info@kingsplace.co.uk Tel 020 7520 1440
Basket Contact Us Search
What’s On Festivals & Series Scotland UnwrappedEFG London Jazz FestivalRush Hour LatesSound Unwrapped

Genres

Date

Luminate

Following on from our first Luminate festival in October, we are delighted to present a new season of the series.

First set up as a new concert platform for adventurous artists and audiences in September 2018, Luminate has quickly garnered a reputation for boundary-breaking, visceral performances, with the likes of Pan Daijing, Lonnie Holley, Klein, Circuit Des Yeux and Suzanne Ciani performing in the past.

As ever, sonic exploration is right at the core of Luminate, and this new season features another bold line-up of artists that will provoke and inspire.

Line up: Space Afrika, Oren Ambarchi’s Carpe Diem, LVRA, V/Z, Akusmi & Blue Lake, Lord Of The Isles & Ellen Renton

View shows & offers

Sound Unwrapped

Discover new sonic dimensions  

Sound Unwrapped, the 15th edition of our award-winning series, explores spatial dimensions in live performance and the creativity of sound artists. Over 12 months, we shine a light on pioneering artists and composers – past and present – who play with sound and space.

A partnership with d&b audiotechnik allows us to install their state-of-the-art d&b Soundscape in our flexible Hall Two space. d&b Soundscape is an alternative to the traditional left and right stereo system, using 28 loudspeakers in the round to open up a plethora of creative possibilities for artists, including the extension of the 360-surround dimension. Many of our Sound Unwrapped shows utilise this technology (you can browse through the Soundscape shows here)

From acoustic choral works spread around the Hall One gallery to spatialised electronic performances in Hall Two, Sound Unwrapped interrogates the listening experience in new and unexpected ways.

Mercury Prize and Emmy nominated composer Hannah Peel and electronic duo Space Afrika as Artists in Residence.

View the programme and look out for new events and announcements throughout the year.

Sound Unwrapped has been generously supported by:
d&b audiotechnik, Arts Council England, Parabola and PRS Foundation

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

‘Under 30s’ Tickets

A limited number of  ‘Under 30s’ £8.50 tickets are available for specially selected events at Kings Place, ranging from Classical concerts to jazz and world music – a great way to introduce children to live music and make it more accessible to young people. All events with ticket offers for children and young people are displayed here. Terms and conditions apply. Please contact the Box Office for more information.

Please select the ‘Under 30s’ ticket option during the booking pathway (if the option is not there, this means all ‘Under 30s’ tickets have sold out)

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.

View shows & offers

Bach, the Universe & Everything

 Our 2023-24 season of Bach, the Universe and Everything continues to explore beyond the boundaries of our home planet.

Is there life out there? It may be some time before we’re making reservations at Milliways (aka The Restaurant at the End of the Universe in The Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy ‘trilogy’), but astronomers and scientists are increasingly finding signs of life in the solar system and beyond. The 2023-24 season of Bach, the Universe and Everything – the OAE’s concert series with a difference – sets off in search of answers once again.

Bach, the Universe and Everything is a concert series with a difference. Across six Sunday morning events, each with a guest speaker, our mission is to explore the human desire to better understand our place in the cosmos, guided by the work of JS Bach – composer and intergalactic genius – through his 200 cantatas.

Each event is built around a Bach cantata and a talk from an eminent astronomer, writer or scientist, alongside choral and instrumental music by other baroque and renaissance composers. The concert lasts approximately one hour.

‘He was wrong to think he could now forget that the big, hard, oily, dirty, rainbow-hung Earth on which he lived was a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot lost in the unimaginable infinity of the Universe.’

Douglas Adams, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy 

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

Scotland Unwrapped

Welcome to Scotland Unwrapped, the 16th edition of our award-winning year-long series. Celebrating Scottish music and spoken word culture, the series will highlight both its traditional and regional riches but also explore the diverse contemporary scene and the writers and composers which give Scotland its distinctive voice. As well as covering a wide range of musical genres from cutting-edge contemporary composers, folk musicians and Scottish classical ensembles, Scotland Unwrapped also embraces the heady literary scene and wealth of Scottish festivals.

We’ve just announced the second wave of events. Stay tuned for more announcements coming soon…

View shows & offers

The Guilty Feminist

Ever felt you should be better at feminism? Join comedian Deborah Frances-White for her comedy podcast, recorded in front of a live audience. Each episode Deborah and her guests discuss topics ‘all 21st century feminists agree on’ while confessing the insecurities, hypocrisies and fears that underlie their lofty principles. The podcast has been a huge success with over 20,000,000 downloads since it started in December 2015.

Previous guests have included Jo Brand, Andi Osho, Sarah Millican, Jenny Eclair, Susan Wokoma, Sara Pascoe, Jessamyn Stanley and Gemma Arterton.

‘Screamingly funny. Everyone is talking about them talking.’ Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Guardian
‘Presenters and guests set themselves challenges with invariably hilarious outcomes.’ The Economist

Deborah is an award-winning writer, comedian and corporate speaker. Her comedy series Rolls the Dice has had two series on BBC Radio 4 and she wrote the screenplay for the movie Say My Name which will be released in 2018.

View shows & offersFind out more

Master Series

‘We shall never become musicians unless we understand the ideals of temperance, fortitude, liberality and magnificence’ Plato

In our annual Master Series, we present renowned artists in recital in the radiant acoustic of Hall One, an intimate space expressly designed for the purpose. We invite them to play the music they love best, the greatest works of the classical canon.

The 2023/24 season opens with acclaimed baroque violinist Rachel Podger – recently announced as Kings Place’s Artist in Focus – on 21 September with her BBC Music Magazine Award-winning project Tutta Sola.

