15 Years of Kings Place
Feature
Over the years, Kings Place has established an award-winning, innovative programme for music and spoken word, developing new series, festivals, cross-arts collaborations and artistic relationships, and providing a home for music education and community charities. This timeline charts Kings Place’s development, marking our key moments and proud achievements.
- Kings Place opens with a 100-event festival
- The founding Artistic Associates include London Sinfonietta, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Sixteen and Alan Bearman Music
- The first ‘Unwrapped’ series is focused on Beethoven
- Aurora Orchestra becomes Resident Orchestra at Kings Place
- Terje Isungset’s Ice Trumpet is played as part of Scene Norway
- Netia Jones’s Transition Projects are staged
- Chopin Unwrapped, includes the complete piano music performed by Martino Tirimo
- The first London A Cappella Festival, curated by The Swingles
- Marta Argerich makes an appearance in an Argentinian-themed week of concerts
- Mozart Unwrapped – a 40 concert block-buster
- Estonian Weekend, Hestia: the first of many visits by Estonian musicians to Kings Place, including Kristian Randalu, Vox Clamantis, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Mari Kalkun
- Circus Maximus: a celebration of the music of the late Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, with the composer in attendance and introducing works
- Robert Glasper Trio headlines EFG London Jazz Festival at Kings Place
- Brahms Unwrapped, features the Requiem sung by The Sixteen
- The first Jewish Book Week to be presented at Kings Place
- Bach Unwrapped
- The Brodsky Quartet becomes first Kings Place Resident Quartet
- Exhibition of Adam Birtwistle’s portraits in the gallery, with concert of music by Harrison Birtwistle
- Chamber Classics Unwrapped includes 100 best-loved works voted on by readers of BBC Music Magazine
- Norma Waterson and her daughter Eliza Carthy appear with the Midnight Watch in Kings Place’s Folk Festival
- Prince plays a secret Valentine’s gig at the venue
- Chucho Valdes headlines the EFG London Jazz Festival at Kings Place
- Minimalism Unwrapped wins an RPS Award for Series or Festival. The series features Katia & Marielle Labeque, Steve Reich, Scanner, Winged Victory for the Sullen, Vanessa Wagner & Murcof, Oliver Coates, Aurora and Nik Bartsch.
- PJ Harvey headlines Poetry & Lyrics Festival
- Baroque Unwrapped
- Kings Place launches the London Podcast Festival, Europe’s first live podcasting festival, featuring My Dad Wrote a Porno
- Sonica Festival curated by Cryptic, presents Robbie Thomson’s live tesla-coil show XFRMR
- Launch of Aurora Orchestra’s Mozart’s Piano, 5-year series featuring all 27 piano concertos, commissioned by Parabola Foundation
- Cerys Matthews curates an evening at the Poetry & Lyrics Festival
- Cello Unwrapped with Artists-in-Residence Natalie Clein and Christophe Coin, and featuring Ayanna Witter-Johnson
- Launch of the London Piano Festival directed by Charles Owen & Katya Apekisheva
- Cryptic becomes an Artistic Associate
- Time Unwrapped features Artist-in-Residence Hugo Ticciati with O/Modernt
- Sonica Festival presented Slow Pixel: 176 snails with LEDs in Hall Two dancing to a slowed-down version of Teen Spirit by Nirvana…
- Kings Place celebrates its 10 Year Anniversary with a building-wide party & performances
- Launch of Luminate, Kings Place’s adventurous contemporary music series
- Venus Unwrapped was a ground-breaking series shining a light on women’s creativity. Featuring 140 female composers, the series won an RPS Award for Series or Festival and was highly influential in turning the dial on representation
- Kings Place becomes a PRS Keychange venue, committing to gender equality on our stages and in our staff
- Nature Unwrapped opens with specially-commissioned soundscapes by Artist-in-Residence Chris Watson, using d&b audiotechnik’s Soundscape system in Hall One. Artist line-up includes George Monbiot, Brian Cox, Laurie Anderson, Anton Irisarri, and the late Mira Calix, whose Mantis & Bee was performed with live crickets
- Kings Place closes in March due to the pandemic
- In July KPlayer is launched to stream events & festivals
- Artistic Director Helen Wallace is awarded ABO Concert Hall Manager of the Year
- After five months of closure, Kings Place opens in August for Culture Clinics for audiences of six people. In September we open to 30% capacity.
- London Unwrapped, tales of a migrant city, features Cassie Kinoshi and Iestyn Davies as Artists-in-Residence
- Kings Place closes between Jan-April due to the pandemic. Concerts resume in May 2021
- Thomas Ades’s Alchymia, co-commissioned by Kings Place, is given its UK premiere by Mark Simpson and the Diotima Quartet
- Voices Unwrapped featuring Julie Fowlis and Roderick Williams as Artists-in-Residence
- 12 community choirs join a wide-ranging series, which includes Hannah Conway’s Sound Voice installation, shining a light on the experience of voice loss
- Resident Quartet Brodsky celebrate their 50th birthday by performing Shostakovich’s 15 string quartets over a weekend
- Kings Place launches its first Friends scheme
- Sound Unwrapped features Hannah Peel and Space Afrika as Artists-in-Residence
- Installation of the d&b audiotechnik Soundscape system in Hall Two and more than twenty new spatialised projects are presented
- Kings Place launches a concessions ticket scheme