info@kingsplace.co.uk Tel 020 7520 1440
Basket Contact Us Search
What’s On Festivals & Series Origins UnwrappedSonglines EncountersLondon Piano FestivalMemory Unwrapped

Genres

Date

Songlines Encounters

Songlines Encounters returns to Kings Place for its 15th anniversary, this time as an extended series of events across 2026. Dedicated to showcasing music from around the world, Songlines Encounters highlights cultural richness across continents and creates space for extraordinary international artists to be heard.

The series opens with British-Burundian singer Muco, reimagining medieval folk songs and poetry. Legendary Malian ngoni lute player Bassekou Kouyaté and his wife, revered griot singer Amy Sacko, follow. Winner of Best Group at the Songlines Music Awards 2024, Mostar Sevdah Reunion represent traditional music from Bosnia and Herzegovinia. Soon after, French duo Cocanha draw upon polyphonic songs from the traditional Occitan repertoire. Armenian tar player, singer and composer Miqayel Voskanyan brings his jazz-influenced version of the plucked tar to the UK for the very first time, and completing the spring season, Kora master Suntou Susso is joined by his all-Gambian ensemble, the Gambian Superstars, for their debut UK performance.

The autumn season brings Malian Samba Touré, whose music is characterized by hypnotic desert guitar grooves, Hajda Banda, a Belarusian-Polish band specialising in traditional dances and songs from eastern Poland’s Podlasie region, and Irish fiddle master Martin Hayes performing with cellist Kate Ellis.

As ever, the festival is proudly presented in partnership with one of the world’s leading global music magazines, Songlines and will feature more exciting additions to come.

The curation of Songlines Encounters is supported by the 1900 Building 1900bldg.com

View shows & offers

Memory Unwrapped

Remembering the past to reimagine the future

Memory Unwrapped is the 18th in the award-winning series from Kings Place. Throughout 2026, the series will invite audiences on a journey with artists delving into the past to reimagine the future, uncovering how memory and music can spark transformation and inspire change.

Featuring Artists in residence Renell Shaw, GBSR Duo and Olivia Chaney, Composer in Focus Steve Martland, and a host of exciting performers new and familiar, Memory Unwrapped will explore the extraordinary power of music to stir innermost recollections, to preserve history and to honour the unforgettable – from vibrant stories rooted in the venue’s home of King’s Cross to tributes to the greats of spoken word and song.

View shows & offers

Black Lives in Music presents Classically Black

Now in its third year, Classically Black is more than a festival. It is a growing cultural movement redefining what classical music looks and sounds like today.

Rooted in Black and global majority experiences, the programme celebrates and elevates Black and global majority musicians and composers in classical music, past and present. Through performance, discussion, youth engagement and new talent, Classically Black offers a fresh perspective on the genre, one grounded in excellence, pride and cultural truth.

Curated by Black Lives in Music, Classically Black 2026 returns to Kings Place, London on Saturday 10 October 2026 for a powerful day of music, conversation and celebration.

Full day and half day tickets are available.

Join the movement. Be part of the change.

View shows & offers

Platoon Presents at Kings Place

Platoon Presents at Kings Place is a creative partnership forged by two pioneering organisations – the Platoon label, and Kings Place. Together they will present a series of imaginative live performances, showcasing the Platoon roster through contemporary, classical and spoken word genres, from both internationally-celebrated artists and emerging new voices.

Listen to the Platoon Presents at Kings Place playlist – exclusively on Apple Music Classical, the app designed for Classical music.

Watch the Platoon Presents at Kings Place trailer on YouTube.

View shows & offers

Aurora at Kings Place

Step inside the music. Aurora’s new series, Aurora at Kings Place, presents chamber music as it was intended: intimate, personal and up-close, bringing you closer than ever to the musicians and the music.

