainstay the Ralfe Band.
See Feature on The Stranger, The Better pp38–39
£12.50 £14.50 £19.50
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!
Ian D Montfort:
Unbelievable
COMEDY
Ian D Montfort BSc (pseudo) will not only
have jaw-dropping messages from beyond
the grave but will use pseudoscientific
methods to prove ESP, homeopathy and
past-life regression aren’t rubbish.
‘Funny and baffling’ The Scotsman
‘An astonishing finale that leaves the
audience shaking their heads in disbelief.
Montfort has certainly got the tricks ...
an absolute treat’ ***** Metro
Ian D Montford
‘Binns is the epitome of what a comedy
mindreader should be. ... a faultless guise
... an absolute highlight of the Edinburgh
Festival ... completely unmissable’
EdinburghSpotlight.com
‘Critics’ Choice’ The Times, The Guardian,
The Observer
Hall Two 8pm
£12.50 | Online Savers £9.50
FRIDAY 11 JANUARY
Gravenhurst
with Ralfe Band
CONTEMPORARY
The second gig in London live-music
producers The Local’s mini-festival.
Gravenhurst features Warp Records
singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist
and producer Nick Talbot. Dark and
atmospheric, ever-changing and
conjured from disparate ingredients,
Gravenhurst’s roots lie in the melodic
noise of My Bloody Valentine, the lush
vocal harmonies of Simon and
Garfunkel, the alchemical guitars of
Richard Thompson and Johnny Marr,
and the widescreen ambient
visions of Brian Eno.
‘A mellow masterpiece … Nick Talbot
has made an album as good as anything
Warp has released in the last decade.’
Q Magazine
‘Terrific understated songs … Talbot is
one of music’s best-kept secrets.’
The Guardian
‘Ralfe Band are a British cult mainstay …
The band appeared in “The Mighty
Boosh” – enough said.’ The Guardian
Hall One 7.30pm
£12.50 £14.50 £19.50
52 LISTINGS
FOLK UNION
Tim Edey
FOLK
Tim Edey is the current BBC Radio Two Folk
Musician of the Year. He has played, toured
and recorded with a Who’s Who of the Celtic
and acoustic music scene. On the road
worldwide since he was 15, he played his
earliest gigs with his guitarist father and
Irish singer Enda McCabe. He then joined
guitar master Ed Boyd’s band Red Ciel,
touring the UK and Scandinavia as a box
player. He recorded his debut album at
the age of 17, produced by the legendary
Steve Cooney.
‘An extraordinarily versatile and
unpredictable guitarist and button
accordion player’ BBC Music online
Hall Two 8pm
Aquarium
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
January 2013
aka singer-songwriter Gemma Williams,
writes unusual, modern and intriguing
songs. Originally based on vocals and
harp, her recent work encompasses an
altogether fuller, electronic sound.
THIS WEEK’S FOCUS
FRETWORK: MUSICK’S MONUMENT
Hall One 7.30pm
17 – 19 JANUARY
£12.50 £14.50 £19.50
THE BASE
Aquarium: ‘Places’
Jellymould Jazz Album Launch
Sam Leak piano
James Allsopp tenor saxophone
Calum Gourlay double bass
Joshua Blackmore drums
JAZZ
Sam Leak’s quartet Aquarium launch their
second album, Places, at Kings Place. Their
debut, was listed as the 6th-best album in
MOJO magazine’s 2011 International Jazz
chart, and they were tipped by Jazzwise as
‘ones to watch’ in 2012. Following on from
rave reviews in the national press, extensive
airplay on BBC Radios 2 and 3, and a
successful national tour, this promises to be
a very exciting event. Don’t miss it!
‘Multi-faceted and smart as a pin, this is
poetic chamber jazz of a very high
order.’ MOJO
‘Leak is a subtle storyteller who keeps
the grooves and colours changing.’
The Guardian
Hall Two 8pm
Meursault
SATURDAY 12 JANUARY
Meursault
with Sons of Noel and Adrian
CONTEMPORARY
The third and last gig in The Local’s minifestival. A shifting interplay of electronic
and traditional instruments, Scottish
indie rock band Meursault’s songs are
based on the themes of separation and
estrangement. BBC Music describes their
sound as ‘a deft melding of pastoral folk,
lo-fi electronics and the haunting ambience
of band leader Neil Pennycook’s soaring
vocals’. With their latest album Knots,
Willkommen Collective founders Sons of
Noel and Adrian have departed from their
folk roots to explore influences rooted in
Chicago’s pre-millennial post-rock, jazz
and avant-pop. Woodpecker Wooliams,
SUNDAY 13 JANUARY
Fretwork
LONDON CHAMBER
MUSIC SERIES
Badke Quartet with
Michelle Todd
Haydn String Quartet in D, Op. 20 No. 4
Respighi Il Tramonto (after Shelley)
for soprano and string quartet (1914)
Ravel String Quartet in F
Badke Quartet
Michelle Todd soprano
CLASSICAL
The excellent Badke Quartet, performing
one of the best early quartets by Joseph
Haydn, with its haunting slow movement,
and Ravel’s ravishing quartet from 1903.
The quartet is joined by soprano Michelle
Todd in the beautiful Il Tramonto
– Respighi’s 1914 setting of Shelley’s
poem The Sunset.
Hall One 6.30pm
£14.50 £18.50 | Online Savers £9.50
LAMENTATIONS, TEARS AND
REMEMBRANCES: FRETWORK PAY
TRIBUTE TO A FOUNDING MEMBER
Musick’s Monument will reconstruct a fascinating
programme described by Thomas Mace in his 1676
book of that name. It was the unrealised dream of
viol-player Richard Campbell, who died in 2011. His art is
also recalled in performances of Dowland’s exceptional
Lachrimae Pavans, and the Lamentations of Jeremiah
by Robert White and Thomas Tallis.
See Classical Highlights p9
Monday 14 January
Bad Musical
OUT HEAR
Conversations
with Sound
‘Opera of Surveilance’
Created by artist vocalist composer Jamie
McDermott of internationally acclaimed
performance orchestra art pop group The
Irrepressibles, Conversations with Sound
are an improvisational organism, a live
performance installation, a multi-lingual
Art-Pop choir. Their present site specific,
contextualised, and conversation
improvisations with voice, plus composed
works for voice by McDermott and the
choir. Their first performances included site
specific ‘gorrilla’ performances on tube
trains, installations created in public tunnels
and performances in public houses in 2005.
They then went on to be commisioned in
2009 by Grimeborn Opera Festival where
they presented a short exerpt of Opera of
Surveillance, a performance piece created
in real time purely through interaction with
the audience. They will present the fully
realised choreographed performance of
this piece, interspersed with electrochoral
composed works by McDermott and new
contemporary classical works by the choir.
Hall Two 8pm
Thursday 17 January
MUSICK’S MONUMENT
Fretwork with Alamire:
Lamentations
ALL ARTISTS © SUPPLIED PHOTOS
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
which most of the rest of this programme is
drawn. Thea Musgrave’s Wild Winter I,
written for Fretwork in 1993, is a multilingual
lament for the folly of war, setting texts by
Owen, Trakl, Lorca, Petrarch and Pushkin,
among others. Fretwork are delighted to be
joined by outstanding vocalists Alamire,
under the direction of David Skinner.
Hall One 7.30pm
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
Bad Musical
COMEDY
The worst musical ever written! From The
Trap, creators of the most excruciatingly
bad shows ever conceived (the hit
Edinburgh BAD PLAY series) comes the
culmination of a decade spent creating
theatrical cack. For the first time
anywhere, witness the horror and sing
along to the last word in entertainment
poison. ‘Superb comedic trio’ Time Out.
‘Extremely funny’ The Guardian. ‘One of
the funniest and most inventive sketch
groups ever’ Chortle. ‘Deliciously
subversive ... sheer comedic genius’ ****
The Scotsman
Hall Two 8pm
Robert Parsons In Nomine; Ave Maria
Christopher Tye Fantasia: ‘Rubum quem’
Robert White In Nomine
Thomas Tallis Lamentations of Jeremiah
Robert White Lamentations
Thea Musgrave Wild Winter I
Alamire vocal consort
Grace Davidson, Clare Wilkinson,
Nicholas Todd, Simon Wall,
Greg Skidmore, Robert Macdonald
Fretwork:
Dowland’s Lachrimae
David Skinner director
Fretwork viol consort
Liam Byrne, Asako Morikawa,
Reiko Ichise, Richard Tunnicliffe,
Richard Boothby
CLASSICAL
The Lamentations of Jeremiah have been set
by many composers over the centuries, but
the settings of Robert White and Thomas Tallis
stand out from the crowd. White’s was given
pride of place at the opening of Robert Dow’s
magnificently copied set of partbooks, from
called Lachrimae, in which seven pavans
are linked by a single theme, based on his
most famous song, Flow my teares. Adrian
Williams wrote his poignant reflection on
these pavans in his Teares to Dreams in
2004, injecting a contemporary sensibility
into the 17th-century form.
Hall One 7.30pm
CONTEMPORARY
Friday 18 January
MUSICK’S MONUMENT
Dowland Lachrimae or Seaven teares
figured in seaven passionate pavans:
with divers other pavans, galiards,
and almands…
Adrian Williams Teares to Dreams (2004)
with Elizabeth Kenny lute
CLASSICAL
John Dowland, the finest lutenist of his
generation and one of England’s greatest
composers, was born 450 years ago this
year. In 1604 he published the extraordinary
collection of dance music for viols and lute
LISTINGS 53
January 2013
FOLK UNION
ahab
FOLK
The most exciting harmony-infused
Americana/pop to emerge on the scene
since Mumford & Sons. Outstanding
songs, a huge sound and an unrivalled
stage presence – with looks and boyish
charm to top it off! ahab had a truly
incredible 2011 which saw them playing at
over 20 festivals throughout the UK and
Europe, releasing their second EP kmvt
and a tour support with the mighty
Bellowhead. With two hugely popular EPs
under their belt, an album in the pipeline,
a sell-out headline gig at HMV’s Next Big
Thing Festival and rave support (and
frequent airplay) from Bob Harris and
Simon Mayo, ahab continue their climb to
the top. Highly recommended.
(1676), detailing the viol consort evenings
he held with friends in his earlier days:
‘We had for our grave musick, fancies of 3,
4, 5 and 6 parts to the organ; interpos’d
(now and then) with some pavans,
allmaines, solemn and sweet delightful
ayres … The authors of such like
compositions, have been divers famous
English men, and Italians … Mr Alfonso
Ferabosco, Mr John Ward, Mr Lupo, Mr
White, Mr Richard Deering, Mr William
Lawes, Mr John Jenkins, Mr Christopher
Simpson, Mr Coperario and one
Monteverdi, a famous Italian author.’
Hall One 7.30pm
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
THE BASE
Martin Speake Trio
with Mike Outram and Jeff Williams
JAZZ
Saturday 19 January
This trio brings together all of Martin’s
musical influences, and his favourite
musicians. Expect improvising in the
moment, and compositions from their
new CD.
‘Subtle, soft-toned alto player with an
angular, highly contemporary approach to
improvisation lines up with classy, funkedged modern jazz guitarist Mike Outram
and superb London-based US drummer
Jeff Williams.’ Time Out
‘Martin Speake is one of the most
interesting and rewarding alto
saxophonists now playing jazz on any
continent.’ Thomas Conrad, Jazz Times
Hall Two 8pm
MUSICK’S MONUMENT
Hall Two 8pm
Fretwork:
Musick’s Monument
William Lawes Consort in F
set in five parts
Richard Deering Fantazy for five viols
John Ward Fantazy No. 1 Dolce languir
William White Fantasy for five viols No. 3
John Jenkins Four-part aires
John Coprario Fantazia for five viols
Illicita Cosa
Claudio Monteverdi Dolcemente dormiva
la mia Clori (Tasso) from the Madrigals, Book II (1590)
Ward In Nomine in five parts
Christopher Simpson four-part aires
Alfonso Ferrabosco II Hexachord
Fantasy in four parts
Thomas Lupo Pavan in three parts
Lawes Consort in C set in five parts
Sunday 20 January
CLASSICAL
This unique programme is constructed
from the fascinating memoir of Thomas
Mace, who wrote Musick’s Monument
LONDON CHAMBER
MUSIC SERIES
Angell Trio
Haydn Piano Trio in C, Hob. XV:27
Martinů Piano Trio No. 2 in D minor, H327
Brahms Piano Trio No. 1 in B, Op. 8
CLASSICAL
The Angell Trio, regular visitors to the LCMS
series for more than 12 years, perform a
wonderful programme featuring one of
Haydn’s late London Trios, (composed in
the 1790s), another late work, the second
of Martinů ’s three trios (composed in New
York in 1950), and Brahms’s B major trio,
composed when he was in his 20s but
completely revised at the end of his career.
Hall One 6.30pm
£14.50 £18.50 | Online Savers £9.50
LISTINGS
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54 LISTINGS
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020 7520 1490
January 2013
THIS WEEK’S FOCUS
MONDAY 21 JANUARY
Austentatious
WORDS ON MONDAY
CURATED BY SWINGLE SINGERS & IKON ARTS MANAGEMENT
Elkie Brooks:
Finding My Voice
Jewish Book Week presents
24 – 26 JANUARY
SPOKEN WORD
Elkie Brooks, the ‘British Queen of Blues’,
has a career that has spanned five decades
and most musical genres. At 15, Elaine
Bookbinder auditioned for Don Arden,
father of Sharon Osbourne and music
manager at the Palace Theatre, Manchester.
Her career was launched that night. Blessed
with one of the richest and most distinctive
voices of her generation, she has worked
with some of the finest musicians along
the way, including her mentor Humphrey
Lyttelton, and was named the most-charted
female album-seller. In an evening of
conversation with a few songs thrown in,
the singer reflects on a varied and
fascinating career.
COMEDY
CONTEMPORARY
Hall Two 8pm
Norwegian all-star composer/improviser
quartet Lemur combine classic
composition, noise, chamber music and
free jazz. Their unusual line-up of acoustic
instruments and a novel approach to
musical craftsmanship make for a surprising
and unique blend of contemporary sound.
Formed in 2006 they’ve performed in
Europe, the UK, Taiwan, Macau and China.
Their two albums on +3db have been met
with critical acclaim. They’ve collaborated
with Paul Lytton, Julia Eckhardt, Amit Sen,
Mats Gustafsson, John Hegre, Dickson
Dee, Trondheim Sinfonietta, N Ensemble
and Tom Løberg. They also contributed to
the punk poet Patrick Fitzgerald’s 2007
release, Spirit of the Revolution.
OUT HEAR
Lemur
This is the fourth London A Cappella Festival to be held
at Kings Place, and it just keeps getting bigger and more
popular. Co-curators the inimitable Swingle Singers and
Ikon Arts Management, who celebrate their 50th anniversary
on Saturday night, have created a varied menu of legendary
British vocal groups and hot new voices, including
boundary-breaking Danish outfit Postyr. Book early
to avoid disappointment.
An Improvised Jane Austen Novel
Bjørnar Habbestad flutes
Hild Sofie Tafjord horn
Lene Grenager cello
Michael Duch double bass
£9.50
A BEST OF BRITISH AT THIS YEAR’S
FESTIVAL WITH THE KING’S SINGERS,
THE MAGNETS & THE SWINGLE SINGERS
Austentatious
Austentatious: An Improvised Novel is an
hour-long comedy play spun in the
inimitable style of Jane Austen – and
based entirely on audience suggestions!
Following a five-star run at the Edinburgh
Fringe, the cast of Austentatious offer you
an eloquent, irreverent and 100%
improvised take on the works of Britain’s
best-loved novelist. Performed in period
costume with live cello accompaniment,
this is an immersive and hilarious treat for
fans of Austen and improvised comedy
alike. Previous titles have included
Northanger Rabbi, Pride and Predator,
and Darcy Does Dallas. Join us for an
impromptu literary masterpiece!
‘Supersmart and terrifically funny’ Scotsman
‘Witty, silly and gloriously funny...’ *****
The Skinny, Edinburgh 2012
Hall One 7pm
The King’s Singers
THURSDAY 24 JANUARY
Hall Two 8pm
A CAPPELLA FESTIVAL
Choir of Clare College,
Cambridge
Britten, Poulenc, Arvo Pärt and more
CLASSICAL
The Choir of Clare College and its director
Graham Ross present a sumptuous
programme of 20th-century choral
masterpieces. Bridging the traditional
and modern, the choir’s programme
includes secular and sacred works by
composers including Poulenc, Arvo Pärt
and Britten. Founded as a mixed-voice
ensemble in 1971, the choir has since
gained an impressive international
reputation. ‘If you ever needed
confirmation of the fantastically high
standard of choral singing that exists in the
UK, look, or rather, hear no further than the
Choir of Clare College, Cambridge.’
Classical Source
Hall One 7pm
See Contemporary highlights article p22
Lemur
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
A CAPPELLA FESTIVAL
The Magnets
The Magnets
Silent Movies with
Live Improv Band
CONTEMPORARY
Rajaton
Postyr
Hall One 9pm
A CAPPELLA FESTIVAL
Rajaton
CONTEMPORARY
Triple-platinum-selling Finnish a cappella
favourites Rajaton explore the beautiful
Nordic soundscapes through pop classics
and contemporary originals. With their
infectious energy, ensemble virtuosity and
true richness of sound, Rajaton have won
the hearts and acclaim of audiences and
critics, and become a phenomenon on the
world stage.
THE KING’S SINGERS © BENJAMIN EALOVEGA | AUSTENTATIOUS © IDIL SUKAN | CHOIR OF CLARE COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE © NICK RUTTER | OTHER ARTISTS © SUPPLIED PHOTOS
Hall One 9pm
£14.50 £19.50 £24.50 £29.50
£16.50 £21.50 £27.50 £34.50
Saturday 26 January
A CAPPELLA FESTIVAL
Purely A Cappella!
Vocal Workshops
INTERACT
Continuing the huge success of last year’s
workshops, singers and choirs of all ages
and abilities are invited to join industry
experts and professionals in a series of
workshops focusing on various aspects of
singing and a cappella performance.
Hall Two 10am, 11.15am,
12.30pm, 16.30pm
Friday 25 January
A CAPPELLA FESTIVAL
Postyr
CONTEMPORARY
Pioneering innovation in vocal music,
Postyr create a distinctive and evocative
soundworld combining the human voice
and electronics. Singing catchy pop tunes,
heartfelt ballads and experimental avant- garde pop, the five Danish singers take
their audience on a journey that not only
entertains, but captivates and intrigues
the listener. This is a vocal experience
beyond the ordinary.
£9.50 per workshop
A CAPPELLA FESTIVAL
Retrocity
Support Act: Vive
CONTEMPORARY
For pure ‘acappellatude’, look no further
than Canadian a cappella sensations
Retrocity. Performing your favourite tunes
from the 80s and beyond – from Sting to Salt-n-Pepa – they cover musical vintages
of all kinds from jazz to soul to funk,
capturing an astonishing and utterly
unique range of instrumental imitation.
