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What’s On Festivals & Series London Podcast FestivalEarth UnwrappedBlack Lives in Music presents Classically Blackd&b Soundscape

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d&b Soundscape

Kings Place has a creative partnership with d&b audiotechnik to introduce artists and develop new projects using Soundscape in Hall Two. A revolution in the live sound experience, d&b Soundscape is an alternative to the traditional left and right stereo system, using up to 39 loudspeakers to open up a plethora of creative possibilities for artists to reinforce their sound.

The following shows will all be using the d&b Soundscape system. Find out more about the technology in our Magazine.

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Michael Mwenso's Soul Assembly

At Kings Place Michael Mwenso is curating a brand-new series, Soul Assembly, where music meets conversation, and community comes alive. Step into an evening of electrifying spontaneity and soul stirring connection. Each night brings together a dynamic mix of musicians, thinkers and cultural voices, sharing the stage not just to perform, but to talk, reflect, and connect.

Michael Mwenso is not just a performer; he is a cultural ambassador and an international artist whose artistry transcends borders. With a career that has flourished across the United States and beyond, Mwenso’s dynamic presence and exceptional talent have established him as a virtuoso of Black music. His powerful voice and charismatic stage presence resonate deeply with audiences, igniting passion and dialogue through his performances.

 

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Earth Unwrapped

Sirens for a wounded planet

Kings Place turns its focus to Earth for our 2025 award-winning Unwrapped series, bringing artists together to explore our wounded planet and how collectively we can seek healing.
We turn to Artists in Residence Sam Lee and Jason Singh to tell stories of the Earth through their performances, installations and celebrations throughout the year.

Environmental artist Alice Boyd creates The Sounds of King’s Cross for our d&b Soundscape system, listening and talking to the people wildlife in our local area, whilst EarthPercent, the music industry’s climate foundation, will host an important conversation with their expert advisory panel.

Virtuoso violinist Daniel Pioro invites you to a weekend of deep listening for our audiences, with works from Catherine Lamb, Pauline Oliveros, James Tenney and Valgeir Sigurðsson.

We celebrate Terry Riley’s 90th birthday, look to Pauline Oliveros’ concept of deep listening and are taken on a Mahler adventure with Resident Ensemble, Aurora. You’ll hear new music and commissions from artists who dedicate their work to our planet including Julia Wolfe, Josephine Stephenson, and Erland Cooper.

Our d&b Soundscape system will bring the outdoors in with artists such as Soumik Datta, Ligeti Quartet and The Rheingans Sisters enabling us to feel immersed in the outdoors from sounds on our doorstep to around the world.

This year-long series will offer a place to listen deeply to our world on a microscopic to cosmic scale, inviting you to celebrate our natural world, provide a space to listen, learn and be inspired by the artists around us.

See our Digital Earth Unwrapped brochure – here.

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London Piano Festival

Welcome to the 2025 London Piano Festival at Kings Place!

The 2025 London Piano Festival marks its 10th anniversary with a rich and diverse programme featuring the theme of Maturity & Youth.

This milestone year blends classical masterpieces with contemporary compositions, world premieres, and engaging discussions. Join us as we celebrate pianist artistry, innovation and musical storytelling, bridging both past and future.

‘It is our great pleasure to be announcing the programme for the 10th London Piano Festival alongside the world premiere of three new commissions by Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Stephen Hough and Elena Langer. When we first dreamt up the idea of starting a piano festival over a decade ago, we hoped to fill a gap in London’s musical offering by creating a festival devoted exclusively to the piano. Ten years on, having presented nine Festivals featuring over 45 exceptional jazz and classical pianists, we are immensely grateful to continue offering world-class piano performances at our Festival home – Kings Place.’ – Katya Apekisheva and Charles Owen, Co-Artistic Directors

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Kirckman at Kings Place

The Kirckman Concert Society was founded by Geraint Jones and Calton Younger in 1963 to promote young artists of exceptional talent.

The Society’s panel of distinguished musicians has developed a reputation for ‘spotting’ tomorrow’s stars in the making. The Society offers its young musicians a London platform as well as the possibility of concerts further afield; and while these artists are not yet household names, concert-goers have a unique opportunity to hear for themselves the exciting promise which these artists offer.

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London Guitar Festival 2025

‘The 22nd edition of IGF’s London Guitar Festival brings you a wonderful series of concerts by major international artists and young artists making their debuts, workshops and a clutch of new IGF commissions continuing IGF’s groundbreaking work with new music and new artists.

We celebrate 30 years of IGF (International Guitar Foundation) with concerts by major artists who have played a defining role in our history, Ana Vidovic is one of the most cherished ones.

