For the opening performance of Earth Unwrapped 2025, join us on an otherworldly voyage among the solar system with Terry Riley’s ‘Sun Rings’.

Sixty years on since his seminal work, In C, Terry Riley has earned a firm place in the collective of legendary composers of our time. As well as launching Kings Place’s year-long Earth Unwrapped, this performance also kicks off our celebrations of Riley’s birthday across 2025, with a rare opportunity to hear his masterful Sun Rings performed live.

A ten-part suite, utilising audio recordings of NASA’s Voyager I & II (on mission since 1977), Sun Rings is an evocative journey from Earth to the cosmos and back again with the final movement, ‘One Earth, One People, One Love’.

With his creative thoughts from an inspirational trip to Cape Kennedy in Summer 2001 soon interrupted by 9/11, Riley wanted his work ‘to have one message about how we human beings have to grow before we take our culture out into space.’ Through this prism, Sun Rings transcends mere musical exploration questioning humanity’s place in the universe as we venture beyond our world, and offering a profound message about growth and unity.

On mission tonight are the UK’s longest-established Sacconi Quartet, renowned for their creativity and energetic approach, joining forces with the ever-collaborative Festival Voices and conductor Greg Batsleer, in what promises to be a vibrant collaboration of sound, inspiration, and celebration. Truly unmissable!

This event will last approximately 70 minutes, without an interval.