Hall One 7pm
Hall One 1.45pm
£13.50 £15.50 £19.50 £24.50
£12.50 £15.50 £18.50 £21.50
Devised by composer/cellist
Philip Sheppard
A CAPPELLA FESTIVAL
MUSIC / FILM / COMEDY
Panel Discussion
Top musicians perform spontaneous
soundtracks to the world’s greatest silent
films. Improvisation begins as the film
starts to roll as none of the musicians have
watched the films in advance. The films will
include comic heroes Buster Keaton and
Harold Lloyd. The atmosphere will be
relaxed and club-like… and there’ll be room
for some very sophisticated mucking
about. Sunday afternoons will never be the
same again!
SPOKEN WORD
Join us in a panel discussion with leading
figures from various musical backgrounds
discussing the new trends in a cappella.
Hall One 3.15pm
FREE. Tickets required. Call Box Office
A CAPPELLA FESTIVAL
The King’s Singers
CONTEMPORARY
Cornerstones of British vocal harmony
Grammy-award-winning The King’s
Singers are one of the world’s most
celebrated ensembles. They have enjoyed
global success for over 40 years,
enchanting audiences with their instantly
recognisable spot-on intonation,
impeccable vocal blend, flawless
articulation of the text and incisive timing.
This is a class act with a delightfully
British wit. The gig will feature an
exclusive collaboration with the Swingle
Singers. Don’t miss it – book early! ‘Suave, quintessentially English answer to the barber-shop tradition’ The Times
Hall One 2.30pm
£12.50 £14.50 | Online Savers £9.50
Not So Silent Offer: Ticket + Bloody Mary +
Roast Lunch: All for just £29.50
LONDON CHAMBER
MUSIC SERIES
Allegri Quartet: The
Complete Beethoven
Quartets – 9
Pre-concert Talk with Dr Robert Hanson
Beethoven String Quartet No. 11
in F minor, Op. 95 Serioso
Shostakovich String Quartet No. 11
in F minor, Op. 122 Beethoven String Quartet No. 14
in C sharp minor, Op. 131
Hall One 6pm
CLASSICAL
£19.50 £24.50 £29.50 £39.50
The celebrated Allegri Quartet reach the end of their monumental Beethoven- Shostakovich cycle. Beethoven’s beautiful
F minor Quartet, is followed by the latter’s
11th Quartet from 1966, ostensibly in the
same tonality of F minor, but cast in seven
short interlocking movements. The cycle
is completed with Beethoven’s Op. 131
Quartet, one of the most profound
utterances in the quartet medium.
A CAPPELLA FESTIVAL
Swingle Singers
Support Act: The Exchange
CONTEMPORARY
Since the ’60s, the unmistakable sound of
‘Swingle singing’, virtuosic vocal blend
combined with high-level entertainment,
has thrilled audiences around the globe.
Launching their 50th-anniversary
celebrations at the festival, the current
line-up of young and talented voices
represents the group’s transformation
from pioneering classical/ jazz crossover
artists to contemporary vocal super-group.
Hall One 8.30pm
Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
Sunday 27 January
NOT SO SILENT MOVIES
Support Act: All the King’s Men
A ‘six-man sound machine’, The Magnets
wow audiences with their blend of razor- sharp harmonies, slick vocal stunts and
infectious groove. After selling out
Roundhouse, and making a series of
electrifying appearances across the globe,
they’ve emerged as one of the must-see
acts on the current British music scene. ‘A sonic phenomenon you have to see
and hear to believe.’ The Guardian
LISTINGS 55
January 2013
£19.50 £24.50 £29.50 £39.50
Pre-concert Talk – St Pancras Room 5pm
Performance – Hall One 6.30pm
£14.50 £18.50 | Online Savers £9.50
Swingle Singers
LISTINGS
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56 LISTINGS
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
January 2013
THIS WEEK’s FOCUS
Bach unwrapped
week 2
Monday 28 January
29 January – 2 February
Tuesday 29 January
WORDS ON MONDAY
BACH UNWRAPPED
Feeding Seven Billion
St Matthew Passion
University of Cambridge Global Food
Security Debates II: ‘Intensification vs
extensification of global agriculture’
St Matthew Passion, BWV 244
Dr Marion Guillou INRA (French National
Institute for Agricultural Research)
Prof. Judi Wakhungu African Centre
for Technology Studies
Sam Dryden Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation
SPOKEN WORD
What is the optimal agricultural system to
feed tomorrow’s world? A debate on the
relative merits of agricultural intensification
as opposed to expanding output by
increasing cultivated area. How do
alternative strategies for increasing
agricultural productivity maximise food
production, providing sustained
livelihoods for poor farmers, staying within
ecological limits, and leaving enough
space for competing land uses?
Hall One 7pm
£9.50
OUT HEAR
Collectress with
Jo Thomas: Glitch
Collectress Improvisations
Jo Thomas Alpha Live
James Gilchrist Evangelist
David Wilson-Johnson Christus
Joanne Lunn soprano
James Laing countertenor
Thomas Walker tenor
Stephan Loges bass, Pilate
The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
Academy of Ancient Music
Stephen Cleobury conductor
CLASSICAL
Perhaps the greatest and best beloved
of all Bach’s works is the monumental
St Matthew Passion. This performance
boasts the ideal partnership of The Choir
of King’s College and the Academy of
Ancient Music under Stephen Cleobury,
with tenor James Gilchrist as the Evangelist
‘now unsurpassed among lyric tenors in
sweetness and technical security, and for
his musical intelligence’ (The Independent).
He is joined by distinguished baritone
David Wilson-Johnson as Christ, Stephan
Loges as a sonorous Pilate. Countertenor
James Laing will sing the heart-stopping
‘Ebarme dich’ and Joanne Lunn such
expressive arias as ‘Aus Liebe’.
Hall One 6.30pm
£19.50 £29.50 £39.50 £49.50
CONTEMPORARY
Richard Egarr
Suites with Richard Egarr,
the st matthew Passion
from king’s college choir
This week, the Academy of Ancient Music focus a whole
day on Bach’s Orchestral Suites and his English Suites for
keyboard. King’s College Choir under the baton of Stephen
Cleobury present the great St Matthew Passion, featuring
James Gilchrist as the Evangelist, and Rachel Podger begins
her journey through the Violin Sonatas and Partitas.
See Bach Unwrapped p26
2012 Prix Ars Electronica-winner Jo Thomas
presents Alpha Live, a 21-minute multispeaker performance journeying into the
spectral shape of sounds. Expect an
inventive performance from Collectress:
‘We fill our music with stories and pictures.
In performance the sound of our music is
met by a strong visual play: enormous
paper eggshells with signature portraits to
be cut through to the sound of birds’ eggs
hatching. A woman wearing a ringing
telephone hat which plays Beethoven
when she answers it. We have fun with the
ridiculous and enjoy its suggestiveness.’
Hall Two 8pm
£12.50 | Online Saver £9.50
Collectress
Wednesday 30 January
BACH UNWRAPPED
Rachel Podger
& Marcin Swiatkiewicz:
Bach Violin Sonatas
and Partitas – 1
Sonata No. 1 in G minor for solo violin,
BWV 1001
Sonata No. 4 in C minor for violin and
harpsichord, BWV 1017
Sonata No. 1 in B minor for violin and
harpsichord, BWV 1014
Partita No. 1 in B minor for solo violin,
BWV 1002
Rachel Podger violin
Marcin Swiatkiewicz harpsichord
CLASSICAL
Rachel Podger is one of the most
inspirational and creative figures on the
classical music scene today, and an
acknowledged authority on the Baroque
violin, with a string of awards for her
recordings of Bach’s solo and
accompanied sonatas. In this first of
Book tickets now:
‘Stunning show … Pitch-perfect operetta’
Metro Scotland
‘A wonderful musical tale of attraction,
love and despair in the internet age’ ***** Three Weeks
‘Thought-provoking and funny’
**** Fringe Review
Hall One 7.30pm
February
£16.50 £21.50 £27.50 £34.50
CLASSICAL
BACH UNWRAPPED
London Sinfonietta
Miki Skuta:
Goldberg Variations
JS Bach Sonata in G for viola da gamba
and harpsichord, BWV 1027 Steve Reich Cello Counterpoint
Bach Flute Sonata in E minor, BWV 1034
Steve Reich Vermont Counterpoint
Bach (arr. Stravinsky) Four Preludes and
Fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier
Stravinsky Concerto in E flat
Dumbarton Oaks
CLASSICAL
RICHARD EGARR © MARCO BORGGREVE | LADY MAISERY © ELLY LUCAS | THE ROLLER TRIO © LISA TAYLOR | OTHER ARTISTS © SUPPLIED PHOTOS
Miki Skuta’s recording of Bach’s
Goldberg Variations was released to
critical acclaim, receiving the following
review in BBC Music Magazine: ‘Slovak
player Miki Skuta succeeds brilliantly in
one of the most impressive piano
performances that I’ve yet heard. If he
does not usurp the benchmark status
enjoyed by Glenn Gould in his 1955
recording of the Goldbergs he probably
deserves to share it.’
Hall One 7.30pm
£16.50 £21.50 £27.50 £34.50
The Looking Screen
COMEDY
A one-woman operetta about a girl’s
desperate pursuit for love on the internet.
Written and composed by Anne
Chmelewsky (The Office: The Opera,
Comic Relief 2009), The Looking Screen
stars Clare Presland, who is accompanied
on piano by Elizabeth Challenger. with the Academy of Ancient Music
Join the Academy of Ancient Music to explore Bach’s music. The day
culminates with a performance of the
complete Orchestral Suites, a series of dances showcasing some of Bach’s most varied, grand and graceful music.
AAM Music Director Richard Egarr gives a solo lunchtime performance of
Bach’s English Suites. Two talks give
insights into Bach’s music: pre-eminent
Bach scholar Prof. Christoph Wolff shares stories from a life researching the composer, and BBC Radio 3’s Sara Mohr-Pietsch leads a discussion with AAM players about playing Bach.
BACH UNWRAPPED
Miki Skuta piano
BACH UNWRAPPED
The Bach Suites in Focus
£9.50
FRIday 1 February
Goldberg Variations, BWV 988
Saturday 2 February
Hall Two 8pm
Thursday 31 January
Tim Gill cello
Michael Cox flute
London Sinfonietta
Part I: The English Suites
Concert with Commentary
Suite No. 3 in G minor, BWV 808 Suite No. 4 in F, BWV 809 Suite No. 6 in D minor, BWV 811
Richard Egarr harpsichord
Hall One 1pm | Lasts ~60 mins
Hall One 7.30pm
£14.50 £19.50 £24.50 £29.50
FOLK UNION
Lady Maisery
BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominated vocal
trio Lady Maisery use their adventurous
vocals to breathtaking effect, with fresh
interpretations of songs and ballads.
Whether singing unaccompanied, or with
backing from their combined instrumental
talents on accordion, harp and fiddle,
they will enchant you with their rich
harmonies and sumptuous clashes. ‘Fabulous’ The Independent
Hall Two 8pm
Roller Trio
James Mainwaring saxophone/FX
Luke Wynter guitar/FX
Luke Reddin-Williams drums
JAZZ
Roller Trio are a new young talent. Still in their
early 20s, they met studying at Leeds College
of Music. As soon as they started playing and
jamming together it was apparent that they
had a special chemistry. Their music is a
fresh, visceral stew of stonking rock riffs,
angular drums, electronic loops – and
James’s powerful tone and use of circular
breathing and multiphonics. A powerful new
band – and one with its own unique voice. ‘A band destined for greatness’ Jazz FM
‘Dark, menacing, bass heavy – the new sound of UK jazz!’ Gilles Peterson,
BBC Radio 6 music
Part II: Discovering Bach
The world’s pre-eminent Bach scholar and researcher Prof. Christoph Wolff offers a fascinating insight into the
composer’s life and work. He will also
invite discussion from the audience.
Sunday 3 February
£9.50 (or £4.50 to ticket holders
of 1pm concert)
Part III: Playing Bach
BBC Radio 3’s Sara Mohr-Pietsch hosts AAM players in a discussion about performing the Orchestral Suites.
St Pancras Room 6pm | Lasts ~ 45mins
FREE to ticket holders to
7.30pm concert
Part IV: The Complete
Orchestral Suites
Suite No. 3 in D, BWV 1068 Suite No. 1 in C, BWV 1066 Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067 Suite No. 4 in D, BWV 1069
Hall One 7.30pm
Lady Maisery
THE BASE
Hall Two 8pm
Academy of Ancient Music
Richard Egarr director
Clare Presland
& Elizabeth Challenger
The Roller Trio
£12.50 £14.50 £19.50
FOLK
LISTINGS 57
LISTINGS
three concerts, she and harpsichordist
Marcin Swiatkiewicz perform the first and
fourth accompanied sonatas, while she
tackles the remarkable Solo Sonata in G
minor, with its majestic fugue and brilliant
perpetual motion Presto. Bach himself was
a skilful violinist, and mined the potential
of the solo instrument as perhaps no other
composer has since done.
‘Podger’s infectious charm and unaffected
musicianship are hard to resist.’ BBC Music Magazine
January/February 2013
£19.50 £24.50 £29.50 £39.50
LONDON CHAMBER
MUSIC SERIES
Yannoula-LomeikoZhislin-Harwood Quartet
LCMS Fundraising Concert
Mozart String Duo No. 1 in G for violin
and viola, K423 Schumann Piano Quartet in E flat, Op. 47
Schubert String Trio Movement
in B flat, D471 Walton Piano Quartet in D minor
CLASSICAL
A varied programme of some of the most
popular works in the classical chamber
music repertoire, and an opportunity to
hear a wonderful early piece by William
Walton – his Quartet for piano and strings,
composed in 1919 and revised in the
1970s. We’re particularly grateful to Natalia
Lomeiko, Yuri Zhislin, Richard Harwood and Vicky Yannoula, for generously donating
their services for this concert, in order for
us to raise funds for the LCMS concerts.
Hall One 6.30pm
£14.50 £18.50 | Online Savers £9.50
58 LISTINGS
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
February 2013
voice to emerge from Ireland in the past
20 years’ (The Irish Times), Walshe is
known for her extended vocal techniques
and virtuosity. Her maverick composition
ALL THE MANY PEOPLS, features text
sourced from Amazon.com message
boards (vampire physiology, conspiracy
theorist Francis E. Dec, the Courage Wolf
meme, 4Chan and Google Autocomplete)
with recordings of interstellar sonic
phenomena and much, much more.
Walshe will also perform Irish Dadaist
sound poetry from 1921.
THIS WEEK’s FOCUS
BRITTEN AT 100: PIANIST,
COLLABORATOR, ARTISTIC CRUCIBLE
7 – 9 FEBRUARY
Boris Akunin
Hall Two 8pm
Monday 4 February
WORDS ON MONDAY
The Sebald Lecture
by Boris Akunin
‘Paradise Lost: Confessions
of an apostate translator’
SPOKEN WORD
Claire Booth
a celebration of britten
as creative catalyst,
collaborator and inspiration
Pianists John Reid and Andrew Matthews-Owen
have drawn together a fabulous group of singers and
instrumentalists to explore themes in Britten’s music,
though his own works and those by composers he loved to
perform. Artists include Nicky Spence, Claire Booth (above),
Nicholas Mulroy, Christine Croshaw and Oliver Coates.
See feature Suffolk Lodestar on pp40–41
The annual Sebald Lecture on Literary
Translation is given by Boris Akunin, one of
the most widely read authors in Russia,
who has been compared to Gogol, Tolstoy
and Arthur Conan Doyle. His best-selling
detective novels are translated into English
by Andrew Bromfield. But in his previous
life, Boris Akunin was Grigory Chkhartishvili,
a translator of Japanese literature into
Russian. In his lecture, Boris Akunin will
talk about his love for translating, how
translating both helped and hindered his
work as a writer, and why he misses it now.
Akunin’s lecture will be preceded by a
programme of readings, and the
presentation of The Society of Authors’
Translation Prizes 2012. These prestigious,
long-established awards will be presented
by Sir Peter Stothard, editor of the TLS.
Awarded for fiction, poetry and non-fiction,
this year they feature translations from the
original Arabic, Dutch, French, German,
Greek (modern), Italian, Portuguese,
Spanish and Swedish. In collaboration
with the British Centre for Literary
Translation and the Society of Authors.
Thursday 7 February
BRITTEN AT 100
Songs With and
Without Words
with Pre-Concert Talk
Britten Tema Sacher’ for solo cello (1976)
Fauré Nocturnes and Barcarolles (selection)
Britten Ciaccona from Cello Suite No. 2
Schubert Die Schöne Müllerin, D795
Martin Suckling Lieder ohne Worte (2010)
Oliver Coates cello
Nicholas Mulroy tenor
Christine Croshaw piano
John Reid piano
CLASSICAL
Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears were
two of the finest song recitalists of their
time, and Schubert’s immortal cycle
Die schöne Müllerin was central to their
repertoire. In this programme of
homages, Schubert’s songs sit alongside
Martin Suckling’s companion piece,
Lieder ohne Worte. One of Britten’s
responses to Purcell complements piano
pieces by Gabriel Fauré. Before the
performance, pianist and co-curator
Andrew Matthews-Owen interviews
Hall One 7pm
£9.50
OUT HEAR
Jennifer Walshe:
ALL THE MANY PEOPLS
CONTEMPORARY
Award-winning Irish composer and
performer Jennifer Walshe performs her
own work in experimental composition
and film. ‘The most original compositional
Jennifer Walshe
Book tickets now:
LISTINGS 59
LISTINGS
February 2013
CHRISTINE CROSHAW © NICHOLAS DAWKES | OLIVER COATES © NATHAN GALLAGHER | ANDREW RADLEY © BENJAMIN HARTE | HANS KOLLER © WILLIAM ELLIS | ALISTAIR ANDERSON © BRADLEY | OTHER ARTISTS © SUPPLIED PHOTOS
Christine Croshaw
composer Martin Suckling and tonight’s
performers about Britten as composer,
pianist and artistic director.
Pre-concert Talk: St Pancras Rm 6.30pm
Performance: Hall One 7.30pm
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
The pre-concert talk is free but requires separate
tickets. Please contact Box Office to reserve a seat.
Friday 8 February
BRITTEN AT 100
The Pity of War
Finzi Farewell to Arms
Schubert Auf dem Strom
Hoddinott The Silver Hound
Britten Canticle No. 3 (Still Falls the Rain)
Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies Sea Eagle
(for solo horn) Tippett The Heart’s Assurance
Nicky Spence tenor
Tim Thorpe French horn
Andrew Matthews-Owen piano
John Reid piano
CLASSICAL
Born in 1913, Britten grew up and came of age under the shadow of the two major
conflicts of the 20th century. The theme of war (and a longing for peace) would
preoccupy him for the rest of his life. This concert explores four creative
responses to conflict from Britten, Finzi,
Hoddinott and Tippett, alongside music by Schubert and Sir Peter Maxwell-Davies.
Oliver Coates
Tim Thorpe
Nicholas
Mulroy
Alistair Anderson
Joby Burgess
and Janey Miller
Nicky
Spence
Andrew Radley
Hans Koller
FOLK UNION
An Evening with
Alistair Anderson
FOLK
As a touring soloist, with 37 tours of the
USA, 5 trips to Australia and countless
European tours to his credit, Alistair
Anderson is internationally recognised as the master of the English concertina
and a leading Northumbrian piper. He
introduces the music of Northumberland
and the Scottish borders with melodies
dating back to the 17th century, alongside
his own compositions.
‘He is a treat to watch. His involvement
and delight in the music are infectious.