The Albert Augustine Memorial Competition was IGF’s first major international competition and also Ana’s, winning it in 1995 at a mere 14 years of age launched her international career. We are delighted and proud to have her headlining the festival!

Ana will also be giving a masterclass so be sure not to miss this opportunity!

We also welcome the return of one of the greatest jazz guitarists in the history of the form: Biréli Lagrène. This extraordinary guitarist makes a unique solo appearance, his only solo performance in the UK this year. Biréli very rarely teaches so his workshop at Kings Place is a not to be missed opportunity to learn from an absolute master!

Young artists are as always at the heart of IGF’s work and we especially welcome performances from the exceptional young artists on our Young Artist Platform.

Our La Leona programme celebrates women composers and we present new commissions for solo guitar by Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Laila Arafah as well as repeat performances of work we commissioned in previous editions including Bobbie-Jane Gardner’s beautiful Selflove for voice and guitar.

The guitar is unique in its appeal to people of all ages, musical tastes, and economic means; come and join us and immerse yourself in that most colourful and versatile of instruments: the guitar!’

Tom Kerstens,
Artistic Director, International Guitar Foundation (IGF).

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Black Lives in Music presents Classically Black

Classically Black: A Cultural Movement in the Making

Now in its second year, Classically Black is more than a festival—it’s a growing cultural movement redefining what classical music looks and sounds like today.

Rooted in Black and global majority experiences, the programme features powerful performances and new commissions that blend tradition with transformation—led by world-class musicians whose identities are often erased in classical spaces. This ground-breaking event will explore the experience of being a minority in classical music and champion the works of Black music artists and creators past and present, while asking ‘what is classical now?’

Classically Black offers a new vantage point: one grounded in excellence, pride, and cultural truth.

Curated by Black Lives in Music, this is classical music reimagined.

Join the movement. Be part of the change.

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Future Folk: Contemporary Sounds from Traditional Roots

Future Folk: Contemporary Sounds from Traditional Roots

Kings Place is proud to present the return of Future Folk, our series showcasing emerging artists creating and reshaping music inspired by folk traditions in new, progressive ways for contemporary audiences. Across four events in 2025/26, we will put these talented musicians centre stage in a time when breakthrough acts can easily become lost in the current economic realities of folk music programming.

The series offers an exciting opportunity to discover new music. In 2025, join us and experience Welsh singer songwriter Eve Goodman and the groundbreaking sustainable touring duo Filkin’s Drift. In 2026, we welcome contemporary trio Grace Lemon, Paddi Benson and James Patrick Gavin, whose debut project is a conceptual retelling of the patient ballroom dances that took place at Bethlem Hospital (Bedlam) throughout the 19th century. Concluding the 25/26 series, we have innovator, award winning, multi-instrumentalist Malin Lewis melding Scottish West coast tradition with a newly invented, self-made bagpipe whose work is inspired by European folk traditions, queerness and the universe.

In partnership with Alan Bearman Music.

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Bach, the Universe & Everything

Bach, the Universe and Everything is back with another season of celestial adventures.

Inspired by the music of JS Bach, composer and intergalactic genius, it is a concert season with a difference that places his cantatas in the context of the amazing cosmic discoveries of the last 350 years.

Exploring the ‘Final Frontier’ has drawn the most extraordinary ingenuity and inventions from humans in that time. Whilst warp travel may still only exist in fiction we can still marvel at extraordinary achievements in our reality. The clocks of John Harrison that solved the greatest scientific problem of his time in telling time on the oceans of our own planet. The John Webb Space Telescope enabling us to see back to the beginning of time. That we are starting to understand the surfaces of Saturn’s icy moons or the environments of exoplanets in distant galaxies. All of these demonstrate how the human spirit is far from earthbound.

Bach, the Universe and Everything brings you all these things alongside the music of JS Bach. In his 200 cantatas, in seeking to go beyond the frontier of the heavens to reach for the divine he also gifted us with one of the most amazing of human achievements.

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Aurora Orchestra - Far, Far Away

Combining live instrumental performance of the highest calibre with original storytelling and a playful, multi-sensory approach to concert presentation, Far, Far Away is the perfect way to introduce young children to music.

Each concert explores a particular composer or style of music, weaving together stunning live performances with an original story from Aurora Orchestra’s Writer-in-Residence Kate Wakeling and a beautifully designed set built around the audience and musicians. Audiences are invited to step inside each story through guided listening, singing, dancing, holding props and much more, becoming immersed in a magical world of music, language, discovery and play.

