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 Spring 2010 below.
Chopin Unwrapped Week 2 - Martino Tirimo (Mon 8th Mar 2010 - Sun 14th Mar 2010)
Chopin was a great innovator, and exercised a decisive influence on composers of the French, German and Russian schools well into the 20th century.
The composer’s entire oeuvre will be heard in this series, with all its elegance, poetry and brilliance. In this second week, there will be a rare opportunity to hear the beautiful songs, sung by the incomparable Iwona Sobotka with David Kadouch. We will also feature some of the works of Chopin’s extraordinary youth: the flute variations on Rossini’s La Cenerentola and a Polonaise from his twelfth year, among others. Beside these come the works of his maturity, the Revolutionary Etude and two of his great Ballades. On Saturday, join us for a fascinating Study Day with a panel of distinguished experts. Martino Tirimo
Jazz Scene Europe - four of the creative forces that are helping define European jazz (Mon 15th Mar 2010 - Sun 21st Mar 2010)
European jazz has assumed many original forms in recent years, with powerful echoes of folk and classical traditions.
This week’s series features the contrasting sounds of four leading woodwind players from different corners of the continent – saxophonists John Surman and Andy Sheppard from the UK, Italian clarinettist Gianluigi Trovesi and Frenchman Louis Sclavis – all of them distinctive composers as well as virtuoso instrumentalists.
Boston Musica Viva - Credo in the US: An American Kaleidoscope (Mon 22nd Mar 2010 - Sun 28th Mar 2010)
For over 40 years, Boston Musica Viva has garnered recognition as one of the world’s pre-eminent new music ensembles.
Music Director Richard Pittman and eight gifted players offer three concerts of contemporary music, most of which was originally commissioned and premiered by the ensemble. These programmes give an overview of the diversity of American music and introduce composers well established in the US but infrequently or never performed in London. Over three concerts, BMV will explore the myriad styles of composers including Elliott Carter, Gunther Schuller, Joseph Schwantner, and Michael Gandolfi. Acclaimed mezzo-soprano Pamela Dellal joins BMV for each concert.
Darbar Festival (Mon 29th Mar 2010 - Sun 4th Apr 2010)
Britain's ‘most important celebration of Indian classical music' (Songlines) presents four days of stunning improvisational music and the premiere of unique performance of eastern and western classical traditions.
Presenting concerts throughout the day, it includes operatic and Indian vocals, classical traditions from north and south India and dhrupad, India's oldest form of music.
The Festival features overseas maestros and UK based musicians, as well as extras including mini-concerts, free workshops and films curated in association with Tongues of Fire.
FOLKWORKS: From the North (Mon 5th Apr 2010 - Sun 11th Apr 2010)
Traditional music: concerts and workshops
A celebration of Folkworks and the musical traditions of our islands, focusing particularly on the north of England. Established musicians perform alongside graduates from England’s first degree course in Folk and Traditional music, founded by Folkworks and Newcastle University: "We take strength from the past to inform an exciting new vision of the future of folk and traditional music". Kathryn Tickell
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment: Beethoven With Guts (Mon 12th Apr 2010 - Sun 18th Apr 2010)
With special guest Robert Levin
The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment returns to Kings Place for four days packed with events for all the family. The focus is on Beethoven: a composer at the heart of the OAE’s repertoire. There are performances of his chamber music, a recital from special guest Robert Levin plus a host of other events including a tots concert and a film screening.
The Irish American (Mon 19th Apr 2010 - Sun 25th Apr 2010)
American Minimalists and Irish protagonists
Irish traditional music has always played an important role in my life. This week will see an extensive line-up of distinguished performers of traditional and contemporary Irish and American music: Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Iarla Ó Lionáird and Brian Ó hUiginn to name but a few. The series will also include two performances by The Smith Quartet, featuring Morton Feldman’s music for piano and strings with legendary pianist John Tilbury, and the complete string quartets of Philip Glass. It is a real joy to programme a concert with Michael Gordon & David Lang of Bang on a Can – rock ’n roll contemporary music. It will also be great to hear Donnacha Dennehy’s music here in London, an Irish composer closely associated with the Fidelio Trio. Darragh Morgan, curator
London Sinfonietta's EXPERIMENT! (Mon 26th Apr 2010 - Sun 2nd May 2010)
London Sinfonietta presents EXPERIMENT! – a project that brings a spirit of exploration and discovery into the performance and public spaces of Kings Place.
Thursday and Friday concerts explore the music of experimentalist composers such as John Cage, Morton Feldman, Harry Partch, Terry Riley, Cornelius Cardew, Gavin Bryars and Howard Skempton. The weekend culminates on Saturday night with a new acoustic project created in collaboration with the experimental pop band Micachu and the Shapes. There are chances to get up close to London Sinfonietta in open rehearsals and foyer performances, take part in London Sinfonietta’s Scratch Band, and perform in Satie’s marathon piano piece Vexations.
EXPERIMENT! has been devised in parallel with Create KX’s Reveal festival which presents installations and performances in unexpected places around the King’s Cross area.
PARTAGER: Paris / London / New York Jazz (Mon 3rd May 2010 - Sun 9th May 2010)
Following the success of their celebrated programme at Charlie Wright’s International, ‘t Wo Music’ presents a four-day gala that will focus on cutting-edge contemporary French jazz and collaborative projects born of French, American, and British exchange. At the forefront of re-envisioning international jazz in London, curator Patsy Craig in association with bureau export highlights a tantalizing blend of imports accentuating London as a musical bridge linking New York to Paris.