Beautiful music, played with skill, taste
and affection.’ fRoots
‘A master musician who pushes the
boundaries of traditional music’ EDS
Hall Two 8pm
Joby Burgess percussion
Janey Miller oboe
Andrew Matthews-Owen piano
John Reid piano
CLASSICAL
Two new works for voice, piano and
percussion and oboe by leading British
composers Simon Holt and Jonathan Dove
form the backbone of this concert,
counterbalancing settings of folksongs by Britten, some of his distinguished
contemporaries, and one bête noir
(Brahms). Before the performance, Katie
Derham of BBC Radio 3 and art historian
and critic Frances Spalding discuss
Britten’s working relationship with John and Myfanwy Piper.
Pre-concert Talk: St Pancras Rm 5pm
Performance: Hall One 7.30pm
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
The pre-concert talk is free but requires separate
tickets. Please contact Box Office to reserve a seat. Saturday 9 February
THE BASE
BRITTEN AT 100
Metamorphoses
Hans Koller Ensemble
Jakob Bro, Phil Robson guitars
Christine Tobin vocals
with Pre-Concert Talk
JAZZ
Hall One 7.30pm
Britten Metamorphoses for solo oboe
Simon Holt The Wasp Queen*
Roger Marsh Lullaby
Jonathan Dove Seven Angels*
Folksong settings by Britten, Brahms,
Grainger, Hoddinott, Vaughan
Williams & Grace Williams
* world premiere
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
Claire Booth soprano
Andrew Radley countertenor
Hans Koller Ensemble returns to The Base with a completely new set of
music, and some very special
international guests. The concert is being recorded for Jazz on 3. The first set
features the two guitars of Jakob Bro (Paul Motian, Tomasz Stanko) and Phil
Robson, in a celebration of the spirit of Gil Evans. The second part of the evening
presents new settings of poems by the
19th-century German poet Friedrich
Hölderlin, music written for celebrated
singer Christine Tobin.
Hall Two 8pm
Sunday 10 February
LONDON CHAMBER
MUSIC SERIES
Navarra Quartet
Haydn String Quartet in C, Op. 33
No. 3 The Bird
James Francis Brown String Quartet
No. 2 world premiere
Brahms String Quartet in C minor,
Op. 51 No. 1
CLASSICAL
The Navarra Quartet is one of the UK’s
best young quartets, and this is their
debut in the LCMS series. They perform
Haydn’s Bird quartet (so called because
of a bird-like repeating figure in the first
movement), one of Brahms’s most
impressive chamber works, completed in
Bavaria in summer 1873 after a long
gestation, and an important premiere of a
new quartet by celebrated British
composer James Francis Brown.
Hall One 6.30pm
£14.50 £18.50 | Online Savers £9.50
Navarra Quartet
60 LISTINGS
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020 7520 1490
February 2013
THIS WEEK’s FOCUS
Bach unwrapped week 3
Monday 11 February
WORDS ON MONDAY
Howard Goodall:
The Story of Music
SPOKEN WORD
13 – 15 February
Howard Goodall
The story of music is the story of our urge
to invent, connect, rebel – and entertain.
In this whirlwind one-hour talk, one of TV’s
favourite music broadcasters and
composers gives us a taste of his energetic
tour through 30,000 years of music, from
prehistoric instruments to contemporary
avant-garde. Howard Goodall is an Emmy,
BRIT and BAFTA award-winning composer
(Vicar of Dibley, Red Dwarf, QI,
Blackadder) a distinguished broadcaster,
and author of Big Bangs: The Story of Five
Discoveries that Changed Musical History.
He’s been England’s first-ever National
Ambassador for Singing, Classical Brit
Composer of the Year, and Classic FM’s
Composer-in-Residence.
A Concert with Commentary
Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue
in D minor, BWV 903
Toccata in D, BWV 912
Italian Concerto, BWV 971
Fantasy and Fugue in C minor, BWV 906
Jérôme Noetinger tape
Antoine Chessex saxophone
CONTEMPORARY
Lawrence Cummings conducts the Royal Academy of Music
Baroque Orchestra in a rich menu of concerti, a motet and
Lutheran Mass No. 2 in A, featuring outstanding young
talent. Jeffrey Siegel expounds on Bach as inspiration
to Busoni in his concert with commentary, Bach the
Spellbinder, including the tumultuous Chaconne in D minor.
See Bach Unwrapped feature p28–32
BACH UNWRAPPED
Keyboard Conversations®
Bach the Spellbinder
£9.50
Jérôme Noetinger
& Antoine Chessex:
Musique Concrète
a lutheran mass, Harpsichord
concertos and busoni’s visions
of JS bach
Wednesday 13 February
Hall One 7pm
OUT HEAR
Laurence Cummings
Jeffrey Siegel
French sound artist Jérôme Noetinger is
an improviser and composer of electroacoustic music based in Rives, France. He
runs the record label and record distributor
Metamkine, and writes in the French
magazine Revue & Corrigée. In this
performance he presents work produced
with a Revox B77 tape machine. He is
accompanied by Swiss composer and
musician Antoine Chessex on saxophone.
Chessex’s sonic researches include
compositions for ensembles, solo works,
transdisciplinary collaborations and
sound installations. The two will present
their own solo sets, followed by a duet.
Hall Two 8pm
Jérôme Noetinger
Questions & Answers
Jeffrey Siegel piano
CLASSICAL
Piano masterpieces that speak to the heart
with dazzling virtuoso performances and
captivating commentary by a world-class
pianist. Programme includes some of Bach’s
most enthralling works: the exhilarating
Italian Concerto, the vivacious and poetic
Toccata in D, Busoni’s stupendous
transcription of the famous Chaconne for
violin – and more! A lively, upbeat
programme for the seasoned music-lover
and the newcomer to great music.
‘Jeffrey Siegel’s Keyboard Conversations
programme is unique, informative and
very entertaining. A piano virtuoso and
first-class communicator, Jeffrey Siegel
makes you leave the theatre hungry for
more music.’ David Suchet
Hall One 7.30pm
£14.50 £17.50 £19.50 £26.50
Antoine Chessex
Book tickets now:
Friday 15 February
ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC
BACH UNWRAPPED
The Haydn Symphonies
Haydn Symphony No. 91 in E flat
(arr. by John Goldie-Scot)
Symphony No. 67 in F (arr. by Timothy Jones)
Symphony No. 90 in C
Chamber Orchestra
Paul Brough conductor
LAWRENCE CUMMINGS © SHEILA ROCK | Jérôme Noetinger © MAT RANSON | JEFFREY SIEGEL © STEVE PURCELL | PAUL BROUGH © RUTH JAMIESON | CHILINGIRIAN QUARTET © GRAHAM TOPPING | OTHER ARTISTS © SUPPLIED PHOTOS
CLASSICAL
This concert is part of the Royal Academy
of Music’s Dr Haydn’s Inexhaustible
GeniusBox, an ambitious project of
performances and workshops of all his
symphonies over the next decade. Haydn
himself sanctioned arrangements of some
of his most popular works (notably the
variations on Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser
and the Seven Last Words), and several of
his symphonies were arranged for
chamber ensembles and Harmonie
groups during his lifetime. In this spirit, the
original orchestral score of the sparkling
and witty Symphony No. 90 – written for
Count D’Ogny in 1788 – is performed
alongside newly commissioned
arrangements of its mellower
companion-piece Symphony No. 91 and the gallant Symphony No. 67
(composed at Esterházy at the end of the 1770s).
Hall One 7.30pm
£12.50 £16.50
Online Savers £9.50 OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!
Impropera’s
Songs From The Heart
COMEDY
A special one-off performance for
Valentine’s Day. Using their unique blend of classically trained voices,
virtuoso musicianship and improvised
ingenuity, Impropera create soaring songs of heartfelt romance, passion and love, inspired by objects of the audience’s affections. So, if romance is in the air for you, come to Kings Place and surprise your loved one with a song created from the things that make them special to you. And if it isn’t, perhaps Impropera’s
lonely hearts aria will change all that.
Baroque Orchestra
plays Bach
JS Bach Concerto No. 2 in E for harpsichord and orchestra, BWV 1053 Concerto No. 2 in C for two harpsichords and orchestra, BWV 1061 Motet: ‘Der Gerechte kommt’ from Fürchte dich nicht, BWV 228
Lutheran Mass No. 2 in A, BWV 234
Royal Academy of Music Baroque Orch.
Laurence Cummings director
CLASSICAL
This programme combines familiar
masterpieces with rare treasures. We
encounter Bach the arranger, Bach the
borrower and Bach the family man. The
glorious A major Mass combines choral
forces, orchestra and solo voices with
great variety and expressivity and
includes movements from cantatas and
beautiful obbligatos for two flutes. For
‘Der Gerechte kommt’ Bach takes
Kuhnau’s motet ‘Tristis est anima mea’
and adapts it, translates it into the
vernacular German for his congregation’s
comprehension and adds orchestral
accompaniment. The Harpsichord
Concerto in E major is an arrangement of a lost oboe concerto which Bach
transcribed for one of his sons to play in
Zimmermann’s coffee house in Leipzig.
No doubt he wrote the C major Double
Harpsichord Concerto to play himself
alongside one of his many talented sons
as the good citizens of Leipzig enjoyed
their newfound guilty pleasure, coffee.
Hall One 7.30pm
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
FOLK UNION
The Wagon Tales
FOLK
For the last couple of years, The Wagon
Tales have been steadily establishing
themselves as London’s most exciting
alternative bluegrass band. Deeply
respectful of tradition but never afraid to
step beyond it, the band deliver classic
bluegrass and intriguing original material
with a virtuosity and passion usually only
seen in stateside outfits. Equally at home
tearing into incendiary instrumentals at
breakneck speed and delivering delicate
vocal harmonies, The Wagon Tales
captivate their audiences. The sheer joy of
their music is infectious.
The Wagon Tales
THE BASE
Royal Academy of
Music Big Band
A Tribute to Sir John Dankworth
featuring Alec Dankworth
Nick Smart director
JAZZ
Stephen Hill conductor
with guest performers from the West End
A homage to the compositions and
arrangements of Sir John Dankworth,
one of the defining figures of British Jazz,
and his wife Dame Cleo Laine. The
evening also includes the presentation
of the 2013 Dankworth Composition
Prize, and a performance of the winning
piece. From the Johnny Dankworth Seven
in 1950 through to the seminal Big Band
of the 1960s and 70s, Dankworth’s music
was characterised by a unique sound
and unusual instrumentation. This
evening recreates that sound. Presented
in association with the Worshipful
Company of Musicians.
CONTEMPORARY
Hall Two 8pm
A selection of musical theatre from the
1940s to the present day, this concert
explores the vocal and musical styles of
Broadway and the West End over the
years. Includes excerpts from the more
traditional Carousel, My Fair Lady and
Candide through Wicked, Legally Blonde
and We Will Rock You to the brand-new
Book of Mormon.
Hall Two 8pm
Saturday 16 February
A Musical Theatre
Celebration
Musical Theatre Company
Hall One 7.30pm
£12.50 £16.50 | Online Savers £9.50 Sunday 17 February
LONDON CHAMBER
MUSIC SERIES
Chilingirian Quartet
The Romantic Piano
Quintets – 4
Haydn String Quartet in C, Op. 74 No. 1
[Hob. III:72] Britten String Quartet No. 3, Op. 94
Dvořák Piano Quintet No. 2 in A, Op. 81
Michael Dussek piano
CLASSICAL
Paul Brough
Royal Academy
of Music Big Band
Impropera
Hall Two 8pm
Valentine’s Special Offer:
Ticket + 3 courses + a glass of Prosecco. All for £29.50
LISTINGS 61
LISTINGS
Thursday 14 February
February 2013
Another in the Chilingirian Quartet’s
survey of famous Romantic piano
quintets. They are joined by Michael
Dussek in the beautiful Dvorák
Quintet, composed in 1887. The
quartet also perform a mid-period
Haydn quartet and, in celebration of
his centenary, some music by Britten
− his final quartet, composed at the
very end of his life in 1975.
Hall One 6.30pm
£14.50 £18.50 | Online Savers £9.50
62 LISTINGS
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
February 2013
THIS WEEK’s FOCUS
Bach unwrapped
week 4
18 – 22 FEBRUARY
Monday 18 February
WORDS ON MONDAY
Benjamin Britten: A Life
in the Twentieth Century
Paul Kildea
SPOKEN WORD CLASSICAL
The former Head of Music at the
Aldeburgh Festival, writer and conductor
Paul Kildea talks about his major
new biography of Benjamin Britten.
He will play clips to show how Britain’s
greatest 20th-century composer
recreated English music in a fresh,
modern, European form. Kildea will
also discuss the two disadvantages
faced by Britten: his passionate pacifism
and his homosexuality, helping us
understand the relationship between
his music and his life.
Hall One 7pm
£9.50 | or £6.50 if booked with any of
the Britten at 100 concerts (see pp 58-59)
OUT HEAR
BACH UNWRAPPED
Pekka Kuusisto:
Bach and electronic improvisations
Bach Partita in D minor, BWV 1004
with electronic improvisations
based on funeral chorales and Finnish
funeral tunes
Pekka Kuusisto violin & electric violin
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL
Pekka Kuusisto
Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto is
one of the most versatile and distinctive
musicians working today. Always
demonstrating his extraordinary
individuality and imagination, he is
Paul Kildea
Pekka Kuusisto improvises
chorales on electric violin;
the art of fugue by fretwork
In this fourth week of Bach Unwrapped we welcome Finnish
dynamo violinist Pekka Kuusisto, who will improvise on
funeral chorales between movements of the Partita in D
minor. Soprano Carolyn Sampson joins the Academy of St
Martin in the Fields and Fretwork will perform their highly
successful transcription of The Art of Fugue.
See Bach Unwrapped feature p28–32
acclaimed for the spontaneity and
freshness in his playing. He is set apart
from most other violinists of his
generation by his ability to improvise,
and his love of different musical styles.
‘Pekka Kuusisto is the very
embodiment of joyful music-making’
The Toronto Star
Hall Two 8pm
BACH UNWRAPPED
Fretwork:
The Art of Fugue
The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080
Liam Byrne, Asako Morikawa,
Reiko Ichise, Richard Tunnicliffe
& Richard Boothby
CLASSICAL
Just as the fugal form itself was
becoming unfashionable, Bach produced
its apotheosis in the immensely rich Art of
Fugue. Traditionally played on the
keyboard, it’s been arranged for orchestra
and string quartet, but for Richard
Boothby of Fretwork, it translates
extremely well to viol consort: ‘Bach
would probably never have heard the
antiquated viol consort, but the range
of pitches and homogeneity of timbres
makes it ideal for this work … We bring
the great tradition of 16th – and 17th –
century English music to this last great
flowering of contrapuntal ingenuity.’
Hall One 7.30pm
£16.50 £21.50 £27.50 £34.50
Fretwork
Book tickets now:
LISTINGS 63
LISTINGS
February 2013
BACH UNWRAPPED
vPEKKA KUUSISTO © KAAPO KAPU | KATYA APEKAISHEVA © JACK LIEBECK | CAROLYN SAMPSON © ANNELIES VAN DER VEGT | OLIVIA CHANEY © PATRICK WILLIAMS | SARAH BENETTO © GISABELLE ADAM | ACADEMY OF ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS © CHRIS CHRISTODOULOU | OTHER ARTISTS © PROMO PHOTOS
Katya Apekisheva:
Inventions & Sinfonias
and Italian Concerto
Inventions & Sinfonias (Two- and Three-Part Inventions), BWV 772–801 Italian Concerto, BWV 971
Alwynne Pritchard
Langham Research Centre
Sarah Bennetto
Olivia Chaney
Katya Apekisheva piano
CLASSICAL
Leeds prize-winner Katya Apekisheva
performs the Book of Two- and Three-Part
Inventions, the album through which so
many young pianists discover Bach. In his
journey through the keys, Bach created
two sets of 15 masterful miniatures, each
with a contrasting character, technically
rigorous yet highly expressive and
designed to help students ‘learn to play
two voices clearly … and to achieve a
cantabile style of playing’. Apekisheva
follows these with the much-loved Italian
Concerto, a three-movement solo work in
the Vivaldian tradition, of tremendous
energy and appeal. ‘Astute colours and brilliant technique.’
The Times
Katya Apekisheva
Hall One 7.30pm
£14.50 £19.50 £24.50 £29.50
Storytellers’ Club
with Sarah Bennetto & Friends
COMEDY
Late one winter’s night, Sarah Bennetto
gathers her comedy friends round a brilliant ̒faux-log campfire ̓ to tell
witching-hour tales to blow your mind and
break your heart. Special guest
storytellers from the comedy and music
world, just telling stories. Brilliant ones.
Simple as that really. Storytellers’ Club is
the cult creation of stand-up comic Sarah
Bennetto, springing to life in 2006, after
an evening of comics and musicians
telling stories ‘round the campfire’. Shortly
after, a monthly club was born, now
resident year-round at Pleasance
Islington, and appearing at UK music /
arts festivals, the Melbourne Comedy
Festival, and the Edinburgh Fringe. Full
line-up to be announced very soon.
Storytellers’ Club: you show, we tell. ‘A magical idea.’ The Metro, London
‘Unashamedly literate and lo-fi.’ The Independent, UK
Hall Two 8pm
£9.50
Carolyn Sampson
Friday 22 February
BACH UNWRAPPED
Academy of St Martin in
the Fields with Carolyn
Sampson: Concertos
and Cantatas – 1
with Pre-concert Talk
Cantata ‘Non sa che sia dolore’, BWV 209 Concerto in A minor for flute, violin & harpsichord, BWV 1044 Concerto in D minor for two violins, BWV 1043 Cantata ‘Ich habe genug’, BWV 82
Carolyn Sampson soprano
Soloists from the Academy of
St Martin in the Fields
CLASSICAL
The first in a series of three concerts which
are part of the year-long Bach Unwrapped.
The orchestra is joined by renowned
soprano Carolyn Sampson in programmes
which set some of Bach’s most beautiful
cantatas alongside each of the concertos
composed for violin – solo, doubled, or
alongside another instrument. This
programme sets two stunning solo
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
soprano arias alongside Bach’s Concerto
for two violins, and a second for
harpsichord and flute.
Pre-concert Talk – St Pancras Rm 6.30pm
£19.50 £24.50 £29.50 £39.50
Pre-concert talk is FREE, but requires separate
ticket. Contact Box Office to reserve your seat.
MONday 25 February
OUT HEAR
Langham Research
Centre: OBAMIX
+ John Cage
FOLK
Felix Carey tape, radio
Iain Chambers tape, radio
Andrew McGregor newsreader
Alwynne Pritchard soprano
Philip Tagney synthesizer, tape, radio
Robert Worby radio, tape, effects
Jo Langton radio
Olivia trained as a pianist, singer and
composer at Chetham’s School of Music
and the RAM. She taught herself guitar and
harmonium and has carved out her own
sound. Obvious influences are songwriters
of the 60s, the origins of opera, and folk
music from all over. Her writing, performing
and collaborations are subtle, powerful
and wide-reaching. ‘Haunting, majestic and truly stunning’
Bearded Magazine
‘Pure-voiced romanticism’ MOJO
The premiere of Langham Research Centre’s
OBAMIX, a unique musique concrète chorale for
open-reel tape machines and soprano Alwynne
Pritchard. It examines the rhetorical flourishes
of the speech-maker, drawing its libretto
from three of Barack Obama’s defining
speeches. It invites us to question the
assumed choreography of speech-giving, and how our physical bodies serve our words.