Forget the formality. These concerts are relaxed, immersive and welcoming. Sat amongst the musicians, you’ll discover chamber music as a living conversation: immediate and connected, with Aurora’s performers introducing the works themselves.

We encourage you to be curious: whether you’re hearing these masterpieces for the first time or returning to music you love, Aurora invites you to hear the music with a fresh perspective. Settle in, switch off from the outside world, and experience chamber music without barriers.

View shows & offers

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 five events from autumn 2026 to Spring 2027, we put these emerging 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. We open in October with a double billing with punk and alt country-inspired multi-instrumentalist Elspeth Anne and banjo player and instrument builder Jacken Elswyth, known for collaborations with Shovel Dance Collective. In November, award-winning Anglo-Scottish duo Janice Burns & Jon Doran lead us into the festive season with a project focused on seasonal traditions, through tight vocal harmonies, mandolin, bouzouki and guitar.

January brings multi-instrumentalist, composer and film-maker Tamsin Elliott, playing music with roots in the traditional dance tunes of the British Isles alongside her trio – Sid Goldsmith on cittern and concertina and Rowan Elliott on fiddle. In February, passionate ambassador for English folk tradition Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne combines his powerful, commanding voice and masterful skill on the Anglo concertina and melodeon. Closing the series in March, Arthur Coates & Kerran Cotterell deliver foot-stomping tunes with rich harmonies, cheek and charm on percussion, fiddle, guitar, and vocals.

In partnership with Alan Bearman Music.

View shows & offers

London Guitar Festival

LISTEN PLAY CREATE LONDON

Welcome to London Guitar Festival 2026!

The 23rd edition of IGF’s London Guitar Festival brings you a wonderful series of concerts from major international artists, plus workshops and new IGF commissions, continuing IGF’s groundbreaking work with new music and new artists.

Opening the festival on 21st October, we welcome master sitar player Roopa Panesar, in concert with Gurdain Rayatt (tabla) and collaborating with guitarist Giuliano Moderalli on a brand new IGF commission for sitar and guitar.

Roopa is considered one of the finest sitar players to emerge on the Indian classical music scene from the UK. Embracing both Indian and Western classical music, she leaves audiences captivated at festivals around the world.

Internationally acclaimed guitarist Xuefei Yang’s fascinating journey began after the Cultural Revolution, when she became the first recognised Chinese guitarist on the world stage. Xuefei will also teach a masterclass on Sunday 25th October, an opportunity not to be missed!

The above concerts are part of IGF’s La Leona project featuring women composers and performers

Renowned multi-award-winning guitarist Martin Taylor MBE returns to the stage with his brand-new solo show Standards, celebrating the golden age of jazz through new arrangements of classics from the Great American Songbook. Martin’s long history with IGF began in the 1990s, with the Bath International Guitar Festival. Audiences can expect an evening of stories that transport you behind the music – from smoky jazz clubs to concert halls around the world.

We present two concerts by the exceptional young guitarists making their debut on our Young Artist Platform. Our La Leona programme celebrates women composers, and these outstanding young musicians will perform new pieces from IGF’s commissioning programme 2025-2026.

YAP awardees, Matilde Freiria, Fábio Fernandes, Shubbe Kabanda and Alexander Krylov will perform Freya Waley-Cohen’s Night Sky in a Stone, Laila Arafah’s afterform, Isabella Gellis’ Lullaby and Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s The Millipede is Walking.

IGF’s YAP aims to help young musicians in the critical phase between the final stages of music education and the concert platform. The programme provides much-needed performance opportunities and mentoring for young guitarists starting out in their careers, as well as the opportunity to work with a composer and premiere a new work.

Part of IGF’s La Leona project featuring women composers and performers

Come and join us and immerse yourself in that most colourful and versatile of instruments: the guitar!

Tom Kerstens, Artistic Director

View shows & offers

London Piano Festival

Welcome to the 2026 London Piano Festival at Kings Place!

