From Wednesday to Saturday each week, Kings Place will be given over to one artist, group or organisation to present whatever they feel most appropriate within the available spaces. Performers appear by invitation of Kings Place and, in contrast to the majority of music venues, will have carte blanche over the artistic content of their week. This departure from standard practise presents an extraordinary opportunity for artists of all disciplines, enabling them to take risks that few could otherwise contemplate, and to give an in-depth view of their work
"It is hard to imagine a more rewarding celebration of the Mendelssohn bicentenary than the five days of concerts at Kings Place, curated by the violinist Peter Cropper and performed principally by the Elias String Quartet... For me the days were the making of Kings Place's Hall One as a chamber space. Acoustically, it is very fine, and atmospherically inviting, with a greater intimacy than Wigmore Hall. The foyer areas - Kings Place, with its towering atrium and multiple facilities for sitting around, eating and drinking, and looking at art, is the ultimate foyer - made the nightly visits relaxing and cheering. The music-making made them searing." Sunday Times Culture
Take a look at our Weekly Themes taking place during Summer 2010 below.
Mike Figgis - Film + Music (Mon 13th Sep 2010 - Sun 19th Sep 2010)
'I've always been first and foremost a musician', says Mike Figgis, better known as a Hollywood film director. In his week at Kings Place he is joined by an array of musical partners, including pianist Rosey Chan and the People Band, as he delves into his parallel career as a jazz musician, composer and performance artist. Don't miss his opening masterclass in which he explores the power of music in the film-scores.
Samuel Joseph presents...Solo Jazz Piano (Mon 20th Sep 2010 - Sun 26th Sep 2010)
Samuel Joseph presents…Solo Jazz Piano
Schumann's Bicentenary: A Celebration (Mon 27th Sep 2010 - Sun 3rd Oct 2010)
'I have felt very close to Schumann’s music since I first played it as a child. I always felt that I understood his language. He’s a composer who remains a little misunderstood: he wrote very prolifically, and maybe less than half of his piano works are heard regularly. His music is about his joys and his pain and suffering'
'Through his work, you can get to know the man, imperfections and all. As a performer, you need to enter into his Romantic world. In programming this series, I wanted to include some of the lesser-known works from a variety of genres that deserve more attention. I’m delighted to be joined by some outstanding performers to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Robert Schumann.'
Lucy Parham
Classical Opera Company - Thomas Arne (Mon 4th Oct 2010 - Sun 10th Oct 2010)
The Classical Opera Company devotes its latest Kings Place residency to the music of Thomas Arne, in celebration of the composer’s 300th anniversary. An insight evening devoted to Arne’s masterpiece, Artaxerxes is framed by two performances of Arne’s rarely heard masque Alfred – a chance to hear Arne’s most famous piece, Rule, Britannia, in its original context.
REMIX: London Sinfonietta and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Mon 11th Oct 2010 - Sun 17th Oct 2010)
‘A good composer does not imitate; he steals.’ Stravinsky
Remixing, reinventing and recycling are not recent phenomena, and maxims such as ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ are common currency for a reason. Why start afresh when you can borrow, steal and improve? Taking this idea as a starting point two of the world’s leading ensembles, London Sinfonietta (specialising in cutting-edge contemporary music) and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (who perform music from the baroque up until the 20th century in a historically informed style) join forces to present a three-day festival containing some of the finest musical remixes from baroque to 2010.
DSC South Asian Literature Festival (Mon 18th Oct 2010 - Sun 24th Oct 2010)
Britain's first major festival celebrating the rich and varied cultures of the subcontinent, as seen through the world of literature DSC South Asian Literature Festival is the first festival dedicated to South Asian literature in Britain.
Authors, poets and artists will take audiences through a journey to explore South Asian writing in English. Events will include live performances, poetry recitals, literature debates and children’s activities. This will be Britain's first comprehensive festival dedicated to the vast volume of South Asian writing in English, presented on a range of platforms by both people of and writing about the subcontinent, and of the Diasporas in the UK.
Mikhail Karikis (Mon 18th Oct 2010 - Sun 24th Oct 2010)
Mikhail Karikis, a composer and artist of daring originality, brings two unique theatrical events to Hall One this autumn.
London Guitar Festival in the Fall - 2010 (Mon 25th Oct 2010 - Sun 31st Oct 2010)
This week of concerts is a fantastic cosmopolitan festival for a global city. The guitar crosses all boundaries of style, age and genre and its unique voice truly speaks to everyone. London Guitar Festival in the Fall brings you its unique blend of multi-stylistic concerts, educational events and young talent. The Festival is a dazzling programme of events showcasing some of the world’s finest talents, and highlighting the sheer versatility of this timeless instrument. Get your diary out now, and book your seats! You won’t regret it.
LIFEM 2010: London International Festival of Exploratory Music (Mon 1st Nov 2010 - Sun 7th Nov 2010)
Building on last year’s inaugural festival, this year LIFEM continues the travel to exciting exploratory music from all over the world. It starts with the celebration of the 75th birthday anniversary of Terry Riley, the father of American minimalism, himself being on stage with the Mercury Music awarded tabla player Talvin Singh and the ever progressive saxophonist George Brooks, on what is a rare visit to Europe. LIFEM 2010 ends with another (double) special 75th birthday anniversary, that of Estonian Arvo Pärt and Georgian Giya Kantsheli, with the oldest active early music group in Europe, Hortus Musicus. In-between there is the UK premiere of Flemish Belgium minimalist composer Wim Mertens, a rare UK performance by French Catalan composer Pascal Comelade, the only UK performance of UK composer Gavin Bryars, the UK premiere of Estonian power folk band Svjata Vatra and also the UK premiere of Brazilian Fernanda Takai, most famous as the singer of Brazilian super group Pato Fu. www.lifem.org.uk.