In addition to OBAMIX, LRC will perform John
Cage’s rarely-heard Speech (1955).
Hall Two 8pm
Hall Two 8pm
£9.50
FOLK UNION
Olivia Chaney & Friends
CONTEMPORARY
64 LISTINGS
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
February 2013
THIS WEEK’s FOCUS
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
curated by Hester Abrams & Mekella Broomberg
23 February – 3 March
Saturday 23 February
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Double-Bill: Leonard
Cohen Tribute – Part 1
Bernard Avishai:
Promiscuous
SPOKEN WORD
Leonard Cohen has had many
incarnations: seen by many as a living
musical legend, he has been a novelist,
poet, folk singer, and Buddhist monk.
Admitting to influences as wide ranging
as Hebrew prayer and Lorca, Cohen
himself has in turn inspired generations
of artists. Salman Rushdie said, ‘If I
could write like that, I would.’ Jewish
Book Week, in conjunction with the
Jewish Music Institute and Faber Books
presents an evening of appreciation for
Cohen’s poetry, prose and lyrics. In the
first part of the evening, poets and
musicians will discuss Cohen’s lyrics
and continuing legacy. Speakers to
include Sophie Solomon and music
journalist Dorian Lynskey.
Hall One 7.30pm
£9.50 | £19.50 with the 9.30pm event
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Double-Bill: Leonard
Cohen Tribute – Part 2
CONTEMPORARY
The event will culminate in a set of
covers of Cohen’s songs by a selection of
outstanding musicians. Full line-up soon
to be announced at kingsplace.co.uk
Hall One 9pm
£19.50 with the 7.30pm event
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
a rich tapestry of ideas, debate,
NEW VOICES, FILM, music and
PERFORMANCE at jewish book week
Jewish Book Week is back at Kings Place bursting at the
seams with writers, historians, photographers, musicians
and artists, including Simon Schama, John McCarthy,
Howard Jacobson, Fania Oz-Salzberger, Naomi Alderman,
Edmund de Waal, Rachel Lichtenstein, Carlo Ginzburg
plus a Leonard Cohen tribute in words and music.
See Jewish Book Week features on pp 34, 36 and 42
Sunday 24 February
Dilemmas of Difference
A biography of Portnoy’s Complaint
SPOKEN WORD
Portnoy’s Complaint provoked
instant, powerful reactions when first
published in 1969 and retains an
enduring hold over the imagination
today. In Promiscuous, Bernard Avishai
offers a definitive biography of the
satiric masterpiece, based on Philip
Roth’s own writings, teaching notes,
and personal interviews.
Hall One 11am
£9.50
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
John McCarthy:
You Can’t Hide the Sun
SPOKEN WORD
Journalist and broadcaster John McCarthy
endured captivity for five years as a
hostage in Lebanon in the late 1980s.
The mystique of the Middle East and
its myriad complexities have drawn
him back. In his latest book, You Can’t
Hide the Sun, McCarthy weaves
moving testimony from Israeli
Palestinians with his own experiencte.
Hall One 12.30pm
£9.50
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
My Sister Rosalind
Franklin
Jenifer Glynn
SPOKEN WORD
Four generations after the Holocaust,
Europe’s fastest-growing Jewish
community faces new challenges, from
Günter Grass’s anti-Israel poem What Must
Be Said, to furious debate over the legality
of circumcision and assaults against Jews
in the street. Join writers of two generations
for a keynote discussion on what it means
to be Jewish and German today. It will raise
provocative questions about difference
and identity that resonate with all
multicultural societies.
Rosalind Franklin was perhaps the 20th
century’s most famous woman scientist.
Her outstanding abilities as a
crystallographer led to the key X-ray image
that provided the basis for Crick and
Watson’s famous cracking of the structure
of DNA. Franklin has often been portrayed
as a feminist scientist valiantly battling
against a male-dominated scientific world.
In this personal, family view of the brilliant
young woman overlooked for the Nobel
prize, her younger sister Jenifer Glynn
captures the impression of a warm and
rounded personality, who loved science
for its own sake.
Hall Two 7.30pm
£9.50
£6.50
German Jews, Jewish Germans
SPOKEN WORD
LISTINGS 65
Naomi Alderman:
The Liar’s Gospel
ancient Persia, collector René Braginsky
will present gems from his collection of
illuminated scrolls of the Book of Esther.
discussion with AD Miller about his debut
novel, which won the 2011 Sami Rohr
Prize for Jewish Literature.
Hall Two 5pm
Hall Two 6.30pm
SPOKEN WORD
£9.50
£9.50
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
SPOKEN WORD
AB Yehoshua:
The Retrospective
‘Father of the atom bomb’ Oppenheimer is
among the most contentious figures of the
20th century. Of German-Jewish ancestry,
he went on to oversee the successful
effort to beat the Nazis in developing the
first atomic bomb. But his was not a simple story of assimilation, scientific success
and world fame. Renowned biographer
Ray Monk traces the elusive Jewishness of
this most brilliant and divisive of men.
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Naomi Alderman, one of the most exciting writers of her generation, talks to Giles Fraser about her latest novel, in which she explores the inception of Christianity. She unravels the story of
Yehoshuah, a Jew who wanders Roman-occupied Judea giving sermons
and healing the sick. One year after his death, four narrators – his mother,
best friend, the High Priest and a rebel
leader – offer their own versions of
events... a̒ nd either something miraculous
happened, or someone lied’.
Hall One 2pm
£9.50
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Howard Jacobson:
How to Make Love to
Your Mother-in-Law
David Miliband on
Tony Judt and the Left
‘Tony Judt, Europe and the future
of the Left’
The late Tony Judt was a towering
historian of the 20th century and a
fearless commentator on world affairs,
including the challenges for the Left after
the collapse of the Soviet Union. Former
Foreign Secretary David Miliband reflects
on the challenges facing Europe now, in
this conversation with David Aaronovitch
about Judt’s influence and the options
for renewal of left-wing politics.
Hall One 6.30pm
Hall One 8pm
Man Booker Prize-winning author Howard Jacobson discusses his latest
novel, Zoo Time, with Rodge Glass.
Guy Ableman is a disenchanted novelist
facing a world where fiction might be
dead but desire is alive and thriving in
inappropriate places. Enjoy a frank and funny discussion about love – love of literature, laughter and women
(particularly mothers-in-law).
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
The Elusive Jewishness
of J Robert Oppenheimer
SPOKEN WORD
SPOKEN WORD
Monday 25 February
Ray Monk
One of the world’s most esteemed writers, AB Yehoshua, author of Mr Mani
and Friendly Fire, amongst others,
returns to the festival with his latest novel, The Retrospective. This beautiful
and meditative novel centres on an Israeli filmmaker who travels to Spain for a retrospective of his work. Whilst there, he sees a painting which triggers a memory and drives him to explore the
relationship between life and art, an artist
and his muses.
SPOKEN WORD
JEWISH BOOK WEEK ILLUSTRATION © HARDIE / WWW.HARDIEILLUSTRATOR.COM | AUSTIN RATNER © NINA SUBIN | JAMI ATTENBERG © MICHAEL SHARKEY | OTHER SPEAKERS © SUPPLIED PHOTOS
February 2013
St Pancras Room 1pm
£6.50
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Good Living Street
Tim Bonyhady
David
Miliband
Francesca
Segal
Austin
Ratner
Jami
Attenberg
Hall One 3.30pm
£9.50
SPOKEN WORD
Tim Bonyhady’s family were leading art
patrons in fin-de-siècle Vienna. The portrait
of his great-grandmother Hermine Gallia is the only Klimt in London’s National
Gallery. In Good Living Street he remembers
three generations of his family, who had
lived in unimaginable luxury before the
German takeover of Austria forced them to
flee. In 1938 his family left for a small flat in
Australia, taking with them the best private
collection of art and design to escape the
Nazis. The past was rarely discussed and it
was 50 years before Bonyhady discovered
the remarkable arc of his family’s fortunes.
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
René Braginsky’s
collection of Esther
Scrolls
SPOKEN WORD
Meet the man behind what has been
called the world’s most remarkable private
collection of Hebrew manuscripts. To mark
Purim, the festival which commemorates
the saving of the Jews from annihilation in
Howard
Jacobson
FREE
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
The Jump Artist
Marriage in the Suburbs
Austin Ratner
Francesca Segal & Jami Attenberg
SPOKEN WORD
SPOKEN WORD
SPOKEN WORD
Philippe Halsman was famous for
photographing the 20th-century’s
greatest names jumping in mid-air – from Dali to Monroe, Hitchcock to
Picasso. But his professional renown
masked a shocking tragedy haunting his life. In 1928, aged 22, Halsman was
unjustly accused of murdering his father in the Austrian Alps in a sensational trial whose anti-semitism
foreshadowed the Holocaust. Austin
Ratner comes to Britain for this Two witty and generous portraits of
suburban family life, Jewish style. In The
Innocents, Segal’s childhood sweethearts
Adam and Rachel are set for a life of
domestic bliss in Hampstead Garden
Suburb. In Chicago, setting for The
Middlesteins, Attenberg’s Edie, matriarch
of the Middlesteins, is eating herself to
death and her family can’t stop her.
Schama’s latest book is expected to be hotly
discussed in 2013. Accompanied by a major
BBC TV series, it is a landmark history from
the time of Moses to our own. Schama joins
us for a preview presentation of a story of
journeys from Brooklyn to Berlin, passages
to India, slow boats to China, a
richly-peopled intellectual territory from the
invention of a single God to the horrors of
the 20th century.
Hall Two 8pm
Hall One 7pm
£9.50
£9.50
Simon Schama’s
History of the Jews
LISTINGS
Book tickets now:
66 LISTINGS
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
February 2013
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Chief Rabbi’s 22 years
of Writing and Reading
Fania Oz-Salzberger:
How did the Jews
Remain Jews?
And Europe
Will Be Stunned
The Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
SPOKEN WORD
SPOKEN WORD
In August 2013 Lord Sacks retires as Chief
Rabbi of the Commonwealth and spiritual
head of the largest orthodox synagogue
body in Britain. He has led the post with
wisdom and authority through turbulent
times for Jews and earned worldwide
renown for his writing on multiculturalism,
tradition, continuity and belief. In this
valedictory lecture, Sacks reflects on his
intellectual legacy. Timed for the publication
of essays in his honour, this is a journey into
the mind of a man of our times.
Historian Fania Oz-Salzberger comes to
the festival to discuss Jews and Words,
which she wrote together with her father,
the celebrated Israeli novelist Amos Oz.
They trace a rich Jewish history of the
spoken and written word from the Bible to
today. Through a blend of storytelling,
scholarship, conversation and argument
the book explores a ‘textline’ of ties
between Jews that has been passed on
through generations and shaped a people.
Hall One 8.30pm
Hall Two 8.30pm
£9.50
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Tuesday 26 February
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
We Are Here
Voices from Lithuania
SPOKEN WORD
American journalist Ellen Cassedy travelled
to the land of her forbears and found
herself face to face with memory and moral
dilemmas. She explores Lithuania’s efforts
to build a civil and tolerant society on the
site of a bloody history. We Are Here shines
a light on fragile efforts toward mutual
understanding and asks how heritage can
be honoured without perpetuating the
fears and hatreds of the past.
St Pancras Room 1pm
£6.50
Carlo Ginzburg:
Jews and Christians
Poland and the Loss or Return
of the Jews Film Screening
& Panel Discussion
SPOKEN WORD
An evening dedicated to new
interpretations of Poland’s Jewish
past and the potential of art to imagine
a different future. A discussion between
Polish cultural activist Sławomir
Sierakowski, Polish-Jewish intellectual
Stanisław Krajewski, writer Eva
Hoffman, scholar François Guesnet and
art historian Tamar Garb follows a
screening of the visionary trilogy And
Europe Will Be Stunned. The event also
previews the 2013 opening of the
Museum of the History of Polish Jews on
the site of the Warsaw Ghetto.
Hall Two 7.30pm; Interval 8.30pm;
Panel Discussion – 8.50pm
A Story of Ambivalence
SPOKEN WORD
Eva Hoffman
Ginzburg, the pioneer of ‘micro-history’, is
considered by many to be the outstanding
European historian of his generation. Best
known for The Cheese and the Worms, an
account of a 16th-century miller burned at
the stake for heresy, this profoundly
original thinker talks with fellow
Renaissance scholar Lisa Jardine about
the ambivalent relationship between
Christians and Jews over the centuries.
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Rachel Lichtenstein:
Diamond Street
The Hidden World of
Hatton Garden
SPOKEN WORD
Rachel Lichtenstein uncovers Hatton
Garden, ‘one of the most secret streets
in England’. Intimately connected to the
area both personally, through her
family’s jewellery business, and as an
artist-archivist of London streets,
Lichtenstein explores the extraordinary
and vanishing history of this mysterious
quarter, a hub of ancient burial sites,
diamond workshops, underground
vaults, subterranean rivers, monastic
dynasties and forgotten palaces.
Hall One 8.30pm
Edmund de Waal
Hall One 7pm
£9.50
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Yehuda Avner:
The Prime Ministers
The Dead Sea Scrolls
and the Beginnings
of Midrash
SPOKEN WORD
SPOKEN WORD
Boianjiu comes to the festival for the UK
launch of his debut novel, The People of
Forever are Not Afraid, which is a
disconcerting and often surreal
coming-of-age story set in the Israeli army.
Written in English by a 25-year-old Israeli
dubbed a hot new literary talent, it
introduces three girlfriends conscripted
into endless boredom and danger,
entering adulthood with guns.
The Prime Ministers has been called ‘the
ultimate insider’s account’ of politics and
top-secret decision-making by five Israeli
prime ministers. Top political aide
Yehuda Avner worked beside Levi Eshkol,
Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem
Begin and Shimon Peres, and was
present for major moments including
Begin’s 1981 decision to bomb an Iraqi
nuclear reactor and Rabin’s handling of
the 1976 Entebbe airport rescue mission.
He talks to David Pryce-Jones.
One of the things the Dead Sea Scrolls
have shown is what Jews in ancient
times thought about the Bible, even
before its last chapters were written. The
scrolls have provided some of the most
ancient written examples of traditional
Jewish interpretation, and a snapshot of
how that interpretation, known as
‘Midrash’, arose. Renowned Jewish
biblical scholar James Kugel traces the
patterns of meaning that began in the
time of the Second Temple.
In 1939, Helga Weiss, 11, began a
diary of life in Nazi-occupied Prague,
keeping it for three years in Terezín
and resuming aged 151/2 on returning
home after Auschwitz. Helga, who
lives today in the apartment where
she was born, comes to Jewish Book
Week to present her remarkable and
rare first-hand contemporary record
of the Nazi era, which has been
compared to that of Anne Frank.
Hall One 7pm
Hall Two 5.30pm
Hall Two 7pm
FREE
£9.50
FREE
£9.50
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Shani Boianjiu:
The People of Forever
are Not Afraid
SPOKEN WORD
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Helga’s Diary
A rare account of surviving
the Holocaust
SPOKEN WORD
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Edmund de Waal:
The Exiles Return
compelling, and what can we expect to see
next on our screens?
Hall One 7.30pm
£9.50
SPOKEN WORD
The ceramicist and acclaimed author of The Hare with the Amber Eyes turns
a new page in his family’s story. He
comes to Jewish Book Week to
present a new edition of his
grandmother’s novel about her
experiences in Nazi-occupied Austria.
Elisabeth De Waal’s book follows four
exiles as they return to Vienna in the
early 1950s, 15 years after their
escape. The publication marks 75
years since the Anschluss.
Hall One 8.30pm
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
From The Feminine
Mystique to Fifty
Shades – 50 Years On
Bidisha, Julie Bindel, Kira Cochrane
& Leah Thorn
EDMUND DE WAAL © HANNAH JAMES | RACHEL LICHTENSTEIN © JAMES PRICE | THOMAS HEATHERWICK © ELENA HEATHERWICK | EVA HOFFMAN © SUPPLIED PHOTO
SPOKEN WORD
‘The book that pulled the trigger on history,’
The Feminine Mystique created an instant
impact on its publication in 1963, altering
consciousness, culture and lives. Fifty years
on, Jewish Book Week looks at the
continued reverberations of Betty Friedan’s
feminist rallying cry, in a discussion
including two generations of women.
Hall Two 8.30pm
£9.50
march
SATURDAY 2 March
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Israeli TV Drama Takes
the World By Storm
Sayed Kashua & Ron Leshem
SPOKEN WORD
Viewers the world over have been glued to
terrorism drama Homeland, an American
version of Prisoners of War, which was
originally made for home consumption in
Israel. The country’s screenwriters and
producers are in high demand as TV
concepts are bought by international
companies and hit the global mainstream.
So what makes Israeli television drama so
Sunday 3 March
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
The Art and Photography
of Marianne Breslauer
Christina Feilchenfeldt
SPOKEN WORD
Breslauer was a young photographer in
Weimar Germany who captured the
essence of life in an era coming to a close. She knew Man Ray and Marlene Dietrich,
and later, in Switzerland, ran one of the
most significant art dealerships of the time. Her granddaughter Christina Feilchenfeldt
comes from Berlin to tell an extraordinary
story of art and the avant-garde.
Hall One 11am
£9.50
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Orlando Figes
& Nancy K. Miller:
Traces of the Past
SPOKEN WORD
How do a historian and a literary critic
recreate the pasts of people they’ve never
met, with little more than papers and a few
objects to go on? In conversation with
Henrietta Foster, Orlando Figes and Nancy K. Miller share the challenges of building a
picture of ordinary lives, in a discussion of
his new book based on the largest cache
ever found of letters from the Gulag, and
her American family chronicle.
Hall Two 11am
£9.50
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Sayed Kashua: Exposure
SPOKEN WORD
Celebrated author Sayed Kashua portrays
Palestinian Israelis with complex and
conflicted identities with a wry wisdom that he made his own in two novels and a popular Israeli TV sitcom, Arab Labour.
Here the Hebrew-writing author presents
his third novel, Exposure, in a discussion
with Ariel Kahn as part of the Arab-Israeli
Book Club.
Hall One 12.30pm
£9.50
LISTINGS 67
February–March 2013
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Rachel
Lichtenstein
Inside the Courts
of the Chassidim
Gil Cohen-Magen
SPOKEN WORD
News photographer Gil Cohen-Magen
spent a decade getting to know the
closed world of Israel’s ultra-orthodox,
persuading community elders to let him
record their daily lives, family ceremonies
and religious rituals in a project that
changed his own perceptions.
Cohen-Magen comes to London to open
a lens on a little-known world.
Thomas
Heatherwick
£9.50
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Does Your Rabbi
Know You’re Here?
Thomas Heatherwick:
Making
Anthony Clavanne & David Dee
SPOKEN WORD
A secret social history of beautiful games:
two writers upset the widely held belief
that Jews and sport don’t mix. Anthony
Clavane celebrates the unsung pioneers
who played a key role in English football’s
transformation from working-class pursuit
to global entertainment industry, and
Dave Dee shows the impact British Jews
have had on a century of sport, from
football to boxing and golf.