The 2026 London Piano Festival returns for its 11th edition with four days of exceptional performances, conversations and masterclasses, bringing together some of today’s most celebrated pianists alongside exciting new Festival artists.

Co-Artistic Directors Katya Apekisheva and Charles Owen are joined by an outstanding line-up including Peter Donohoe, Gülsin Onay, Keelan Carew, Junyan Chen, Tom Poster, Martin James Bartlett, Bill Laurance and Kathryn Stott. The Festival opens with music by George Benjamin and Olivier Messiaen, features an intimate Mozart Gala for four hands and two pianos, a family Halloween Piano Party for younger audiences, and a special masterclass led by Kathryn Stott. The Festival concludes with a solo performance from acclaimed pianist and composer Bill Laurance.

From classical masterworks to jazz, family events and behind-the-scenes insights, the London Piano Festival celebrates the piano in all its variety, bringing world-class artists and audiences together at Kings Place.

View shows & offers

Online

Experience selected Kings Place talks, performances and festival events online. From live-streamed conversations and concerts to on-demand content, the programme connects audiences everywhere with the ideas, artists and stories at the heart of Kings Place.

View shows & offersOn demand streams

Irish Folk Nights

Kings Place proudly presents Irish Folk Nights, a brand new series celebrating the vibrant energy and evolving sound of Ireland’s contemporary folk scene. Bringing together some of the most exciting established and up-and-coming artists from across the island, these evenings offer a rare chance for London audiences to encounter the next generation of Irish folk artists in an intimate, acoustic setting.

From heartfelt ballads to contemporary folk sets, each performance showcases the depth and diversity of today’s Irish folk tradition. Audiences can expect a mix of traditional tunes reimagined, original songwriting steeped in story, and the warmth and wit that defines Ireland’s musical spirit.

More than a concert series, Irish Folk Nights aims to build creative bridges between artists and audiences, offering a platform for emerging and recognised talent to share their music, make connections, and grow their profiles within London’s thriving folk community. Whether you are a lifelong folk fan or discovering Irish tradition for the first time, these evenings promise a joyful celebration of shared heritage, talent and fresh sounds from Ireland today!

Join us at Kings Place as we bring the sounds of modern Ireland to the heart of London!

Stay tuned for more shows to be announced throughout the year.

View shows & offers

EFG London Jazz Festival

Every November, the EFG London Jazz Festival takes over the city, with a diverse line-up showcasing global stars and emerging talent.
As the biggest pan-city music festival in Europe, it brings over 100k audience members together at 300+ live shows at venues across the city, from basement jazz bars to the world’s finest concert halls, including Kings Place.

The festival is the highlight of the jazz calendar in the UK, with a long history of programming a wide variety of talent from around the world.

View shows & offers

Bach, the Universe & Everything

Bach, the Universe and Everything returns with a new season of adventures.

Inspired by the music of JS Bach, composer and intergalactic genius, this is a concert season with a difference. Expect awe, beauty and big ideas.

This season, Bach, the Universe and Everything chronicles humanity’s quest to understand the cosmos. From the revolutionary instruments that opened our ancestors’ eyes to the night sky to the giant telescopes now peering deeper into space than ever before, we chart the breakthroughs that changed everything. We’ll unravel the force that binds the universe together, witness humanity’s determination to explore further from our planet than we’ve gone before, and discover how the atmosphere that sustains life on Earth is created.

Across six concerts, music and science combine to tell the story of humanity’s enduring search to understand the universe and our place within it.

View shows & offers

Edition Records and Kings Place presents

Edition Records and Kings Place present a new wave of performances as part of Edition’s ongoing associateship with Kings Place, showcasing exceptional talent from Edition’s acclaimed artist roster. This partnership embodies a spirit of deep collaboration and bold creativity – creating live experiences that push the boundaries of jazz and showcasing the creativity, skill, and vision of some of the genre’s most exciting artists.

View shows & offers

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.

