Aurora Orchestra: American Quartets
Origins Unwrapped | Aurora at Kings Place
| Samuel Barber | String Quartet in B minor, Op. 11 |
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| Jessie Montgomery | Strum |
| Antonín Dvořák | String Quartet No. 12 in F, Op. 96, American |
| Aurora Orchestra |
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Journey through a century of string quartets from America in an immersive setting, performed by the principal string players of Aurora Orchestra.
Settle into a beanbag inside the quartet or take a seat beside the musicians and experience the music from a completely different perspective. Close enough to see every movement, hear every detail and feel the sound shift around you, Aurora’s new series, Aurora at Kings Place, is classical music without the distance.
Time seems to stand still in Samuel Barber’s Quartet, whose second movement became the original source of his most famous work, Adagio for Strings. It is music of extraordinary tenderness and intensity, with long, soaring lines gathering emotion until they seem almost suspended in time.
Written almost a century later, Jessie Montgomery’s Strum weaves together American folk idioms, journeying from wistful nostalgia to ecstatic celebration. From here, the evening culminates in Dvořák’s beloved ‘American’ String Quartet, written during his time in the United States. Its irresistible melodies, rhythmic vitality and sense of open space make it a perfect finale for a performance where the boundaries between player and listener are dissolved.
There are two seating options: beanbags in the middle of the performance area or chairs around the edge. You can choose where you would like to sit on the night, with both options available on a first-come, first-served basis.
This event will last approximately 60 minutes with no interval.
Concessions & Under 30s tickets
Kings Place Concessions Tickets
We want to ensure that people who may be struggling financially to purchase a ticket can still enjoy visiting Kings Place. A limited number of tickets are allocated for certain events (if the ticket type does not show in the booking pathway, it means they are not available for this event or have all been sold). Concessions tickets are accessible for people on the following criteria (for more information visit our FAQs)
- Pension Credit
- Universal Credit
- Disability Benefit
- Income Support or Job Seekers allowance
- Students
£10 ‘Under 30s’ tickets
A limited number of £10 tickets are available for certain shows to attendees aged under 30. To access Under 30s tickets, update your account with your Date of Birth. Please visit the account centre to add your Date of Birth.
If £10 tickets are available, the ticket discount will apply automatically at checkout. If the discount does not apply, this means all ‘Under 30s’ tickets have sold out for the performance.
Please note that proof of age may be requested at the venue.
Plan your visit
Getting here
Kings Place is situated just a few minutes’ walk from King’s Cross and St Pancras stations, one of the most connected locations in London and now the biggest transport hub in Europe.
Our address is:
90 York Way, London, N1 9AG.
The Venue
Our performance spaces are situated on the lower ground floor. Hall One, Hall Two and St Pancras are located in level -2, reached by stairs, escalator and lift from the ground floor entrance level.
Event Times
Door times indicate auditorium entrance times only. Visitors are welcome to enjoy the Kings Place seating areas, gallery-level art, canal-side terrace, café, restaurant and bar throughout the day and evening.
- Our events begin promptly at the advertised start time. Typically, there is no support unless otherwise stated.
- We recommend arriving in good time before the performance. The Hall doors will open 30 minutes before the performance to allow time to take your seats, or to choose a space for standing shows.
- Latecomers will be admitted at a suitable break in the performance where possible
Access
We aim to make your visit to Kings Place as comfortable as possible. For more information about the accessibility of Kings Place, including details about our Access Scheme, please visit this page.
If you would like to discuss your access requirements with a member of our team, please get in touch with the Box Office team at info@kingsplace.co.uk.
Food & Drink
Rotunda Bar & Restaurant
Rotunda, situated on the ground floor of Kings Place, offers a unique dining and drinking experience alongside Regent’s Canal. The concert bar in the venue foyer will also be open for select events.
Green & Fortune Café
Recently re-furbished and now open with a new look, the Green & Fortune Café is open for selected concerts. Serving hot and cold food and drinks, including sandwiches, salads, soup, stew and a pie of the day, alongside a choice of cakes made by the on-site bakery team. See here for selected concert dates and standard opening hours.
About Aurora Orchestra
Since its creation in 2005, Aurora has rapidly established itself as the most significant new British chamber ensemble in a generation, and one of Europe’s leading chamber ensembles. With its signature creative ethos, Aurora combines electrifying live performance with a uniquely adventurous approach to programming and presentation. Collaborating widely across art forms and musical genres, the ensemble has worked with an exceptional breadth of artists from Ian Bostridge to Wayne McGregor to Björk. In recent years it has pioneered memorised performance, and is thought to be the first ensemble worldwide to perform whole symphonies in this way.
Based at Kings Place since 2009, and formally appointed as Resident Ensemble in 2013, Aurora has played a pivotal role in Kings Place’s music programme, launching the critically acclaimed Mozart’s Piano, an exploratory late-night series The Lock-In, and imaginative storytelling concerts for families and young audiences Far, Far Away.