info@kingsplace.co.uk Tel 020 7520 1440

15 Years

Feature

As Kings Place reaches its 15th birthday, we look back with pride – and some wonder – at what has been achieved, how our community has grown and what lies ahead.

Helen Wallace, Executive & Artistic Director, reflects on the 15 year anniversary of Kings Place

Kings Place opened in 2008, brainchild of Peter Millican OBE, who dreamed up the innovative concept of an office building founded on an arts centre, a hub for a multitude of arts charities, where business events supported the artistic programme, with spaces and galleries open and free to the public. It was the first cultural building to go up on the then undeveloped Kings Cross hinterland, now a vibrant new London quarter. I used to pick my way over rubble to reach York Way…

Aurora Orchestra.

Fifteen years on, the venue 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.

Peter Millican OBE, Executive Chair of Kings Place.
Kings Place foundations are laid.

‘At the millennium Kings Place was a dream in my head. ’

Peter Millican OBE, Executive Chair of Kings Place
View of Kings Place from Regents Canal.

Unforgettable moments include the opening 100-event festival, Prince’s secret gig in 2014, the first ever London Podcast Festival in 2016,  2018 Sonica Festival for which 176 snails decked with LEDs slid around Hall Two to a slow version of Nirvana’s Teen Spirit… Hall One has been graced by Martha Argerich, Arooj Aftab, Bernie Sanders, George the Poet, Laura Mvula, Robert Glasper, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Steve Reich, Brian Cox, Peggy Seeger, Norma Waterstone, Nicholas Angelich, Alina Ibragimova, Willard White and Vieux Farka Touré to name a handful.

London Podcast Festival.

‘Kings Place has always had a young energy and an independent spirit which has blossomed into a highly distinctive offering. ’

Helen Wallace, Executive & Artistic Director

After Unwrapping Mozart, Bach and Beethoven, Minimalism Unwrapped (2015) won Kings Place’s first RPS Award. Cello Unwrapped unlocked the diverse creativity of cellists from Christophe Coin to Ayanna Witter-Johnson, while Time Unwrapped included the first performance of The Creation in Hall One from the OAE and a heart-stopping balancing act from Zen artist Miyoko Shida.  Venus Unwrapped helped to turn the dial on female creativity: in the teeth of some opposition, we proved there was more than enough fabulous music by women to perform a year’s-worth of concerts spanning eleven centuries.

Ayanna Witter Johnson.

Covid brought closure in 2020 and the launch of KPlayer, during which Kings Place found a worldwide audience. No one will ever forget the life-enhancing Culture Clinics held when only six people could meet in a room, or the heart-stopping moment when the London Bulgarian Choir flooded Hall One again with heavenly sound. Voices Unwrapped featured the profoundly moving Sound Voice project, bringing singers together with the voiceless and welcoming an array of community choirs, while Sound Unwrapped has immersed us in unforgettable spatialised performances, including the dynamic Moonbathing experience. Next year, Scotland Unwrapped leans into our visionary folk programme, welcoming back musicians who connect deeply with our audience, including Karine Polwart, Duncan Chisholm, Julie Fowlis, Aidan O’Rourke and Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham.

Moonbathing d&b Soundscape event.

I like nothing more than to go between our two halls backstage hearing a vocal ensemble in the radiant acoustic of Hall One and a bassy electronic show being spatialised in our state-of-the-art Hall Two, knowing that the artists might collaborate in future. There’s nowhere quite like it.

Helen Wallace

See the full 15 Years Timeline here.

 

Recommended articles

15 Recommended Events

Feature

Top Tips from the Kings Place Programme team

Read the article

15th Birthday Wishes

Feature

Well-wishes from our artists and partners, as we celebrate 15 years

Read the article

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,…

Read the article

Celebrating 15 years of Kings Place

Feature

As Kings Place reaches its 15th birthday, we look back with pride – and some wonder – at what has been…

Read the article

Éliane Radigue: Exploring Occam

Feature

Helen Wallace introduces the legendary composer Eliane Radigue and her water-inspired series, Occam    

Read the article

John Metcalfe with the Xylem Orchestra 

Q&A

Composer, producer and arranger to the likes of U2, Coldplay, Peter Gabriel and Blur, New Zealander John Metcalfe makes a…

Read the article

Sound Unwrapped – autumn season

Feature

Welcome back to Sound Unwrapped, our series exploring spatial dimensions in live performance and immersive sound artists. Read on to…

Read the article

Explore Ensemble & Lotte Betts-Dean

Interview

Kurt Cobain, spatial collages and synths translated. Nicholas Moroz, Artistic Director of Explore Ensemble, talks to Helen Wallace about the…

Read the article

2023 in 10 events, introduced by Rosie Chapman

Feature

We asked Head of Artistic Planning Rosie Chapman to introduce 10 Kings Place events she will not be missing this year……

Read the article

2023 in 10 events, introduced by Helen Wallace

Feature

We asked Executive & Artistic Director Helen Wallace to introduce 10 Kings Place events she will not be missing this…

Read the article