Hall Two 3.30pm
£6.50
SPOKEN WORD
Visionary designer Thomas Heatherwick
has been called the ‘Leonardo da Vinci of our times’. From his London studio
have come the 2012 Olympic Games
cauldron, a revamp of London’s
double-decker Routemaster bus, a Seed
Cathedral, and creations all over the world
that combine beauty with thought,
process and function. Heatherwick comes
to Jewish Book Week to share the
conceptual genius behind his creations,
exploring the material and the spiritual.
Hall One 8pm
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
Nights Out in
Cosmopolitan London
Walking with the Light
Judith Walkowitz
Jonathan Wittenberg
SPOKEN WORD
SPOKEN WORD
In the years up to WWII, Soho was
transformed from a dark quarter infamous
for sex and crime into a mecca of shopping, restaurants and night-life entertainments.
Judith Walkowitz looks at the particular
contribution of Jews ‘up West’, from the
schleppers of Berwick Street market to the
tailors of Savile Row and the musicians of the Lyon’s Corner Houses.
North London rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg
talks about his journey from the site of his
grandfather’s destroyed Frankfurt
synagogue to his own. With his dog
Mitzpah by his side, in 2010 he walked
300 miles with a ̒Ner Tamid’, an eternal
light, reflecting on Jewish life past and
present, and meeting Christians and
Muslims across northern Europe.
Hall Two 5pm
Hall Two 8pm
£9.50
£9.50
Jewish Book Week
Ticket Offers
Group Booking*
Group of 6 or more people for one event 20% discount
Multi-event discount*
Book 3 or 4 events and save 15%
Book 5 or 6 events and save 20%
Book 7 or more events and save 30%
* Excludes Online Savers
LISTINGS
Book tickets now:
68 LISTINGS
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
March 2013
THIS WEEK’s FOCUS
THE Schubert Ensemble:
30th Anniversary
7 – 9 March
Monday 4 March
WORDS ON MONDAY
SCHUBERT ENSEMBLE AT 30
Poetry and Medicine
Schubertiade
Curated by Poet in the City
in association with Medicine Unboxed
Schubert String Trio Movement
in B flat, D471
Piano Quintet in A, D667 The Trout
Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat, D929
SPOKEN WORD
Poetry can bring new perspectives to the
ideas we have about medicine and
health. This exciting and innovative event,
in collaboration with Medicine Unboxed,
will feature acclaimed contemporary
poets who have written about health from
outside the medical profession, with
contributions from experts from within it.
Featuring Costa Prize winning poet
Jo Shapcott (Of Mutability, 2010), Dr Sam
Guglani, Curator of Medicine Unboxed
and Baroness Sheila Hollins.
Hall One 7pm
£9.50
OUT HEAR
MANIFESTO
I. Futurist Manifesto
II. Dadaist Manifesto
III. Vorticist Manifesto
III. Lettrist Manifesto
V. Fluxus
Lore Lixenberg voice
with Aleks Kolkowski, Rob Worby,
Federico Reuben & Greg Rose
CONTEMPORARY
An exciting evening that centres on
performances and readings of avant-garde
manifestos from the 20th century by
experimental vocalist and opera singer
Lore Lixenberg. She uses her voice to
present the manifestos as they have never
been heard before. Lixenberg introduces
extracts from of rarely heard gems where
art, music, performance and philosophy
combine, alongside music that comes from
the time of the manifestos themselves.
the schubert ensemble
celebrate 30 glorious years
with the classics and the new
The Schubert Ensemble began life with a performance
of The Trout. Thirty years on they celebrate their rewarding
journey with a Schubertiade, an exploration of some of the
repertoire they have brought to prominence, here Enescu’s
First Piano Quartet, and look to the future with the Lawson Trio,
with whom they perform a bevy of brilliant new commissions.
See Classical Highlights p10
Thursday 7 March
Two 8pm
The Schubert Ensemble
Simon Blendis violin
Douglas Paterson viola
Jane Salmon cello
Peter Buckoke double bass
William Howard piano
CLASSICAL
Early in 1983, The Schubert Ensemble
came together for the first time to play
Schubert’s Trout Quintet at St Martin-inthe-Fields. This much-loved and sparkling
work, which gives the Ensemble their
distinctive line-up with double bass,
forms an appropriate centrepiece to the
opening concert of their 30th-anniversary
celebrations. Starting the programme is
the 19-year-old Schubert’s charming and
lyrical String Trio Movement in B flat, and
in the second half is his E flat Piano Trio,
a late work of incredible virtuosity,
passion and beauty. Its vast emotional
landscape makes it without doubt one of
the greatest works in the whole chamber
repertoire, and one of Schubert’s
crowning achievements.
Hall One 7.30pm
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
Rachel Stubbings is…
Stubbing Out Problems
COMEDY
After a sell-out run at the Edinburgh
Fringe, Rachel brings her agony aunt
show to Kings Place for an exciting
extended show. Bad breath? Up the duff
with a man old enough to be your dad?
Rachel can help. When she realised she
had a gift for healing, Rachel set up
Stubbing Out Problems – her own online
agony aunt business. Now she’s pulled all
the best bits together into a live
multimedia show. Come watch her heal
people by every means possible!
**** The Metro
‘Original and intelligent ... Her performance
is perfectly polished and professional ... it’s
easy to become captivated by her weird
little world.’ **** Broadway Baby
Hall Two 8pm
Friday 8 March
Sunday 10 March
LONDON CHAMBER
MUSIC SERIES
Looking to the Future 1
with Pre-Concert Talk: ‘Exploring Enescu’
Cheryl Frances-Hoad Marathon, Relay,
Walk, Sprint!
Anthony Powers Piano Trio (2010)
and ‘Chamber Music 2000’ pieces
performed by student groups
CLASSICAL
The Schubert Ensemble have always had a passion for championing neglected
works of the past that deserve a wider
hearing. This concert offers a rare chance
to hear Ensecu’s brilliantly colourful and
virtuosic First Piano Quartet (1909) played
by musicians who have taken this
composer to their hearts. The
performance also features the darkly
passionate Second Piano Quartet by
Gabriel Fauré, one of Enescu’s most
important teachers. The pre-concert talk gives a players’ perspective on the
Enescu Quartet, illustrated with extracts.
Pre-concert Talk – Hall One 6.30pm
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
Pre-concert talk is FREE, but requires separate ticket. Contact Box Office to reserve your seat.
SCHUBERT ENSEMBLE © JOHN CLARK | BRASS MONKEY © SAM URQUHART | THREE CANE WHALE © PAUL WIGENS | ALEXANDER HAWKINS © EMILE HOLBA
Three Cane Whale
Exclusive Album Launch
Alex Vann mandolin, bowed psaltery,
music box, zither Paul Bradley acoustic guitar,
miniature harp Pete Judge trumpet, harmonium,
lyre, glockenspiel, dulcitone
FOLK
Multi-instrumental acoustic trio Three Cane Whale show the influences of folk,
minimalism, classical and film music.
Their music evokes a diversity of
landscapes, journeys, atmospheres and
incidents. Alex Vann is mandolinist with
the hugely innovative Spiro, Pete Judge
plays trumpet for the equally highly- regarded Get The Blessing (BBC Jazz Award- winners) and Paul Bradley is currently
touring as the one-man band for Fleur
Darkin’s Dance Company. The band’s
eponymous debut album was recorded
live in an 11-hour shift in an 18th- century Bristol church, and was chosen by
Cerys Matthews as one of her ‘Top Five
modern folk albums’ (Sunday Telegraph).
Hall Two 8pm
Rosamunde Trio: The
Complete Beethoven
Piano Trios – 2
Chamber Music 2000+
Brass Monkey
Lawson Trio
Annabelle Lawson piano
Fenella Humphreys violin
Rebecca Knight cello
with student groups
£4.50 | or FREE to ticket holders
for the 7.30pm concert
SCHUBERT ENSEMBLE:
30TH ANNIVERSARY
Looking to the Future 2
Schubert Ensemble Commissions
Huw Watkins Piano Quartet (2012)
Joe Cutler Slippery Music (2010)*
Edward Rushton Piano Quartet (2013)**
JS Bach (arr. John Woolrich) Five
Chorales (2000)
Pavel Zemek Novák Unisono (2011)*
David Knotts Night Song and Garden
Quadrille (2010)
David Matthews Five to Tango (1993)
Martin Butler American Rounds (1998)
* London premiere | ** World premiere
The anniversary celebrations culminate in
a fascinating and varied programme drawn from the 45 works they’ve commissioned.
This concert features the world premiere
of a new Piano Quartet by Edward Rushton, the London premiere of Joe Cutler’s quirky
and playful Slippery Music, and colourful
and lyrical works by David Knotts and
Huw Watkins. David Matthews’ 70th
Beethoven Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1/3
Variations in G, Op. 121a Kakadu
Piano Trio in E flat, Op. 70/2
CLASSICAL
Chamber Music 2000 was set up in 1998
by The Schubert Ensemble to create a
repertoire of works for piano and strings
for young and amateur musicians. In this
concert, the Lawson Trio perform a work
written for them by Anthony Powers,
together with a movement from Cheryl
Frances-Hoad’s witty Five Rackets For Trio
Relay for double piano trio. The rest of the
45-minute programme consists of
Chamber Music 2000 pieces performed by
student groups. This concert celebrates the
launch of Chamber Music 2000+, a new
edition of pieces commissioned by The
Schubert Ensemble and the Lawson Trio.
Hall One 6pm
FOLK UNION
LISTINGS 69
Saturday 9 March
Enescu & Fauré:
Neglected Genius
Enescu Piano Quartet No. 1 in D, Op. 16
Fauré Piano Quartet No. 2 in G minor, Op. 45
March 2013
Three Cane Whale
birthday (on the day of the concert) is
celebrated with his Five to Tango, and
there are two beautiful and distinctive
homages to Bach and his family by John
Woolrich and Pavel Zemek Novák. Martin
Butler’s American Rounds is one of the
Ensemble’s best-loved commissions.
The Rosamunde Trio, a piano trio of
international soloists, continues its
Beethoven series. This concert features
one of the early works from the 1790s and the delightful Kakadu Variations,
alongside the wonderful second of the Op.
70 Trios, too often overshadowed by the
Ghost Trio, with which it was published.
Hall One 6.30pm
£14.50 £18.50 | Online Savers £9.50
HIDDEN TREASURE
Brass Monkey
Exclusive Album Launch
Hall One 7.30pm
FOLK
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
Now, marking their third decade
together, Brass Monkey are back after
their massive success at recent
festivals, sounding as fresh and original
as ever! 2012 saw the band’s 30th
anniversary and, following a number of
sporadic reunions over the years, they
celebrated in style. They now launch a
new CD and DVD Brass Monkey – The
Best Of Live on Park Records, capturing
the magic of those celebratory concerts.
Original members Martin Carthy, John
Kirkpatrick, Roger Williams and Martin
Brinsford were joined first by trumpeter
Paul Archibald and more recently by
Shane Brennan to form a six strong
line-up, playing concerts and festivals
across the UK. A band as ready to move
forward as they were to look to the past,
they are recording a new album – their
first as a six-piece in spring 2013. Brass
Monkey are back – as bright, exciting
and loud as ever.
There'll be a post-concert reception in St Pancras Room, also featuring a surprise premiere by the
Schubert Ensemble. Members of audience who
have booked all performances may reserve their
place via Box Office until 7 Feb 2013. Limited
availability. Book early to avoid disappointment.
THE BASE
Alexander
Hawkins Ensemble
Alexander Hawkins piano
Dylan Bates violin
Neil Charles double bass
Otto Fischer electric guitar
Shabaka Hutchings clarinets
Tom Skinner drums
JAZZ
Pianist and composer Alexander Hawkins
has been described as ‘unlike anything
else in modern creative music’. His highly
individual soundworld is a result of his
search to reconcile his love of free
improvisation with his fascination with
composition and structure. One early
reviewer said ‘the range of tonal colours
and breadth of activity that this ensemble
can actualise is staggering’. The Ensemble,
now in its second incarnation, expands
the palette to even more daring ends. ‘A colossal talent’ Jazz on 3
Hall Two 8pm
Hall Two 8pm
Alexander Hawkins
LISTINGS
Book tickets now:
70 LISTINGS
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
March 2013
THIS WEEK’s FOCUS
hidden treasure
Monday 11 March
TALKING ART
Jeremy Gardiner:
Unfolding Landscape
curated by alan bearman music
SPOKEN WORD
13 – 15 March
Jeremy Gardiner’s paintings are effectively
an artistic excavation of the geology of
landscape: how it is shaped by human
activity and the forces of nature. His artistic
exploration has taken him from the Jurassic
coast of Dorset to the rugged coast of
Cornwall, passing through the dramatic
American landscape, the rough volcanic
islands of Brazil, the arid beauty of the
island of Milos in Greece and more recently
the Lake District and its numerous waterfalls.
His paintings become a symbolic map,
interpreting and capturing the impact of
human and natural events, the activities in
time and space that have shaped, textured
and coloured the landscape to give it a
unique, contemporary depth and beauty.
£6.50
Irish composers. Formed in 2003 by Irish
composer Ed Bennett, and recently
described in The Guardian as an ensemble
performing ‘Unclassifiable, raw-nerve
music of huge energy and imagination’,
Decibel explore experimental, energetic,
extreme and unusual work between or
outside the usual categories. They play
contemporary music, combining a direct
amplified instrumental ensemble sound
with electronics, improvisation and
theatrical elements. The group’s CD
My Broken Machines was Time Out
Chicago’s No. 1 Contemporary CD of 2011.
Hall Two 8pm
Wednesday 13 March
HIDDEN TREASURE
Double Bill: Carthy,
Hardy, Farrell & Young
+ Marry Waterson
& Oliver Knight
FOLK
WORDS ON MONDAY
Rock’n’Roll Politics
with Steve Richards & Guests
SPOKEN WORD
Martin Simpson
Award-winning BBC broadcaster and
Independent columnist Steve Richards
takes you behind the scenes of British
politics and the media – the characters,
the absurdities, the tragedies. Laugh and
cry as you are taken on a whirlwind tour
from Harold Wilson and David Bowie in the
1970s to Cameron, Clegg and Miliband,
via Blair and Paul McCartney. ‘Rock’n’Roll
Politics’ was a smash hit at the 2012
Edinburgh Festival – don’t miss your chance
to glimpse another side of Westminster!
Hall One 7pm
£9.50
a treasure trove of folk greats,
FEATURING martin simpson, a bevy of
fiddlers and ROY BAILEY AND TONY BENN
Celebrated folk programmer Alan Bearman has assembled
a wonderful cast for his series, Hidden Treasure. After a
special Brass Monkey gig (p69), the series features Martin
Simpson, a double header with fiddle quartet Carthy, Hardy,
Farrell & Young and Waterson & Knight plus Bailey & Benn’s
On The Wall and Britfolk’s brightest new guns; Mawkin.
OUT HEAR
Carthy, Hardy, Farrell and Young brings
Eliza Carthy, one of the most impressive
and engaging performers of her
generation, together with three other fine
fiddler singers. Bella Hardy’s captivating
voice spins her stories with a balance of
strength and sensitivity. Lucy Farrell has
sprung to prominence through her work
with Jonny Kearney. Kate Young is
Scotland’s rising folk pioneer, conveying
traditional and world music with passion
and drive. Marry and Oliver moved out of
the shadow of their mother, folk legend Lal
Waterson, with last year’s The Days that
Shaped Me album, for which they were
nominated for a BBC Folk Award. Their new
album, Hidden, showcases the vivid stories
and characters inhabiting Marry’s songs.
Hall One 7.30pm
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
Decibel: Big, Noisy, Quiet
Ed Bennett New Work for violin and
ensemble (Premiere)
Joe Cutler Extended Play (Premiere)
Sean Clancy I See Now Why People Hide
Laurence Crane Classic Stride and Glide
Howard Skempton Rising to a Crescendo
Michael Wolters German Folk Tunes
Damien Harron So Macho
Carthy, Hardy, Farrell & Young
Decibel | Ed Bennett artistic director
Daniele Rosina conductor
CONTEMPORARY
See Q&A with Alan Bearman on p82
A wild and diverse rhythmic extravaganza
of music by the freshest British-based and
Marry Waterson & Oliver Knight
March 2013
Thursday 14 March
HIDDEN TREASURE
Tony Benn & Roy Bailey
The Writing on The Wall
FOLK
Benn and Bailey have been entertaining
audiences together for 30 years. They won BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards’ ‘Best Live Act’ in
2003, and they still sell out wherever they
go. Witty, perceptive and thought-provoking, Benn’s memories and anecdotes from a
lifetime at the forefront of British politics
are interspersed with protest folk from the
excellent Bailey, ‘the very soul of folk’s
working-class ideals’ (Mojo) and ‘the
greatest socialist folksinger of his
generation’ (Tony Benn). ‘Majestic. Provocative. Inspiring’ Mojo
Bach drew on Leipzig Passion traditions
and his experience as a composer of
church cantatas when he composed and
revised the Passion.
II: Performance Traditions
Timothy Jones is joined by colleagues from
the Royal Academy of Music to discuss
what we know of Bach’s performances,
how new traditions of performing the
Passion developed in the mid-19th
century, and how they have changed
during the era of sound recording.
Hall One 7.30pm
St Pancras Room 10.30am–1pm;
2pm–4.30pm
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
FOLK UNION
HIDDEN TREASURE
Mawkin
Hall One 7.30pm
FOLK
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
Folk rebels Mawkin are forging a bold new
sound that strengthens their instrumental
roots and embraces a new, exuberant
exploration of the traditional folk canon
from the British Isles and beyond. The
‘unconditionally mighty’ (Mojo) four-piece
have augmented their sound with the
addition of long-time producer and
Richardson on drums and percussion.
Expect the mesmerising guitar playing of
David Delarre, the carnal beats of drummer
and percussionist Lee Richardson,
richly-textured bass lines from Danny
Crump. Add a host of emotive melodies
from the frenetic fiddling fingers of James
Delarre interplaying with Nick Cooke’s
virtuosic melodeon and you have Mawkin.
Double Bill: Jonny & the
Baptists + Colin Hoult
COMEDY
Surreal, satirical and occasionally sexy,
Jonny & the Baptists have taken the
comedy world by storm with a riotous
collection of songs covering everything
from library closures and loneliness to the decline of the British pub. **** ‘A triumph’ Chortle
Colin Hoult is a razor-sharp character
comedian and Writers Guild Comedy
Award-winner. Television work includes
Ricky Gervais’s Life’s Too Short (BBC)
and Russell Howard’s Good News (BBC).
**** ‘Rivetingly original ... delightfully funny’ The Daily Telegraph
MARTIN SIMPSON © DAVID BAILEY | COLIN HOULT © IDIL SUKAN | OTHER ARTISTS © SUPPLIED PHOTOS
Simpson. His own songwriting has
produced some real gems, from the truck- stop epic Love Never Dies to the
profoundly moving Never Any Good and
One Day. Martin has been nominated an
astounding 26 times in the 12 years of the
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards – more than any
other performer – with nine consecutive
years as nominee for Musician of The Year,
which he has won twice. He is 60 this year,
and is marking the occasion with a new
album in the spring.