Aldeburgh Highlights 2010 (Mon 8th Nov 2010 - Sun 14th Nov 2010)
Aldeburgh Music has evolved into something much bigger than the original Festival created by Benjamin Britten. It is a unique meeting point for musicians of all ages, nationalities and genres: a place where artists reflect, collaborate and find inspiration.
These three concerts give a glimpse of the diverse Aldeburgh musical landscape. Alex Wilson offers joyous fusion of musical worlds, Faster than Sound pioneers electronic-meets-classical work and the Hebrides Ensemble present highlights from their Aldeburgh Festival series. The best in new music, new musical encounters, the fostering of emerging talent – all the hallmarks of Britten’s Festivals hold true today.
www.aldeburgh.co.uk
London Jazz Festival 2010 - The Bad Plus (Mon 15th Nov 2010 - Sun 21st Nov 2010)
For the last decade progressive jazz trio The Bad Plus (Ethan Iverson, Reid Anderson and Dave King) have been stirring up a musical stew that defies easy description. Drawing on classical, jazz, rock, pop and beyond, they force their listeners to rethink notions of what differentiates one style of music from another. The London Jazz Festival returns to Kings Place to celebrate their 10th birthday.
"We really care about classical music, and we also care about the more improvisational forms like rock, pop and jazz," says Iverson. "I believe that we can pay composers like Ligeti and Stravinsky and Babbitt the respect they deserve, and we can also recognize composers like Kurt Cobain and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters and David Gilmour as poets at the same time." King agrees: "We consider the whole spectrum to be worthy of our detailed attention and worthy of the same respect."
Look out the end-of-series Bad Plus Saturday club night, and other ‘extras'.
"....about as badass as highhbrow gets..." Rolling Stone
Presented in association with BBC Radio 3.
Transition_projects - Innocence and Experience (Mon 22nd Nov 2010 - Sun 28th Nov 2010)
‘Transition bring integrity and intelligence to the task of bringing video into classical music.’ Times
Critically acclaimed Transition_projects present staged concerts and performances with integrated film, creating a rich, highly visual narrative for every live performance. As part of their 2010 -2011 season Innocence and Experience, Transition present three evenings of extraordinary music by masters of vocal writing, staged with Transition’s stunning projected visuals.
‘startlingly original…bright, imaginative…fresh and fascinating.’ Observer
Italians in Paris (Mon 29th Nov 2010 - Sun 5th Dec 2010)
Between 1780 and 1850, more than ever before or since, Italian composers dispersed all over Europe to the point of creating an international style that is all too often associated only with the charismatic figures of Rossini and Verdi. But although opera is still the best-known aspect of that Italian “stamp”, the music that was performed in the salons is none the less interesting: romances and mélodies – sensuous, amusing or virtuosic – alternated in those society gatherings with sonatas and quartets, giving Parisian Romanticism greater variety than is generally suspected. Reflecting the Venetian festival entitled “Luigi Cherubini and his time”, to be held at the Palazzetto Bru Zane in October 2010, the festival presented at Kings Place will enable audiences to rediscover some extraordinary pieces performed by some of the finest musicians of today.
Feast of Folk (Mon 6th Dec 2010 - Sun 12th Dec 2010)
The traditional songs, dance tunes and airs of these islands are as rich and varied as those found anywhere in the world. The tradition continues to evolve, as it has always done, and these concerts, by legendary performers each acknowledged masters of their art, will explore both the roots and the newer branches of these traditions.
Northern Lights: Early Music Festival (Mon 13th Dec 2010 - Sun 19th Dec 2010)
The York Early Music Festival brings its Northern Lights tour to Kings Place this month, promising more aromatic Christmas spirit than a flaming pudding in a forest of spruces. Joglaresa's irresistible programme A Hoary Winter's Night is an Anglo-Irish mix of ancient songs that ring with pagan festive resonances, and poignant Medieval carols. The Dufay Collective will warm the cockles with their seasonal Renaissance revels while the renowned Clerks will sing their challenging and spell-binding Qudduson programme, which mixes the sacred music of East and West. Rubbing shoulders with these big names is the exciting young winner of the 2009 York Early Music International Young Artists Competition, Ensemble Meridiana. Its elite period instrument players are drawn from all over Europe, and they promise delights by Corelli and Corrette.
The National Centre for Early Music is supported by Arts Council England, Yorkshire www.ncem.co.uk
Mozart Unwrapped - Week One (Mon 27th Dec 2010 - Sun 2nd Jan 2011)
Mozart Unwrapped in 2011 is an ideal opportunity to refresh and re-conceive our relationship with an extraordinary composer. He may loom as large as ever in our collective musical consciousness, receiving innumerable performances every day across the world and voluminous scholarly and journalistic attention to boot. Despite this, or because of this, we too easily take his music for granted.
Simon Keefe