View shows & offers

Christmas

Throughout December

Get into the festive spirit with a selection of sparkling seasonal shows at Kings Place, with joyous music, sublime song, mirth and merriment in December.

Choose a cosy night of wintertime traditions with festive folk favourites Awake Arise and Janice Burns & Jon Doran, or join the party with The Ascension Choir’s Gospel Christmas Celebration. Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Hanover Band give us glittering classical concerts, while our very own Kings Place Jazz Orchestra brings a big-band swing to your favourite seasonal music.

And it wouldn’t be a Kings Place Christmas without some mischief and mirth from Three Bean Salad, and Robin Ince’s beloved annual mash-up of science, comedy, music and culture, Nine Lessons and Carols for Curious People.

View shows & offers

Artist in Residence: Olivia Chaney

Grammy-nominated songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Olivia Chaney explores tradition, evolution and transformation through her 2026 Memory Unwrapped residency. She opens the year with intimate sets as part of our festival-style launch, A Night to Remember, before unveiling the debut of her new electric folk-rock band, News from Nowhere. In June, Chaney presents a major new project celebrating her lifelong love of Henry Purcell’s music, followed by a programme of original compositions in the autumn. Her residency offers a vivid portrait of an artist in evolution, reshaping history through voice, storytelling and sound.

View shows & offers

Kings Place Jazz Orchestra

Kings Place Jazz Orchestra (KPJO) is a handpicked, project-based ensemble, made up of the UK’s finest jazz and big band musicians, alongside rising-star young artists. Kings Place Jazz Orchestra is more than a new resident ensemble – it’s a bold statement of artistic ambition.

The ensemble hopes to serve as an inspiration for young musicians, opening its doors throughout the year to experience the ensemble in the surroundings of Kings Place, Hall One.

Committed to celebrating the depth of jazz tradition while pushing the boundaries of contemporary large ensemble writing, KPJO is set to become a cornerstone of Kings Place’s vibrant musical landscape.

Founded in 2025 by Callum Au (Director), Hannah Hutton (Producer), and Sam McShane (Artistic Director, Kings Place), the Orchestra was created to bring the powerful, immersive sound of the big band to the heart of a contemporary arts centre.

View shows & offers

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.

View shows & offers

Composer-in-Focus: Nico Muhly

Grammy-nominated American composer Nico Muhly features as Composer-in-Focus for 2027 and Origins Unwrapped. A prolific composer who has worked across stage, screen, classical, rock and pop, the programmes in his Kings Place residency trace the musical influences that have shaped his distinctive artistic voice from Renaissance polyphony, English sacred music and contemporary composition.

One of the most distinctive voices in music today, Nico Muhly invites audiences into a world of surprising connections, bold ideas and extraordinary collaborations.

View shows & offers

Origins Unwrapped

The stories we inherit. The music we pass on.

Origins Unwrapped brings together artists whose work is shaped by heritage, migration, community and creativity.

Through music, they reveal how family histories, cultural influences and encounters across borders have shaped their artistic identities and inspired the work they create and champion today. Led by Artist-in-Residence Alice Zawadzki, Guest Curator Keval Shah and Composer-in-Focus Nico Muhly, alongside a cast of world-class artists including our resident ensembles, the season invites audiences to discover the personal stories and creative journeys behind the music they love.

View shows & offers

Beethoven by Heart

Beethoven by Heart is an ambitious project from the Sacconi Quartet and award-winning director Tom Morris, which will place audiences inside the world of some of Beethoven’s final string quartets Opuses 130, 131 and 132.

Presented in the intimacy of Hall Two, the series transforms the traditional quartet experience by performing entirely from memory, dispensing with music stands and allowing for complete freedom of movement with audiences drawn into the heart of the ensemble.

Enhanced by lighting and spoken introduction in a unique theatrical experience, each performance offers an opportunity to encounter these masterpieces that continue to challenge, move and inspire nearly two centuries after they were first written.