Hall Two 8pm
Colin Hoult
£39.50 | Includes tea & coffee during break
BACH UNWRAPPED
St John Passion
St John Passion, BWV 245
John Mark Ainsley Evangelist
Roland Wood Christus
Sophie Bevan soprano
Iestyn Davies alto
Andrew Tortise tenor
David Stout Pilate | bass
The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
Aurora Orchestra
Nicholas Collon conductor
CLASSICAL
Condensed, searingly dramatic and starkly
original, no wonder the St John Passion has
lent itself to operatic staging. Renowned
British tenor John Mark Ainsley as the
Evangelist leads a fabulous young cast,
including alto Iestyn Davies and soprano
Sophie Bevan, under the baton of Nicholas
Collon, with Aurora Orchestra and the Choir
of Clare College. From its turbulent opening
to the use of viole d’amore to voice Christ’s
suffering the moving soprano aria ‘Melt my
heart’, this Passion sweeps all before it with
its urgent pace of invention. An Easter event
not to be missed.
Hall One 7.30pm
Hall Two 8pm
£29.50 £39.50 £49.50 £59.50
THE BASE
Friday 15 March
HIDDEN TREASURE
Saturday 16 March
Martin Simpson
BACH UNWRAPPED
FOLK
Study Day
Widely acknowledged as one of the finest
acoustic and slide guitar players in the
world, Martin Simpson is unpredictable,
individual and a guitarist of immense
subtlety. His interpretations of traditional
songs are masterpieces of storytelling. There is no one who has more successfully
combined the diverse elements of British,
Afro-American and old-timey music than
St John Passion with Dr Timothy Jones
(Royal Academy of Music)
CLASSICAL Interact
I: Context and Style
A presentation by 18th-century specialist
Timothy Jones, illustrated by students from
the RAM, on the context and musical style
of the St John Passion. It will discuss how
Get The Blessing
Pete Judge trumpet & electronics
Jake McMurchie saxophone & electronics
Jim Barr electric bass
Clive Deamer drums
JAZZ
Rarely has a band taken the jazz scene by
the scruff of the neck and given it as good
a shaking as Get The Blessing have.
Winners of the BBC Jazz Award 2008 for
their debut album All Is Yes, they are one
of the UK’s most exciting live bands with a signature sound that defies easy
LISTINGS 71
classification, yet never loses sight of
thumping tunes, monstrously infectious
beats, or joyous collective spontaneity.
With influences ranging from Ornette
Coleman and Tortoise to Blondie and
Samuel Beckett, GTB consistently
confound expectation. Prepare to be
teased, beguiled, soothed, spooked,
jolted, and ultimately uplifted.
Hall Two 8pm
Sunday 17 March
NOT SO SILENT MOVIES
Silent Movies with
Live Improv Band
Devised by composer/cellist
Philip Sheppard
MUSIC / FILM / COMEDY
Top musicians perform spontaneous
soundtracks to the world’s greatest silent
films. Improvisation begins as the film
starts to roll as none of the musicians have
watched the films in advance. The films will
include comic heroes Buster Keaton and
Harold Lloyd. The atmosphere will be
relaxed and club-like… and there’ll be room
for some very sophisticated mucking about.
Hall One 2.30pm
£12.50 £14.50 | Online Savers £9.50
Not So Silent Offer: Ticket + Bloody Mary +
Roast Lunch: All for just £29.50
LONDON CHAMBER
MUSIC SERIES
Fine Arts Brass Ensemble
Graham Fitkin Trevor (1997)
JS Bach (arr. Roberts) Prelude & Fugue
in C minor, BWV 549
Ireland (transcr. Lenton) Comedy
Overture
Robin Holloway Divertimento No. 5, Op. 67
Stravinsky (arr. Lenton) Pulcinella Suite
Bernstein (arr. Lenton) Overture
to Candide; ‘Simple Song’ from Mass
Falla Suite from the ballet El amor brujo
Various Tin Pan Alley Brass Suite
CLASSICAL
The LCMS is pleased to welcome one of
Europe’s most famous brass quintets. The Fine
Arts Brass Ensemble perform a wide range of
music, from original compositions by Fitkin and
Holloway to arrangements of Bach, Stravinsky,
Bernstein and Falla. Their two trumpets, horn,
trombone and tuba will make a rich brass
sonority to reverberate around the wooden
panelling of the Kings Place concert hall.
Hall One 6.30pm
£14.50 £18.50 | Online Savers £9.50
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March 2013
THIS WEEK’s FOCUS
Bach unwrapped
week 5
Monday 18 March
WORDS ON MONDAY
Pat Barker: Toby’s Room
Chaired by Claire Armitstead
Dmitry
Sitkovetsky
SPOKEN WORD
20 – 24 March
The highly acclaimed author of the
Regeneration trilogy and Booker Prize
winner for The Ghost Road returns with her
first novel in five years. Toby’s Room is a
riveting drama of identity, damage, intimacy
and loss set in the period from the summer
of 1912 through to the battlefields of France
and wartime London in 1917. Barker
discusses her fascination with WWI and its
long-lasting damage, the background to
many of her novels, and a particularly
influential art teacher and surgeon, Henry
Tonks, who recorded soldiers’ facial injuries.
Hall One 7pm
£9.50
OUT HEAR
Newton Armstrong New work
Joanna Bailie Artificial Environments
Nos. 1–5
James Weeks New work
Jennifer Walshe same person/not the
same person
Vicky Wright clarinets
Mark Knoop accordion, conductor
Roderick Chadwick piano
Serge Vuille percussion
Tom Pauwels guitar
Marcus Barcham-Stevens violin
Séverine Ballon cello
Jennifer Walshe voice
Newton Armstrong electronics
CONTEMPORARY
Brandenburg concertos from
the OAE, plus st john Passion
with clare College CHOIR
John Butt conducts the first in three OAE concerts devoted
to the Brandenburg Concertos this Friday. Join their
principal keyboardist Robert Howarth on 23 March for a day
singing Bach’s Passions, or delve deeper into the St John
Passion on 16 March (p71), a day which culminates in a
performance by Clare College Choir and Aurora Orchestra.
See Bach Unwrapped feature pp28–32
Dmitry Sitkovetsky:
The Art of Transcription
JS Bach Three-part Sinfonias, Nos. 1–15,
BWV 787–801
Goldberg Variations, BWV 988
(arr. Sitkovetsky for string trio)
Dmitry Sitkovetsky violin
Yuri Zhislin viola
Luigi Piovano cello
CLASSICAL
Ensemble Plus-Minus:
New Propositions
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Wednesday 20 March
BACH UNWRAPPED
Plus-Minus presents a concert of works
tracing the ensemble’s unique range of
interests – from alternative notions of music
theatre through to the micro-investigation
of sound and high-concept approaches to
contemporary music-making. Two UK
premieres by Jennifer Walshe and Joanna
Bailie sit alongside new pieces written for
the group by Armstrong and James Weeks.
Hall Two 8pm
Charles Owen
Sitkovetsky first wrote a transcription for
string trio of Bach’s Goldberg Variations in
1984, but 25 years later felt it was the right
moment to re-visit the work. He has made
some changes in orchestration, influenced
by his string orchestra transcription, but his
main objective was to inject fresh energy
to give the piece momentum. Sitkovetsky
hopes that listeners will share his journey
through the Goldberg Variations and his
love of the music – indeed in the first
publication of the Variations, Bach stated
that the spirit of the piece is ‘for the
enjoyment of music lovers’.
Hall One 7.30pm
£16.50 £21.50 £27.50 £34.50
Thursday 21 March
BACH UNWRAPPED
Charles Owen:
Partitas – 1
JS Bach Partita No. 1 in B flat, BWV 825
Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826
Partita No. 4 in D, BWV 828
Charles Owen piano
CLASSICAL
This is first of three recitals to be given by
gifted interpreter Charles Owen. ‘The six
Partitas represent the ultimate experience
of Bach’s dance-inspired keyboard suites’,
says Owen. ‘A wonderful richness, diversity
and complexity are found throughout
these works. The concept and ambition of
the pieces are enormous, ranging from the
slim-line, almost Vermeer-like B flat
Partita, with which I’ll begin this series, to
the epic final work in E minor, dominated
by a powerful grief comparable to the St Matthew Passion.’ Along the way we
encounter the melancholy elegance of the
C minor Partita and the resonant joy of the
Fourth in D major.
virtuosity of the Brandenburg Concerto
No. 4 and, like each concert in this
series, also includes two of Bach’s
too-little-known cantatas, which contain
some of his most masterful music.
Hall One 7.30pm
Hall One 7.30pm
£14.50 £19.50 £24.50 £29.50
£19.50 £29.50 £39.50 £49.50
Joint ticket offer: 25% off. Available with ‘Partitas 2’ event (2 May). To book, please call Box Office.
Joint ticket offer: 30% OFF. Available with ‘Cantatas
& Brandenburg Concertos – 2 and 3’ events (19 April & 17 May). Requires booking all three
events. To book, please call Box Office.
The Complete Guide to
Everything – Live!
The Woes
with additional show on Wed 20 Mar
FOLK
COMEDY
Sunset through your backyard windows,
the labels on good whisky bottles, the
Great Depression, dustbowl, aviator
sunglasses, American sedans of the
50s, the TV Show Twin Peaks, laughter
with large groups of people, Spencer
Tunic photographs… and the list goes
on. ‘These are some descriptions of
things’, frontman Osei Essed says, ‘that
we might remind you of while you’re
listening to us.’ Our records are good,
our live show is also good – we know
how to have fun.’ Come and enjoy.
Tim Daniels and Tom Reynolds are the
Brooklyn-based writers and comedians
who host The Complete Guide to
Everything, a weekly podcast with over 3.5
million downloads. The show is part of the
Splitsider Podcast Network and has a
devoted following throughout the US and
UK. The duo have sold out numerous live
comedy shows in New York, London and
Manchester. They’ve also been featured in
The New York Times, Metro (UK) and as an
Editor’s Pick and Top 10 Comedy Podcast
in Apple’s iTunes Store (US and UK).
ORCHESTRA OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT © ERIC RICHMOND | CHARLES OWEN © JACK LIEBECK | DMITRY SITKOVETSKY © HENRY FAIR | OTHER ARTISTS © SUPPLIED PHOTOS
FOLK UNION
Hall Two 8pm (on Wed & Thu; different
contents – requires separate tickets)
Friday 22 March
BACH UNWRAPPED
Orchestra of the
Age of Enlightenment:
Cantatas & Brandenburg
Concertos – 1
JS Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4
in G, BWV 1049 Cantata ‘Komm, du süße Todesstunde’, BWV 161 Brandenburg Concerto No. 5
in D, BWV 1050 Cantata ‘Est ist das Heil uns kommen her’, BWV 9
Soloists of the Orchestra of
the Age of Enlightenment
Choir of the Enlightenment
John Butt director
Hall Two 8pm
Saturday 23 March
BACH UNWRAPPED
OAE Tots!
CLASSICAL INTERACT
The OAE’s ever-popular series of events
for the very youngest of music lovers
returns to Kings Place. These 45-minute
sessions for those aged 2–6 and their
friends and families are fun, friendly and
lively. Participation is actively encouraged!
Hall Two 11am; 12.15pm | Lasts 45 mins
£4.50 Child; £6.50 Adult
Family Offer: £16.50 Family of 4 (at least 1 adult)
£19.50 Family of 5 (at least 1 adult). To book,
please call Box Office.
opportunity to get to know some of the
choruses better to enrich your listening
experience, in the company of OAE
principal keyboardist Robert Howarth.
We’ll be taking a closer look at some of
the more dramatic choruses, both in
terms of their music and context, and also
singing them, with a professional soloist
taking the role of the Evangelist. Suitable
for all singers. Familiarity with the
Passions beneficial, but not essential.
Hall Two 2pm – 5pm (incl. short break)
£19.50
Penelope Spencer
THE BASE
Mark Lockheart:
Ellington in Anticipation
Mark Lockheart saxophone
Seb Rochford drums
Liam Noble piano
Tom Herbert bass
Finn Peters alto saxophone
James Allsop clarinets
Emma Smith violin
JAZZ
A brand-new project inspired by the
music of Duke Ellington. Taking many of
Ellington’s most revered compositions,
such as Satin Doll, Mood Indigo, Take The
A Train, It Don’t Mean A Thing and Creole
Love Call, saxophonist/composer Mark
Lockheart has deconstructed and arranged these characterful melodies into a
fascinating set of new music, rich in
orchestration and concept and entirely
respectful to Ellington’s original creations.
Featuring an all-star ensemble, this
radical project combines the old with the
new – beautifully .
Sing the Passions!
CLASSICAL INTERACT
The first of three concerts this year given
by the Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment as part of Kings Place’s
Bach Unwrapped series, all directed by
the renowned Bach expert John Butt. This
first concert starts with the extreme
Every Easter, Bach’s Passions are
performed up and down the country – as much a part of the musical calendar as Handel’s Messiah. This is a unique
BACH UNWRAPPED
Penelope Spencer:
Bach Violin Sonatas
JS Bach Suite in A for violin
& harpsichord, BWV 1025
Sonata in E minor for violin & continuo, BWV 1023
Sonata in G for violin & continuo, BWV 1021
Fugue in G minor for violin & continuo, BWV 1026
Sonata in C minor for violin & continuo, BWV 1024
Penelope Spencer violin
Lynda Sayce lute
David Roblou harpsichord
An opportunity to hear rarely performed
but important music by JS Bach. The
virtuosic Fugue in G minor for violin and harpsichord is his earliest surviving piece of chamber music. Bach and his lutenist
friend Leopold Weiss collaborated on the A
major ‘Suite’, and Bach used the bass line
of BWV 1021 for teaching purposes (it
appears again in the Trio Sonata, BWV 1038
which is probably by a Bach son). The
beautiful Sonata in C minor, now possibly
attributed to Johann Pisendel, gives
insights into the characteristic style of
Bach’s preferred violinist.
Hall One 11.30am | Lasts ~60 mins
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
LONDON CHAMBER
MUSIC SERIES
Madeleine Mitchell
& Nigel Clayton
Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 4 in
A minor, Op. 23 Respighi Violin Sonata in B minor
David Matthews Romanza for violin and
piano, Op. 119a (London premiere) Elgar Violin Sonata in E minor, Op. 82
Madeleine Mitchell violin
Nigel Clayton piano
CLASSICAL
Hall Two 8pm
Robert Howarth keyboard,
director, speaker
Sunday 24 March
CLASSICAL
BACH UNWRAPPED
CLASSICAL
LISTINGS 73
March 2013
Mark Lockheart’s
Ellington in Anticipation
Madeleine Mitchell and Nigel Clayton have
now performed and recorded together for
20 years. Elgar’s Violin Sonata is a
favourite, which they have twice broadcast
for BBC Radio 3: here they pair it with
Respighi’s romantic Sonata written the year
before, in 1917. David Matthews is the latest
of many distinguished British composers
to have written works for Madeleine, and
this concert celebrates his 70th birthday.
Hall One 6.30pm
£14.50 £18.50 | Online Savers £9.50
LISTINGS
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March 2013
THIS WEEK’s FOCUS
Monday 25 March
London jazz workshop and music festival 2013
28 March – 1 april
WORDS ON MONDAY
SPOKEN WORD SPECIAL
Coleridge
Curated by Poet in the City
An evening with
Jodi Picoult
SPOKEN WORD
Book Launch: The Storyteller
A celebration of one of the most important
poets in the English language. To celebrate
this great Romantic poet, The Poet in the
City is delighted to present Coleridge’s
acclaimed biographer Richard Holmes.
From The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
to Kubla Kahn, join us for a fascinating
evening of live poetry and discussion.
Hall One 7pm
£9.50
OUT HEAR
Karol Beffa Trio
Karol Beffa Supplique for violin solo
Ligeti Dialogo for cello solo
Beffa piano improvisations
Elgar Salut d’amour for violin and piano
sospiri for cello and piano
Handel/Halvorsen Passacaglia for
violin and cello
Beffa Masques 1 for violin and cello
Bartók Rumanian dance
Khachaturian Sabre Danse for
piano, violin and cello
Brahms Hungarian Dance
Karol Beffa piano
Geneviève Laurenceau violin
Gemma Rosefield cello
CONTEMPORARY
Claire Martin
bruce barth, claire martin, kevin
dean, bobby watson for all-star
easter weekend
Contemporary French composer
and pianist Karol Beffa appears with
French violinist Geneviève Laurenceau
and British cellist Gemma Rosefield.
Tonight’s programme will introduce
the audience to some of Beffa’s own
music, which is interwoven with other
classical works that have inspired him.
Hall One 8pm
SPOKEN WORD
Sage is a young woman whose new
friend, retired teacher and pillar of the
community Josef Weber, tells her he
was an SS guard at Auschwitz – and
he wants her to help him die. Sage’s
grandmother is a Holocaust survivor.
What do you do when evil lives next door?
Jodi Picoult explores justice, retribution
and forgiveness in The Storyteller,
her mesmerising – and heartbreaking
– new novel. Presented in association
with Woman & Home.
Hall One 7pm
£12.50 (includes a copy of the book)
Thursday 28 March
Rob Deering:
The One
COMEDY
The award-winning comedian, multiinstrumentalist and consummate
showman brings his latest, greatest
show to London. He’s a one-mansupergroup in a live-music stand-up
comedy event: The Best Rob Deering
Album In The World… Ever.
‘A massively engaging intelligent comic
offering a cracking mix of songs and
silliness’ The Guardian
‘An evening in his company is nothing
less than a joy’ Independent on Sunday
Hall Two 8pm
GMF LONDON FESTIVAL
Somogyi, Sanz & Keogh
+ special guest Guillermo Rozenthuler
Kevin Dean
& Jean Toussaint
The Global Music Foundation returns for a dazzling series
of workshops and performances, featuring Kansas legend
Bobby Watson (who will share the stage with trumpeter
Kevin Dean), pianist Bruce Barth and our very own Claire
Martin. Also featured are Francesco Petreni, the Perico
Sambeat Quartet and Jean Toussaint.
See Jazz highlights on p18
WEDNESday 27 March
‘Remember the Messengers’
Barry Green
‘Green’s Blues’
Rob Deering
Somogyi, Sanz & Keogh
Arnie Somogyi bass
Albert Sanz piano
Stephen Keogh drums
Guillermo Rozenthuler vocals
Kevin Dean and Jean Toussaint Band
Kevin Dean trumpet
Jean Toussaint saxophone
Bruce Barth piano
Chris Hill bass
Eddie Hick drums
Barry Green piano
Francesco Petreni drums
Jeremy Brown bass
and very special surprise guests
JAZZ
The festival opening concert is a triple bill of great music with some of the UK’s, USA’s and Europe’s finest jazz
musicians. Three very distinct approaches
to the music. The leaders of these three
groups are adept composers and
arrangers, and masterly performers. Each one with a strong individual voice
while at the same time integrated into the whole.
Hall One 7.30pm
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
GMF LONDON FESTIVAL
Jazz Jam
JAZZ
Come along and enjoy the music created
by the students, teachers and special
guests at this late-night jam session.
Hall Two 10pm
GMF LONDON FESTIVAL
Perico Sambeat alto saxophone
Barry Green piano
Chris Hill bass
Stephen Keogh drums
JAZZ
A double bill comprising some of today’s
finest jazz artists. Opening this great
double bill is alto star Perico Sambeat with
inspiring music from a truly exciting quartet
packed with talent. He is considered to be
one of the most important Spanish jazz
musicians to have emerged in recent years,
and one of the best alto saxophonists in
the world. He has made over 100
recordings, working with outstanding
musicians as Brad Mehldau, Michael
Brecker, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Tete Montoliu
and Pat Metheny, among others.