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Noh Reimagined

Noh Reimagined 2025: Bashō, Matsukaze & Song of Rona Island (world premiere)

Noh Reimagined returns with a powerful edition as part of Kings Place’s Earth Unwrapped. Experience the transcendent artistry of Japanese noh theatre with two classical masterpieces —Bashō and Matsukaze, alongside the world premiere of Song of Rona Island, a historic first-time collaboration between Scottish artists and Japanese Noh performers.

Bashō (Plantain Tree) by Konparu Zenchiku, a is a mesmerising tale in which the spirit of a banana plant, appearing as a middle-aged  woman, embodies the Lotus Sutra’s teaching that plants too, can attain enlightenment, reflecting a vision of the harmony and equality of humans and the natural world.

Matsukaze (Pining Wind) by Zeami Motokiyo tells the story of a beautiful young woman named Matsukaze( meaning sound of wind blowing through pine trees) and her sister Murasame (meaning cold autumn rain), both of whom are ghosts who have waited in the otherworld for the return of the exiled nobleman Ariwara no Yukihira. In her longing, Matsukaze mistakes a pine tree for her beloved and dons Yukihira’s treasured court costume. She dances in a frenzy of remembrance and longing, before disappearing once more into the wind blowing through the pine tree.

Song of Rona Island draws inspiration from eminent Scottish poet and environmentalist Kathleen Jamie’s essay ‘On Rona’. Acclaimed Scottish musicians Aidan O’Rourke (fiddle) and Brìghde Chaimbeul (Scottish smallpipes) join 6 Noh performers. Through the encounter of Scottish sound , culture and noh theatre, it explores a new realm of sound, conveying the story of abandoned island and the fragile ecosystems and human existence. The quiet yet powerful messages emerge from two remote cultures at opposite ends of the earth.

Noh Reimagined is a London-based festival and year-round project, curated and produced by Akiko Yanagisawa (Mu:Arts), that explores how the ancient Japanese art of Noh continues to inspire new artistic expression today. Since 2016, in partnership with Kings Place, it has showcased classical noh performances by master artists from Japan alongside bold new commissions by leading UK creatives across music, dance, theatre, and visual art. Through performances, workshops, and cross-cultural collaborations at venues including the Aldeburgh Festival, Birmingham, Sheffield, Rome, Madrid, and Tokyo, Noh Reimagined invites audiences to experience noh as a living, evolving tradition addressing timeless themes of memory, nature, and transformation.

‘I cannot praise this two-day festival enough. ★★★★★ Planet Hugill  

‘Sumidagawa at Aldeburgh Festival.’ ★★★★★ The Guardian

‘Noh Reimagined shows how collaboration can transcend conventional boundaries.’ The Journal of Music

‘Noh Reimagined opens new possibilities for music, sound, and historical connections, encouraging creative risks and the integration of Noh aesthetics into Western practice. This project has the potential to inspire younger composers and influence British contemporary artists, much like Noh’s historical impact on figures like Britten and Stockhausen.’ Ben Nobuto, Composer, Noh Reimagined 2024 

What is Noh? Learn the basics here.
Read ‘Noh, an art of contrasts’ feature by Diego Pellecchia
Photo gallery on Noh Reimagined website.

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Online

An exciting virtual Kings Place has emerged and our audience can now experience events streamed live at home via KPlayer.

For information on how to use KPlayer please refer to our guide or see the KPlayer FAQ.

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Politics

Political commentator and broadcaster, Steve Richards, presents the latest behind-the-scenes guide to the epic dramas and the characters shaping seismic events. How have we got here? What’s going to happen next? Are there any answers to these questions? Come along and find out.

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I Fagiolini at Kings Place

Resident at Kings Place for its 40th anniversary in 2026, I Fagiolini announces three projects, the first in December 2025 and two in 2026, with another special event to be announced later. Three composer portraits of music the group illuminates with its trademark energy and engaged solo-voice delivery. Come and immerse yourself in great works by Charpentier, Purcell and Victoria performed one-to-a-part with I Fagiolini’s ‘wonderfully expressive approach’ creating ‘a little bit of magic (Planet Hugill).

In an age of AI, I Fagiolini is a hand-painted original. The group is internationally renowned for its genuinely innovative productions, which are as much online as live, including world premiere recordings, collaborative cross-art projects, education and short (multi award-winning) music videos with Polyphonic Films. Founder director Robert Hollingworth has spent much of his life considering how audiences receive music, instead of just how performers want to deliver it: engagement with audiences both live and on film has always been at the heart of the ensemble’s work.

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