Select performances will be recorded by BBC Radio 3 for future broadcast.
Matthew Barley plays John Metcalfe (Mon 10th May 2010 - Sun 16th May 2010)
‘JOHN METCALFE is a composer I discovered some years ago whose music touches me deeply; it is always fascinating, always intelligent – it blends acoustic and electronic sounds with inaudible seams; it develops its themes with perfect clarity – and above all, it packs a big emotional punch. It can make me cry and laugh or jump up and down with excitement, and that is what new music should be doing. Listening to John’s music I can hear the powerful traditions of classical music (he is a master viola player), as well as the here-and-now in his red-hot drum beats and haunting synthesisers. This is music that can speak to everyone about love and freedom, fear and yearning, and the deep mysterious joy of music.’ Matthew Barley, curator
‘John Metcalfe crosses all manner of boundaries. Melding avant-pop and electronica, film music and contemporary classical...’ Billboard Magazine
Samuel Joseph presents JAZZ: VOICE+PIANO (Mon 17th May 2010 - Sun 23rd May 2010)
What can be more thrilling, moving and dynamic than the pure combination of a virtuoso jazz voice in duo with a stunning instrumentalist? In this rare celebration of a classic format, three of the most distinguished female vocalists team up with internationally acclaimed and equally unique virtuoso pianists to create a series of mesmerising nights of intimate, sublime and deeply moving soundscapes.
Birds Eye View: Sounds and Silents (Mon 24th May 2010 - Sun 30th May 2010)
Silent classics with live music
A fantastic programme of world-class musicians and classic silent films. The Birds Eye View Film Festival celebrates the best women filmmakers from around the globe and commissions cutting-edge female musicians to compose and perform live soundtracks for stunning silent films. This programme is a pick of the best Birds Eye View musical commissions, and a celebration of the iconic female leads of silent cinema.
All films are rated PG
Chopin Unwrapped Week 3 - Martino Tirimo (Mon 31st May 2010 - Sun 6th Jun 2010)
In this, the third and final week of our series of Chopin's complete works, distinguished pianist Martino Tirimo presents the Piano Concerto No. 2 in the composer's own chamber arrangement, and the other five works for piano and orchestra including the world prèmiere of Stephen Scotchmer's new arrangement of the Op. 2 Variations on a theme from Don Giovanni. Tirimo is joined by the Polish Silesian Quartet for these concerts, which will also include the rarely-performed Devil's Trill Prelude in E flat minor, reconstructed from sketches by Jeffrey Kallberg. A great treat will be to hear all 24 Preludes in Thursday's concert, as Tirimo comments: ‘If I had to choose one work by Chopin to take to a desert island, perhaps it would be the Preludes. There I think you will find the quintessence of Chopin, all his special qualities, elegance, poetry, delicateness, brilliance, innovation and startling harmonic invention.'
Produced in collaboration with the Polish Cultural Institute
Schubert Ensemble: Saint-Saens’s Paris (Mon 7th Jun 2010 - Sun 13th Jun 2010)
Out of the calamity of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) a glorious era of French chamber music was born.
Saint-Saëns, a dazzling pianist and mercurial composer, was a key figure in this period of high passions and lively debate, in which the cause of furthering French music vied with the irresistible influence of foreign composers, especially Richard Wagner. These programmes contrast the light-textured virtuosity of Saint-Saëns and his friend and pupil Fauré with the lush, full-blooded Wagnerian romanticism of Franck and D’Indy.
Fretwork: The World Encompassed (Mon 14th Jun 2010 - Sun 20th Jun 2010)
Fretwork’s residency at Kings Place presents a whole range of music for viols, from the 1500s to 2010.
Emma Kirkby, Michael Chance and Clare Wilkinson perform music old and new with ‘the finest viol consort on the planet’ (Stephen Pettitt, The Evening Standard). This unusual series also includes two very different new works: Alexander Goehr sets George Chapman’s marvellous poem The Shadow of Night – sung by Michael Chance – and Orlando Gough explores new worlds with The World Encompassed. This major new work takes Drake’s circumnavigation of the globe in 1577-80 as the starting point for a musical journey with the viol players that accompanied Drake on his epic voyage.
Royal Academy of Music 2010 HIGHLIGHTS (Mon 21st Jun 2010 - Sun 27th Jun 2010)
The Royal Academy of Music presents diverse performances inspired by prolific and world-renowned artists including eminent conductor Trevor Pinnock, distinguished flautist William Bennett and jazz legend Mike Gibbs. The award-winning Solstice Quartet joins Academy musicians in a performance of chamber classics. On the final day of the series, families get the chance to sing, play and move in the creation and performance of an exciting new composition.
Celebrating Argentina 200 - Tango meets Classical (Mon 28th Jun 2010 - Sun 4th Jul 2010)
This Festival celebrates the bicentenary of Argentina’s independence after centuries of Spanish rule. It features Argentine classical music old and new as well as the music of the pampas (Gaucho music) and the indigenous inhabitants of the North. Alongside the music – and naturally, Tango! – the Festival also includes exhibitions of contemporary art and cartoons, films and poetry readings. In the meantime, don’t forget to enjoy MorrisLenson Guitar Duo’s free concerts in the Foyer and on the waterside terrace while tasting the special menu devised by the Argentinian chef Gustavo Schneider for Rotunda Restaurant and the Green & Fortune Café. Alberto Portugheis, curator Presented in association with Opus Musica and supported by the Embassy of Argentina and The Anglo-Argentine Society.