Hall One 7.30pm
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
GMF LONDON FESTIVAL
BOBBY WATSON, FRANCESCO PETRENI © MELODY MCLAREN | OTHER ARTISTS © SUPPLIED PHOTOS
GMF LONDON FESTIVAL
Jazz Jam
JAZZ
Boppin’ at Lunchtime
with Kevin Dean
JAZZ
Hall Two 10pm
In this lecture and concert trumpet
maestro Kevin Dean plays and talks about some of the great bebop small
groups of the 50s and 60s. It will feature
his own compositions along with those of some of the legendary trumpet players
from that golden era, like Lee Morgan,
Donald Byrd and Clifford Brown. Kevin has performed in concert and recorded
with numerous legendary jazz artists
including Jimmy Heath, Benny Golson, Joe Henderson and Barry Harris. He is one of the great trumpet players in jazz
today yet not as widely known as he
should be. This concert is a real treat and not to be missed.
£4.50
Hall Two 1.30pm
GMF London jazz
workshop and
music festival 2013
with Friends Old and New
Claire Martin, Friends Old and New
Claire Martin voice
Bruce Barth piano
Libor Šmoldas guitar
Bruce Barth piano
Jeremy Brown bass
Eddie Hick drums
Saturday 30 March
GMF LONDON FESTIVAL
Latin Lunch with
Francesco Petreni
JAZZ
In this lecture/concert percussion master
Francesco Petreni talks about the music of
Brazil and how rhythms have moved from drums and percussion to other musical
instruments found in a modern-day
ensemble. Together with members of the
faculty he will demonstrate by playing
samba, maracatu, baião, and partido alto,
LISTINGS 75
Free Events
Claire Martin
£4.50
Friday 29 March
March/April 2013
Perico Sambeat
Bobby Watson
as well as songs by Jobim, Ivan Lins and
other composers from the region. Thoroughly enjoyable and informative.
A varied programme of free concerts
and events will run at lunchtime and
early evening each day. Full details will
soon be available at kingsplace.co.uk
Rainbow Harp Ensemble
led by Miriam Keogh
London Vocal Project
led by Pete Churchill
A Brush with Jazz
Singers Corner GMF LONDON FESTIVAL
Jazz Jam
Hall Two 1.30pm
JAZZ
GMF LONDON FESTIVAL
Bobby Watson
International All Stars
Hall Two 10pm
£4.50
Pete Churchill Trio
‘Songs and Stories’ feat. Kevin Dean
Bobby Watson alto saxophone
Kevin Dean trumpet
Bruce Barth piano
Chris Hill bass
Stephen Keogh drums
JAZZ
Great artists have one thing in common:
they can connect with an audience in
visceral, vital ways that transcend our
usual modes of communication. Alto sax
star Bobby Watson possesses that magical connecting ability. His artistic focus enables him to captivate an audience with alluring,
inventive improvisations. Bobby is best
known for his four years with Art Blakey
and the Jazz Messengers, but his career
also includes work with Max Roach, Betty
Carter, Wynton Marsalis and Carlos
Santana. His all-star band features Bruce
Barth, who is widely considered to be one
of the finest jazz pianists and composers
of his generation. Opening this double bill
with his Trio is Pete Churchill, whose
beautiful relaxed vocals and piano always
leave a warm afterglow. With a carefully
chosen selection of songs from the Great
American Songbook, along with one or
two originals of his own, he is joined by
the melodic virtuosity of Kevin Dean on
trumpet, the astonishingly talented Flo
Moore on bass and Italian percussion
maestro Francesco Petreni.
Hall One 7.30pm
£14.50 £17.50 £21.50 £26.50
Monday 1 April
GMF LONDON FESTIVAL
Guitar Magic at
Lunchtime with Libor
Smoldas & Guests
JAZZ
The final concert in this short lunchtime
series features Libor Šmoldas, one of the
most exciting musicians to have emerged
from the Czech Republic in recent years. A natural improviser gifted with
astonishing virtuosity and good taste. He leads a group that will play material
from his latest album. This is treat for
guitarists and non-guitarists alike as there will be surprise appearances by
some special guests.
Hall Two 1.30pm
GMF LONDON FESTIVAL
Students’ Concert
JAZZ
After five days of intensive workshops,
jams and concerts, all the students and
teachers who have taken part in the GMF
London Jazz Workshops come together
for a final concert.
Hall One 6pm
£4.50
LISTINGS
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ART LISTINGS
76 ART LISTINGS
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
January–March 2013
Terence Coventry
Tree of Jackdaws
Bronze
Edition of 10
Image courtesy of
Pangolin London;
8 MAR – 26 APR
KINGS PLACE GALLERY
Jeremy Gardiner
Unfolding Landscape
ART
John Lessore
Garden Walk,
Shoreditch
Jeremy Gardiner
Evening,
Mullion Cove 2010
Adam Birtwistle
Cherie Blair 2011
11 JAN – 22 FEB
KINGS PLACE GALLERY
John Lessore
Paintings
ART
Under Helen Lessore’s direction the
Beaux Arts had the best smell of any
gallery in London. It exuded linseed oil
and turpentine and told you that it was a
place dedicated to painting. As a young
artist growing up, her son John must have
inhaled it and absorbed the lingering
odours of exhibitions by Auerbach,
Kossoff and others of the School of
London. With Sickert as his uncle he had
developed a sturdy set of values, albeit
out of kilter with today’s relativism. From
childhood he had known that there was
more to painting than novel imagery and
meretricious ironies and, in the words of
Bill Gregory, his contemplative paintings
occupy ‘an extreme position in
contemporary art: the view that in
painting it is all there if you have the eyes
to see it’. One might equally call him a
contrarian, not least because of his
devotion to the familiar. Without didactic
intent he abjures the sensational, the
nihilistic and the transgressive, preferring
to capture the remarkable in ostensibly
homely events: as Michael Peppiatt
defined it, ‘the magic in the ordinary, the
memorable in the everyday’. Whether it is
a group of women seen from his studio in
Peckham or sunbathers on the beach at
Collioure, the light (often softly out of
focus) and the colour (often subdued) is
sensitively calibrated. Moreover, his
earthy, limited-palette domestic scenes,
many from Norfolk, powerfully evoke
Dutch 17th-century interiors.
11 JAN – 23 FEB
PANGOLIN LONDON
Terence Coventry
Three Decades of Sculpture
& Works on Paper
ART
This one-man show includes work from
the past three decades of Terence
Coventry’s career, tracing the
development of his themes and
preoccupations from 1985 to the present
day. Exploring the influence of the Cornish
landscape and wildlife in his work,
exhibition highlights include the unique
carved elm Torso from 1985 and new
work Corten Bird I, in which Coventry
revisits one of his familiar themes using a
new medium. His background as a pig
farmer has long fed Coventry’s creativity
and has certainly nurtured his affinity with
nature. This exhibition demonstrates the
sculptor’s great talent for breathing life
and humanity into his striking human
and animal forms.
9 JAN – 3 MAR
KINGS PLACE GALLERY
Adam Birtwistle
Jeremy Gardiner’s paintings are effectively
an artistic excavation of the geology of
landscape: how it is shaped by human
activity and the forces of nature. Aware of
distinct geologies, he attempts to interpret
the hidden subterranean realms that
contain the marks and secrets of their own
distant formation. His artistic exploration
has taken him from the Jurassic coast of
Dorset to the rugged coast of Cornwall,
passing through the dramatic American
landscape, the roughness of volcanic
islands in Brazil, the arid beauty of the
island of Milos in Greece and more recently
the Lake District and its numerous
waterfalls. His paintings become a symbolic
map, simultaneously interpreting and
capturing the impact of human and natural
events, the activities in time and space
that have shaped, textured and coloured
the landscape to give it a unique depth
and beauty. His spatially probing and
texturally explicit pictures transform the
lessons learnt from pioneering modern
British landscape painters such as
Tunnard, Ben Nicholson,and Peter Lanyon
and American artist Richard Diebenkorn.
Paintings
ART
20 MAR – 20 APR
Described as ‘one of our most distinguished
portrait painters in what is, presently, a
Golden Age of Portraiture in Britain’, Adam
Birtwistle is known for his deeply revealing
portraits. Instead of the flattering
conventions of 18th-century Grand Manner
portraiture, he diminishes the grandeur and
deflates the ego of everyone who sits for
him. ‘There are many ways of revealing the
real person,’ says Birtwistle. ‘I set out to
make them feel uncomfortable by ordering
them around. Then I confuse them. I tell
them it’s all going to be very easy, then
I make them sit down, tell them not to move
and hold their heads in a fixed position for
a very long time. I ask them, what’s the
worst thing you have ever done? Quite soon
they’re looking shaky, just as I want them.’
PANGOLIN LONDON
28 FEB – 9 MAR
PANGOLIN LONDON
Steve Russell
Photography
ART
Further details of this exhibition will soon
be available at www.pangolinlondon.com
Jonathan Kenworthy
Celebrating 70 Years
ART
Further details of this exhibition will soon
be available at www.pangolinlondon.com
OPENING TIMES
Pangolin London
Monday – Saturday, 10am – 6pm
Closed during Easter break
29 Mar – 1 Apr 2013
FREE admission | 020 7520 1480
www.pangolinlondon.com
Kings Place Gallery
Monday – Friday, 10am – 6pm,
Saturday – Sunday, 12pm – 6pm
Closed during Easter break
29 Mar – 1 Apr 2013
FREE admission | 020 7520 1485
www.kingsplacegallery.co.uk
Book tickets now:
ARTISTIC HIRES 77
ARTISTIC HIRES LISTINGS
Kings Place auditoria are now available
for artistic hire, offering world-class acoustics
and an unparalleled level of technical support.
For more information: 020 7520 1456 | artistic.hires@kingsplace.co.uk
TUESDAY 15 JANUARY
KINGS PLACE HALL ONE © KEITH PAISLEY | TERENCE COVENTRY SCULPTURE PHOTO © STEVE RUSSELL
ARTISTIC HIRES
Isabelle Bond
Gold Medal
Competition 2013
Trinity Laban Conservatoire
of Music and Dance
Sarah Denbee soprano
Claire Iselin harp
Theo Jamieson composition
Alex McManus jazz drums
Mikhael Shilyaev piano
Helen Whitaker flute
CLASSICAL
Join us for an exhilarating evening
showcasing six talented musicians from
Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music
and Dance. Performers taking part in the
Showcase Concert for the Isabelle Bond
Gold Medal Award for Excellence in
Performance are nominated by
Heads of Departments for their high
standard of performance and
contribution to the musical life of
Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music
and Dance. The origins of this annual
Award go back over 100 years to 1905
when the Tallis Gold Medal was
presented to Isabelle Beatrice Bond in
recognition of her outstanding mark in
the Trinity Licentiate Diploma
examination. Isabelle’s son inherited
the medal and generously returned it
to the Conservatoire in memory of his
mother. This opportunity to hear the
elite scholars and prize-winners
showcase their talents will also see
one of them honoured with this
prestigious award.
Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23
Ballade No. 2 in F, Op. 38
Ballade No. 3 in A flat, Op. 47
Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52
Polonaise in F sharp minor, Op. 44
Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17 No. 4
Mazurka in C, Op. 68 No. 1
Mazurka in A minor, Op. 67 No. 4
Waltz in D flat, Op. 64 No. 1
Waltz in A flat, Op. 69 No. 1
Largo in E flat, Op. posth.
Polonaise in A flat, Op. 53
Jean Muller piano
‘Chopin Recital’. After a highly anticipated
recital in Carnegie Hall, New York, Jean
Muller will make his debut in London
with a poetic and powerful all-Chopin
programme. Muller, a Luxembourgish
pianist of French-German-Polish origins
is a performer of extraordinary artistic
genuineness. The specialised press
underlines the astonishing mixture of
authenticity and originality he achieves,
which sometimes even gives the
impression that the composer himself is at
the piano. Due to his intellectual, technical
and emotional mastery, Muller performs a
wide range of repertoire. He is today one
of the finest Chopin interpreters alive.
‘Few pianists of any age or nationality
have recreated the storming codas of the
First and Fourth Ballades with such
brilliant fury.’ Gramophone Critic’s Choice.
Hall One 7pm
CLASSICAL
Hall One 7.30pm
£9.50 £11.50 £14.50
Jean Muller on tour with the programme
of his tremendously successful new CD
£12.50 £15.50 £19.50 £24.50
TUESDAY 19 FEBRUARY
ARTISTIC HIRES
Jean Muller:
Chopin Recital
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
CALENDAR
JANUARY
CALENDAR
78 CALENDAR
JANUARY–
MARCH 2013
NEW YEAR AT KINGS PLACE | BACH UNWRAPPED WEEK 1
30 Sun
Hall One
3pm
New Year/Bach Unwrapped – Florilegium perform Bach: Christmas & New Year Cantatas
Classical
31 Mon
Hall One
6pm
New Year/Bach Unwrapped – Wallfisch Band: Bach Cantatas 170 & 12
Classical
1 Tue
Hall One
1pm
New Year/Bach Unwrapped – Wallfisch Band: Bach Cantatas 22 & 131
2 Wed
Hall One
7.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – Jazz Bach! OSJ with the Gwilym Simcock Quartet
Classical Jazz
3 Thu
Hall One
7.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – La Nuova Musica: Bach Cantata 169 & Psalm 51
Classical
4 Fri
Hall One
7.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – Christoph Richter: Bach Cello Suites and Sonatas – 1
Classical
6 Sun
Hall One
6.30pm
London Chamber Music Series – LCMS New Year Concert
Classical
Classical
9 Wed
Kings Place Gallery FIRST DAY
Adam Birtwistle – Paintings
9 Wed
Hall One
Sir Harrison Birtwistle – Birtwistles in Residence
8pm
Art
Classical
10 Thu
Hall One
7.30pm
The Stranger, The Better – Teitur (with string qt + The Singing Adams + Abi Wade)
10 Thu
Hall Two
8pm
Off With Their Heads! – Ian D Montfort: Unbelievable
Contemporary
11 Fri
John Lessore – Paintings
11 Fri
Pangolin London
FIRST DAY
Terence Coventry – Three Decades of Sculpture & Works on Paper
11 Fri
Hall One
7.30pm
The Stranger, The Better – Gravenhurst with Ralfe Band
11 Fri
Hall Two
8pm
Folk Union – Tim Edey
12 Sat
Hall One
7.30pm
The Stranger, The Better – Meursault with Sons of Noel & Adrian + W. Wooliams
12 Sat
Hall Two
8pm
The Base – Aquarium: ‘Places’
13 Sun
Hall One
6.30pm
London Chamber Music Series – Badke Quartet with Michelle Todd (soprano)
14 Mon
Hall Two
8pm
Out Hear – Conversations with Sound: Opera of Surveillance
15 Tue
Hall One
7pm
Artistic Hire – Isabelle Bond Gold Medal Competition 2013
Classical
17 Thu
Hall One
7.30pm
Musick’s Monument – Lamentations: Fretwork with Alamire vocal consort
Classical
17 Thu
Hall Two
8pm
Off With Their Heads! – Bad Musical
18 Fri
Hall One
7.30pm
Musick’s Monument – Dowland’s Lachrimae: Fretwork with Elizabeth Kenny (lute)
18 Fri
Hall Two
8pm
Folk Union – ahab
19 Sat
Hall One
7.30pm
Musick’s Monument – Musick’s Monument: Fretwork viol consort
19 Sat
Hall Two
8pm
The Base – Martin Speake Trio
20 Sun
Hall One
6.30pm
London Chamber Music Series – Angell Trio
21 Mon
Hall One
7pm
Words on Monday – Elkie Brooks: Finding My Voice
21 Mon
Hall Two
8pm
Out Hear – Lemur
24 Thu
Hall One
7pm
London A Cappella Festival – Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
24 Thu
Hall One
9pm
London A Cappella Festival – Rajaton
Comedy
Art
Art
Contemporary Folk
Folk
Contemporary
Jazz
Classical
FRETWORK: MUSICK’S MONUMENT
Contemporary
Comedy
Classical
Folk
Classical
Jazz
Classical
Spoken Word
Contemporary
Classical
Contemporary
24 Thu
Hall Two
8pm
Off With Their Heads! – Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel
25 Fri
Hall One
7pm
London A Cappella Festival – Postyr
Contemporary
Comedy
25 Fri
Hall One
9pm
London A Cappella Festival – The Magnets
Contemporary
26 Sat
Hall Two
10am
London A Cappella Festival – Purely A Cappella! Vocal Workshops
Interact
26 Sat
Hall Two
11am
Interact
26 Sat
Hall Two
12.15pm
26 Sat
Hall One
1.45pm
London A Cappella Festival – Retrocity
26 Sat
Hall Two
3pm
26 Sat
Hall One
3.15pm
FREE London A Cappella Festival – Panel Discussion
Interact
Contemporary
Interact
Spoken Word Contemporary
FEBRUARY
CALENDAR 79
26 Sat
Hall One
6pm
London A Cappella Festival – The King’s Singers
26 Sat
Hall One
8.30pm
London A Cappella Festival – Swingle Singers
Contemporary
27 Sun
Hall One
2.30pm
Not So Silent Movies – Silent Movies with Live Improv Band
27 Sun
St Pancras Room
5pm
FREE London Chamber Music Society – Pre-concert Talk with R Hanson
27 Sun
Hall Two
8pm
London Chamber Music Series – Allegri Quartet: The Complete Beethoven Quartets – 9
Contemporary
Music/Film/Comedy
Spoken Word Classical
Classical
28 Mon
Hall One
7pm
Words on Monday – ‘Feeding Seven Billion’ Debates II: Global agriculture
28 Mon
Hall Two
8pm
Out Hear – Collectress with Jo Thomas: Glitch
Spoken Word
29 Tue
Hall One
6.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – St Matthew Passion – King’s College Choir + Academy of Ancient Music Classical
30 Wed
Hall One
7.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – Rachel Podger & Marcin Swiatkiewicz: The Violin Sonatas & Partitas – 1 Classical
31 Thu
Hall One
7.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – Miki Skuta: Goldberg Variations
31 Thu
Hall Two
8pm
Off With Their Heads! – The Looking Screen