View shows & offers

Canadian & Québécois Folk

Origins Unwrapped is the Kings Place flagship series for 2027, exploring identity, heritage and belonging through a vibrant season of music and spoken word events.

A major focus of the series is Canada, celebrating the richness and diversity of contemporary Canadian culture through performances by leading folk and Francophone artists including La Déferlance, Le Vent du Nord, Catherine MacLellan, Luke Wallace, Rum Ragged, Rachel Davis & Darren McMullen, alongside artists identified through the Folk Canada network.

The Canadian and Québécois Folk series is generously supported by the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom and the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation, with further support of selected Québécois events by the Québec Government Office in London.

View shows & offers

(Re)Sounding India

(Re)Sounding India

As part of Origins Unwrapped 2027 at Kings Place, (Re)Sounding India is a four-part concert series curated by multi-award-winning pianist Keval Shah.

The series explores how artists of the South Asian diaspora draw on, rework and transform elements of Indian musical culture into distinctive contemporary practices. It considers how heritage is shaped across continents, and how distance and context influence the way traditions are inherited and reimagined by musicians of the diaspora.

Across four events, internationally-renowned artists offer distinct perspectives on Indian music’s creative possibilities within a global contemporary landscape, each bringing their own musical language and lineage to bear on what “Indian music” can mean today.

Alongside the performances, a series of artist conversations hosted by Keval Shah will offer further insight into the ideas and influences shaping the programme.

View shows & offers

Phaedra Ensemble

As Artists in Residence, Phaedra Ensemble and Kings Place are creating a space for adventurous music-making that crosses boundaries of genre, tradition and concert format.

Together, they are exploring ideas at the heart of Origins Unwrapped through thoughtfully curated programmes that connect music with themes of migration, landscape, identity and belonging.

From the intimate storytelling of chamber music to immersive experiences that transform the relationship between performers and audience, the residency embraces curiosity, discovery and new perspectives.

Bringing together contemporary classical music, ambient sound worlds and overlooked voices, Phaedra’s residency invites audiences to listen differently and experience music in fresh and unexpected way

View shows & offers

Symphonic Piano

Symphonic Piano is a new three-part series exploring some of the greatest works of orchestral music through the power of two pianos and four hands.

Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva begin the series with Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in the composer’s original four-hand version. Duo Pleyel pair Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 5 and No. 6 reimagined for a single piano and arranged for four hands by Carl Czerny and Leeds International Piano Competition alumni Junyan Chen and Alim Beisembayev close the series with Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances.

View shows & offers

Chineke!

Chineke! and Kings Place share a belief that chamber music can be a powerful space for discovery, storytelling and connection.

This series gives Chineke! musicians the opportunity to shape ambitious programmes of their own, bringing overlooked composers, fresh perspectives and personal insights to the forefront.

Across Kings Place’s two unique performance spaces, audiences will experience chamber music in both traditional and immersive settings, breaking down barriers between performers and listeners.

Together, Chineke! and Kings Place are creating concerts that go beyond a sequence of works, offering richly curated experiences that celebrate creativity, representation and the many voices that continue to shape classical music today.

View shows & offers

Artist in Residence: Alice Zawadzki

Jazz FM Vocalist of the Year 2025 Alice Zawadzki is Artist-in-Residence for Origins Unwrapped, creating unforgettable musical worlds where jazz, folk and classical traditions meet in a year-long residency exploring Polish folklore, family history, storytelling and song.

View shows & offers

Edition Records

Driven by an uncompromising love of music, Edition Records is a British independent jazz record label with a European sensibility and global presence.

Described by the Irish Times as ‘one of the more artistically credible independent labels to emerge in Europe’, Edition has developed a formidable reputation as one of the most forward thinking music businesses, bridging the gap between creativity and strategy.

View shows & offers

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.

View shows & offers

Back to top