Festival Voices: MacMillan Seven Last Words from the Cross
Origins Unwrapped
| Byrd Ne | Irascaris Domine |
|---|---|
| Reich | Know what is Above You |
| Vivek Haria | The Imperishable (World Premiere) |
| Missy Mazzoli | Vesper Sparrow |
| MacMillan | Seven Last Words from the Cross |
For the first time, Kings Place resident ensembles Festival Voices and Phaedra Ensemble join forces for Good Friday, culminating in James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross, a modern masterpiece of extraordinary emotional power.
Announced as Kings Place Resident Ensembles from 2027, Festival Voices and Phaedra Ensemble present an ambitious programme spanning more than four centuries of music, bringing together works by Byrd, Reich, Vivek Haria and Missy Mazzoli before culminating in MacMillan’s powerful Seven Last Words from the Cross.
The programme traces a rich lineage of musical ideas, bringing past and present into dialogue. William Byrd’s deeply expressive sacred music stands alongside Steve Reich’s Know What Is Above You, a contemporary reflection on ancient wisdom. Vivek Haria’s The Imperishable receives its world premiere, introducing a new voice to this dialogue, while Missy Mazzoli’s evocative Vesper Sparrow offers music of striking atmosphere and transformation.
Presented on Good Friday, the programme reaches its culmination in James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross, widely regarded as one of the composer’s greatest achievements and among the defining choral works of our time. Following Christ’s final utterances from the Cross, the work forms a sequence of extraordinary emotional and dramatic intensity. Drawing on centuries of sacred tradition while embracing a distinctly contemporary musical language, MacMillan creates music of profound conviction, balancing moments of glowing vocal richness with passages of powerful silence. In the hands of Festival Voices and Phaedra Ensemble, this modern masterpiece becomes a deeply moving meditation on faith, identity and inheritance, revealing how the stories and beliefs we inherit continue to shape the present.
This event will last approximately 75 minutes, with an 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
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£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 Festival Voices
Festival Voices has rapidly built a reputation as one of the UK’s most forward-thinking vocal ensembles. Under the co-artistic direction of founders Gregory Batsleer and Oskar McCarthy, the ensemble creates transformative choral experiences through bold, cross-genre collaboration, with performances at venues including Southbank Centre, Kings Place, the London Handel Festival and Bold Tendencies.
Committed to commissioning new work and collaborating across disciplines, Festival Voices rethinks how and where choral music is heard, engaging new audiences in powerful and unexpected ways. The ensemble’s performances are known for their clarity, precision and emotional depth, offering audiences a choral experience that is both rooted in tradition and creatively ambitious.
About Phaedra Ensemble
Phaedra Ensemble is a London-based contemporary chamber ensemble whose work spans curation, performance and creation – part of a “new breed of ensembles tearing up the rules of classical music” (M Magazine). Beginning as a string quartet, Phaedra has now expanded into a larger, flexible ensemble. Collaborators include Caroline Shaw, Masayoshi Fujita, Laura Jurd and singer-songwriter The Magic Lantern. They have performed across the UK, including at the Barbican Centre, the Southbank Centre, Café OTO, and Cheltenham Festival, alongside international performances at La Seine Musicale and NYU Arts Center Abu Dhabi. Broadcasts include BBC Radio 3 and France Musique.