1 Fri
Hall One
7.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – London Sinfonietta
1 Fri
Hall Two
8pm
Folk Union – Lady Maisery
2 Sat
Hall One
1pm
Bach Unwrapped – AAM The Bach Suites in Focus Part I: The English Suites
Classical
2 Sat
St Pancras Room
2.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – AAM The Bach Suites in Focus Part II: Discovering Bach
Classical
2 Sat
St Pancras Room
6pm
Bach Unwrapped – AAM The Bach Suites in Focus Part III: Playing Bach
Classical
2 Sat
Hall One
7.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – AAM The Bach Suites in Focus Part IV: The Complete Orchestral Suites Classical
2 Sat
Hall Two
8pm
The Base – The Roller Trio
3 Sun
Hall One
6.30pm
London Chamber Music Series – LCMS Fundraising Concert
4 Mon
Hall One
7pm
Words on Monday – The Sebald Lecture by Boris Akunin
4 Mon
Hall Two
8pm
Out Hear – Jennifer Walshe: ALL THE MANY PEOPLS
7 Thu
St Pancras Room
6.30pm
FREE Britten at 100 – Pre-concert Talk with A Matthews-Owen + guests
7 Thu
Hall One
7.30pm
Britten at 100 – Songs With and Without Words: O Coates, N Mulroy, C Croshaw & J Reid
Classical
8 Fri
Hall One
7.30pm
Britten at 100 – The Pity of War: N Spence, N Mulroy, T Thorpe, A Matthews-Owen & J Reid
Classical
8 Fri
Hall Two
8pm
Folk Union – An Evening with Alistair Anderson
9 Sat
St Pancras Room
5pm
FREE Britten at 100 – Pre-concert Talk with Katie Derham (BBC Radio 3)
Contemporary
Classical
Comedy
Contemporary Classical
Folk
Jazz
Classical
BRITTEN AT 100: PIANIST, COLLABORATOR, ARTISTIC CRUCIBLE
Spoken Word
Contemporary
Folk
9 Sat
Hall One
7.30pm
Britten at 100 – Metamorphoses: Booth, Radley, Mulroy, Burgess, Miller, M-Owen, Reid
9 Sat
Hall Two
8pm
The Base – Hans Koller Ensemble
Classical
10 Sun
Hall One
6.30pm
London Chamber Music Series – Navarra Quartet
11 Mon
Hall One
7pm
Words on Monday – Howard Goodall: The Story of Music
11 Mon
Hall Two
8pm
Out Hear – Jérôme Noetinger & Antoine Chessex: Musique Concrète
13 Wed
Hall One
7.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – Keyboard Conversations® – Bach the Spellbinder
Classical
14 Thu
Hall One
7.30pm
Royal Academy of Music – RAM Chamber Orchestra: The Haydn Symphonies
Classical
14 Thu
Hall Two
8pm
Off With Their Heads! – Impropera’s Valentine Special: Songs from the Heart
15 Thu
Hall One
7.30pm
Royal Academy of Music – RAM Baroque Orchestra plays Bach
Jazz
Classical
BACH UNWRAPPED WEEK 3 | ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC
Spoken Word
Contemporary
Comedy
Classical
15 Fri
Hall Two
8pm
Folk Union – The Wagon Tales
16 Sat
Hall One
7.30pm
Royal Academy of Music – A Musical Theatre Celebration
Folk
16 Sat
Hall Two
8pm
The Base – Royal Academy of Music: A Tribute to Sir John Dankworth
17 Sun
Hall One
6.30pm
London Chamber Music Series – Chilingirian Quartet: The Romantic Piano Quintets – 4
18 Mon
Hall One
7pm
Words on Monday – Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century – Paul Kildea
18 Mon
Hall Two
8pm
Out Hear | Bach Unwrapped – Pekka Kuusisto
19 Tue
Hall One
7pm
Artistic Hire – Isabelle Bond Gold Medal Competition 2013
Classical
20 Wed
Hall One
7.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – Fretwork: The Art of Fugue
Classical
21 Thu
Hall One
7.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – Katya Apekisheva: Inventions & Sinfonias and Italian Concerto
Classical
21 Thu
Hall Two
8pm
Off With Their Heads! – Storytellers’ Club with Sarah Bennetto & Friends
22 Fri
Kings Place Gallery LAST DAY
John Lessore – Paintings
22 Fri
Pangolin London
FIRST DAY
Steve Russell – Photography
22 Fri
St Pancras Room
6.30pm
FREE Bach Unwrapped – Pre-concert Talk
Contemporary
Jazz
Classical
Spoken Word
Contemporary Classical
Comedy
Art
Art
CALENDAR
JANUARY
Book tickets now:
FEBRUARY
MARCH
CALENDAR
80 CALENDAR
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
22 Fri
Hall One
7.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – Academy of St Martin in the Fields with Carolyn Sampson – 1
22 Fri
Hall Two
8pm
Folk Union – Olivia Chaney & Friends
Classical
Folk
JEWISH BOOK WEEK
23 Sat
Pangolin London
LAST DAY
Terence Coventry – Three Decades of Sculpture & Works on Paper
23 Sat
Hall One
7.30pm
Jewish Book Week – Double-Bill: Leonard Cohen Tribute: Panel
Art
23 Sat
Hall One
9.30pm
Jewish Book Week – Double-Bill: Leonard Cohen Tribute: Performance
23 Sat
Hall Two
7.30pm
Jewish Book Week – Dilemmas of Difference: German Jews, Jewish Germans
Spoken Word
24 Sun
Hall One
11am
Jewish Book Week – Bernard Avishai: Promiscuous
Spoken Word
24 Sun
Hall One
12.30pm
Jewish Book Week – John McCarthy: You Can’t Hide the Sun
Spoken Word
24 Sun
St Pancras Room
12.30pm
Jewish Book Week – Jenifer Glynn: My Sister Rosalind Franklin
Spoken Word
24 Sun
Hall One
2pm
Jewish Book Week – Naomi Alderman: The Liar’s Gospel
Spoken Word
24 Sun
Hall One
3.30pm
Jewish Book Week – Howard Jacobson: How to Make Love to your Mother-in-Law
Spoken Word
24 Sun
Hall Two
5pm
Jewish Book Week – René Braginsky’s Collection of Esther Scrolls
Spoken Word
24 Sun
Hall One
6.30pm
Jewish Book Week – David Miliband: ‘Tony Judt, Europe and the future of the Left’
Spoken Word
24 Sun
Hall Two
6.30pm
Jewish Book Week – Austin Ratner: The Jump Artist
Spoken Word
24 Sun
Hall One
8pm
Jewish Book Week – AB Yehoshua: The Retrospective
Spoken Word
24 Sun
Hall Two
8pm
Jewish Book Week – Marriage in the Suburbs with Francesca Segal & Jami Attenberg
Spoken Word
25 Mon
St Pancras Room
1pm
Jewish Book Week – Ray Monk: The Elusive Jewishness of J Robert Oppenheimer
Spoken Word
25 Mon
St Pancras Room
5.30pm
Jewish Book Week – Tim Bonyhady: Good Living Street
Spoken Word
25 Mon
Hall One
7pm
Jewish Book Week – Simon Schama’s History of the Jews
Spoken Word
25 Mon
Hall Two
8pm
Out Hear – Langham Research Centre: OBAMIX + John Cage
25 Mon
Hall One
8.30pm
Jewish Book Week – The Chief Rabbi’s 22 years of writing and reading
Spoken Word
26 Tue
St Pancras Room
1pm
Jewish Book Week – We Are Here: Voices from Lithuania
Spoken Word
26 Tue
St Pancras Room
5.30pm
Jewish Book Week – Shani Boianjiu: The People of Forever are Not Afraid
Spoken Word
26 Tue
Hall Two
8.30pm
Jewish Book Week – Fania Oz-Salzberger: How did the Jews Remain Jews?
Spoken Word
26 Tue
Hall One
8.30pm
Jewish Book Week – Carlo Ginzburg: Jews and Christians: A Story of Ambivalence
Spoken Word
27 Wed
Hall One
7pm
Jewish Book Week – Yehuda Avner: The Prime Ministers
Spoken Word
27 Wed
Hall Two
7.30pm
Jewish Book Week – And Europe Will Be Stunned
Spoken Word
28 Thu
St Pancras Room
1pm
Jewish Book Week – Art of the Short Story
Spoken Word
28 Thu
Hall Two
5.30pm
FREE Jewish Book Week – The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Beginnings of Midrash
Spoken Word
28 Thu
Hall One
7pm
Jewish Book Week – Rachel Lichtenstein: Diamond Street
Spoken Word
28 Thu
Hall Two
7pm
Jewish Book Week – Helga’s Diary: A rare account of surviving the Holocaust
Spoken Word
28 Thu
Hall One
8.30pm
Jewish Book Week – Edmund de Waal: The Exiles Return
Spoken Word
28 Thu
Hall One
8.30pm
Jewish Book Week – From the Feminine Mystique to Fifty Shades – 50 Years On
Spoken Word
3 Sun
Hall Two
11am
Jewish Book Week – Orlando Figes & Nancy K. Miller: Traces of the Past
Spoken Word
3 Sun
Hall One
11am
Jewish Book Week – The Art and Photography of Marianne Breslauer
Spoken Word
Spoken Word
Spoken Word
Contemporary
Contemporary
3 Sun
Hall One
12.30pm
Jewish Book Week – Sayed Kashua: Second Person Singular
3 Sun
Hall Two
12.30pm
Jewish Book Week – Gil Cohen-Magen: Inside the Courts of the Chassidim
Spoken Word
3 Sun
St Pancras Room
3.30pm
Jewish Book Week – Does Your Rabbi Know You’re Here?
Spoken Word
3 Sun
Hall Two
5pm
Jewish Book Week – Judith Walkowitz: Nights Out In Cosmopolitan London
Spoken Word
3 Sun
Hall Two
8pm
Jewish Book Week – Walking With The Light
Spoken Word
3 Sun
Hall One
8pm
Jewish Book Week – Thomas Heatherwick: Making
Spoken Word
3 Sun
Kings Place Gallery LAST DAY
Adam Birtwistle – Paintings
Art
THE SCHUBERT ENSEMBLE: 30TH ANNIVERSARY
4 Mon
Hall One
7pm
Words on Monday – Poetry & Medicine
4 Mon
Hall Two
8pm
Out Hear – MANIFESTO
7 Thu
Hall One
7.30pm
The Schubert Ensemble – Schubertiade
7 Thu
Hall Two
8pm
Off With Their Heads! – Rachel Stubbings is… Stubbing Out Problems
8 Fri
Jeremy Gardiner – Unfolding Landscape
8 Fri
St Pancras Room
6.30pm
FREE The Schubert Ensemble – Pre-concert Talk: Exploring Enescu
8 Fri
Hall One
7.30pm
The Schubert Ensemble – Enescu & Fauré: Neglected Genius
8 Fri
Hall Two
8pm
Folk Union – Three Cane Whale
Spoken Word
Contemporary
Classical
Comedy
Art
Classical
Folk
CALENDAR 81
9 Sat
Pangolin London
LAST DAY
Steve Russell – Photography
9 Sat
Hall One
6pm
The Schubert Ensemble – Looking to the Future 1: Chamber Music 2000+ Contemporary Classical
Art
9 Sat
Hall One
7.30pm
The Schubert Ensemble – Looking to the Future 2: Ensemble Commissions Contemporary Classical
9 Sat
Hall Two
8pm
The Base – Alexander Hawkins Ensemble
10 Sun
Hall One
6.30pm
London Chamber Music Series – Rosamunde Trio: The Complete Beethoven Piano Trios – 2 Classical
10 Sun
Hall Two
8pm
Jazz
Hidden Treasure – Brass Monkey
Folk
HIDDEN TREASURE
11 Mon
St Pancras Room
6.30pm
Talking Art – Jeremy Gardiner: Unfolding Landscape
11 Mon
Hall One
7pm
Words on Monday – Rock’n’roll Politics
Spoken Word
11 Mon
Hall Two
8pm
Out Hear – Decibel: Big, Noisy, Quiet
13 Wed
Hall One
7.30pm
Hidden Treasure – Double Bill: Carthy, Hardy, Farrell & Young | Marry Waterson & Oliver Knight
Folk
14 Thu
Hall One
7.30pm
Hidden Treasure – Tony Benn & Roy Bailey: The Writing on The Wall
Folk
14 Thu
Hall Two
8pm
Off With Their Heads! – Double Bill: Jonny & The Baptists + Colin Hoult
15 Fri
Hall One
7.30pm
Hidden Treasure – Martin Simpson
15 Fri
Hall Two
8pm
Folk Union | Hidden Treasure – Mawkin
16 Sat
St Pancras Room
10.30am–4.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – Study Day: St John Passion with Dr Timothy Jones
16 Sat
Hall One
7.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – St John Passion with the Choir of Clare College + Aurora Orchestra
16 Sat
Hall Two
8pm
The Base – Get The Blessing
17 Sun
Hall One
2.30pm
Not So Silent Movies – Silent Movies with Live Improv Band
Music / Film / Comedy
17 Sun
Hall One
6.30pm
London Chamber Music Series – Fine Arts Brass Ensemble
Classical
Spoken Word
Contemporary
Comedy
Folk
Folk
Classical Interact
Classical
Jazz
18 Mon
Hall One
7pm
Words on Monday – Pat Barker: Toby’s Room
18 Mon
Hall Two
8pm
Out Hear – Ensemble Plus-Minus: New Propositions
Spoken Word
20 Wed
Jonathan Kenworthy – Celebrating 70 Years
20 Wed
Hall One
7.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – Dmitry Sitkovetsky: The Art of Transcription
20 Wed
Hall Two
8pm
Off With Their Heads! – The Complete Guide to Everything – Live!
21 Thu
Hall One
7.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – Charles Owen: Partitas – 1
21 Thu
Hall Two
8pm
Off With Their Heads! – The Complete Guide to Everything – Live!
Comedy
22 Fri
Hall One
7.30pm
Bach Unwrapped – OAE: Cantatas & Brandenburg Concertos – 1
Classical
Contemporary
Art
Classical
Comedy
Classical
22 Fri
Hall Two
8pm
Folk Union – The Woes
23 Sat
Hall Two
11am
Bach Unwrapped – OAE Tots! – 1
Classical Interact
Folk
23 Sat
Hall Two
11am
Bach Unwrapped – OAE Tots! – 2
Classical Interact
23 Sat
Hall Two
2pm–5pm
Bach Unwrapped – Sing The Passions!
Classical Interact
23 Sat
Hall Two
8pm
The Base – Mark Lockheart: Ellington In Anticipation
24 Sun
Hall One
11.30am
Bach Unwrapped – Penelope Spencer: Bach Violin Sonatas
Classical
24 Sun
Hall One
6.30pm
London Chamber Music Series – Madeleine Mitchell & Nigel Clayton
Classical
Jazz
GMF LONDON JAZZ WORKSHOP AND MUSIC FESTIVAL 2013
25 Mon
Hall One
7pm
Words on Monday – Coleridge
25 Mon
Hall One
8pm
Out Hear – Karol Beffa Trio
28 Thu
Hall Two
8pm
Off With Their Heads! – Rob Deering: The One
28 Thu
Hall One
7.30pm
GMF London – Somogyi, Sanz & Keogh with special guest Guillermo Rozenthuler
Spoken Word
Contemporary
Comedy
Jazz
+ Kevin Dean & Jean Toussaint + Barry Green
28 Thu
Hall Two
10pm
GMF London Jazz Workshop and Music Festival – Jazz Jam
Jazz
29 Fri
Hall Two
1.30pm
GMF London Jazz Workshop and Music Festival – Boppin’ at Lunchtime with Kevin Dean
Jazz
29 Fri
Hall One
7.30pm
GMF London Jazz Workshop and Music Festival – Claire Martin + Perico Sambeat Quartet
Jazz
29 Fri
Hall Two
10pm
Jazz
30 Sat
Hall Two
1.30pm
GMF London Jazz Workshop and Music Festival – Latin Lunch with Francesco Petreni
Jazz
30 Sat
Hall One
7.30pm
GMF London Jazz Workshop and Music Festival – Bobby Watson International All Stars
Jazz
+ Pete Churchill Trio: ‘Songs and Stories’ featuring Kevin Dean
30 Sat
Hall Two
10pm
1 Apr
Hall Two
1.30pm
GMF London Jazz Workshop and Music Festival – Guitar Magic at Lunchtime with L Šmoldas Jazz
Jazz
1 Apr
Hall One
7.30pm
GMF London Jazz Workshop and Music Festival – Students’ Concert
Jazz
CALENDAR
MARCH
Book tickets now:
82 FOLK
Book tickets now:
020 7520 1490
Q&A ALAN BEARMAN
Alan Bearman is a folk music promoter, agent
and programmer, and Artistic Director of
Sidmouth FolkWeek, among other festivals.
He has co-curated many series for Kings Place.
In March his latest, Hidden Treasure, will
include Martin Simpson and Marry Waterson
How did you first get into
folk music?
I found myself listening to Bob
Dylan at primary school when my
peers were listening to The Beatles
and The Rolling Stones. That led me
to a folk club at secondary school
and concerts featuring the likes
of Fairport Convention. I went to
my first festival, Cambridge, in the
early Seventies and that opened
doors to a wider range of British
traditional and American music
which I’ve been happily exploring
ever since. I started my first folk
club with a couple of friends
in Walthamstow in 1976. That
eventually brought an invitation
to be Song Producer at Sidmouth
Festival in 1987. I’ve been lucky
enough to programme a variety
of festivals, including Towersey for
25 years, and specialist events like
Ards International Guitar Festival in
Northern Ireland.
What did you learn from your
18 years at Sidmouth?
With over 700 events in 20
venues over eight days, it taught
me how to build a programme
and how to match events to
venues. I developed a network
of advisors who specialised in
particular genres and traditions.
I still lean on their knowledge and
enthusiasm. Most of my mistakes
came from programming music
I didn’t like or understand, so
I learned to play to my strengths.
Which musicians are you most
proud of promoting?
I was always very happy to book
traditional singers and musicians
at Sidmouth and was keen to
rebuild that when I rejoined
the team there last year. Standout memories include an early
booking of La Bottine Souriante,
the development of the Shooting
Roots youth project, and a number
of Festival commissions such as
Flame, which led to the formation
of the remarkable Morris Offspring.
How would you describe the
recent Revolution of British folk?
When I started out the scene
revolved around folk clubs. Now
it’s much more diverse with
a strong festival scene and a
wide variety of venues. There’s
been a remarkable increase in
the number of excellent young
performers coming through over
the last 15 years or so.
What’s surprised you most?
I would never have predicted the
huge growth of interest among
the young in recent years and
the impact of a new wave of
performers. Also, the return to
the stage of both Nic Jones and
Norma Waterson has been a
surprise and a delight.
What has proved timeless?
Traditional music itself is timeless
and, amidst all the innovations
and interpretations of recent
years, it remains the touchstone
of quality. Pure class is timeless
too, as witnessed by the number
of young artists influenced by
Nic Jones over the 30 years when
he has been unable to perform
and his albums have been
scandalously unavailable.
Highlights of your work at
Kings Place?
Chris Wood’s Commonplace
series gave us a chance to
place the music alongside a
TRADITIONAL
MUSIC ITSELF
IS TIMELESS
AND REMAINS
THE TOUCHSTONE
OF QUALITY
wider community, including
poets, politicians, writers and
photographers. Jon Boden’s
after hours Big Sing in the foyer
remains in the memory as
does Karine Polwart’s harmony
workshop which spilled out of
its room and filled the building
with soaring harmonies. Martin
Simpson’s Purpose and Grace
series gave me the chance to put
together a dream team of Martin,
June Tabor and Dick Gaughan.
What’s Kings Place’s unique
selling point?
It gives artists the chance to
develop ideas and connections,
to do more than one-off concerts.
The regular Friday Folk Union slot
offers a range of diverse music
that a single promoter would
struggle to achieve.
Tell me about the series you are
working on for next spring.
Hidden Treasure features Martin
Simpson marking his 60th year
in 2013 with a new album. Then
there’ll be the talented quartet of
fiddlers Eliza Carthy, Bella Hardy,
Lucy Farrell and Kate Young, plus
Marry Waterson and Oliver Knight.
Hidden Treasure
13–15 March
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highlights - Kings Place

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