The Diotima Quartet – one of the most in-demand chamber ensembles in the world – returns in October to perform modern masterpieces for string quartet by Janácek and Ligeti.

In November star soprano Danielle de Niese, joined by pianist and frequent collaborator Matthew Fletcher, presents an American songbook-inspired programme, interspersed with arias from operas by Mozart, Handel, Bizet, Dvořák and Gounod, displaying the versatility of de Niese’s.

Internationally-renowned guitarist Xuefei Yang collaborates with cellist Johannes Moser for a varied programme celebrating music from across the centuries in March next year.

And finally Chiaroscuro Quartet returns to close series, performing Beethoven’s Razumovsky quartets along with Haydn’s String Quartet in D Minor Op.9, June 2024.

View shows & offers

London Chamber Music Society

The London Chamber Music Society (LCMS) is dedicated to bringing the best in chamber music to London audiences and can trace its origins back to Victorian music making in London in the 1870s. The LCMS Concert Series aims to continue this rich legacy.

The list of famous artists and ensembles appearing through the years includes Henry Wood, Frank Bridge, Albert Sammons, Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Goosens, Ysaÿe, Percy Grainger, Primrose, Harriet Cohen, Myra Hess, John Ireland and many more. Britain’s most celebrated string quartets have regularly appeared in the Series, from the Brosa and Amadeus to the Allegri, Lindsay and Chilingirian Quartets. Patrons: Sir Jeremy Dixon and Julia Somerville.

‘The London Chamber Music Sundays are an absolute joy and we should ‘spread the word’ as far and wide as possible.’ Seen & Heard International

View shows & offers

Future Folk: Contemporary Sounds from Traditional Roots

Future Folk: Contemporary Sounds from Traditional Roots

Future Folk is a new programme strand at Kings Place designed to showcase emerging artists creating and reshaping music inspired by folk traditions in new, progressive ways for contemporary audiences. It will initially feature five monthly shows running through the winter of 2023/24, putting 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: from the outstanding triple harpist Cerys Hafana who mangles, mutates, and transforms Welsh traditional music with a myriad of influences; to Bristol-based instrumental all-women quintet Hedera who lean into the slower and more delicate side of European folk traditions, plus a solo set from one of their multi-instrumentalists Tamsin Elliot with her experimental and minimalist textures. Also featured are the golden instrumental sounds of new guitar/fiddle duo Owen Spafford and Louis Campbell; the earth-rooted yet ethereal Northumbrian sibling harmonies of The Brothers Gillespie and grass roots traditions of Eastern England from new traditional singers and players, Mossy Christian & Megan Wisdom.

In partnership with Alan Bearman Music.

View shows & offers

Rush Hour Lates

Our new Resident Quartet, Piatti, take on our Rush Hour Lates series with four concerts throughout the 2023/2024 season. The concerts – each beginning at 6:45pm, lasting no more than an hour – will include Dvořák’s last three quartets as well as his second piano quintet. Each work by Dvořák will be paired with a musical prelude, including Schubert’s Quartetsatz, Ina Boyle’s Quartet in E minor, Webern’s Langsamer Satz and Charlotte Harding’s Iorsa – a work that was commissioned by the Quartet and Three Choirs Festival in 2022. A highlight of the series will be the world premiere of a new piece written by Manchester-based composer Anna Appleby, commissioned by the Quartet.

View shows & offers

Orkney Folk Festival

Amongst Scotland’s longest established folk festivals, the Orkney Folk Festival has been a world- renowned stage for over four decades, proudly showcasing the islands’ famed home-grown talent and local folk scene alongside leading artists from around the globe. Based in the West Mainland town of Stromness, the festival precedes the late May Bank Holiday each year – and though initially established to boost both tourism and folk music in the isles, is now one of the county’s busiest weekends, with a record-breaking 8,500 concert tickets sold over the four-day weekend in 2023. As well as a wealth of concerts, ceilidhs, clubs, sessions, workshops and more bursting out of every nook and cranny in Stromness, the festival annually takes shows on the road to a number of other island parishes, and one or two in the island’s capital, Kirkwall.

The festival is run entirely by volunteers – and has been since its inception in 1982. The eleven-strong year-round management committee, and six-person board, are supported by over a hundred others in the months and weeks leading up to the festival, bringing together a thriving community event. Orkney Folk Festival is a former Event of the Year at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, and will celebrate its 41st edition over the long weekend of May 23-26, 2024.

View shows & offers

d&b Soundscape System Events

For this year’s Sound Unwrapped series we are thrilled to be partnering with d&b audiotechnik and to have use of the state-of-the-art d&b Soundscape system in our flexible Hall Two space. A revolution in the live sound experience, d&b Soundscape is an alternative to the traditional left and right stereo system, using up to 28 loudspeakers to open up a plethora of creative possibilities for artists to reinforce their sound. The following Sound Unwrapped shows will all be using the d&b Soundscape system.

Find out more about the technology on our Magazine.

View shows & offers

Artist in Focus 23/24: Rachel Podger

”Rachel Podger has been an electrifying presence on the international Baroque scene for more than two decades, and has lit up Kings Place with indelible performances since it opened. In her hands, the miraculous, near-mystical power of the violin is fully realised. So we are particularly thrilled that she will be Artist in Focus for the 23/24 season.” Helen Wallace, Artistic Director

Rachel Podger combines incandescent musical charisma with warm humanity and scholarly humility. She has breathed new life into so many treasures and rarities of Baroque repertoire over the years, and her opening solo programme is no exception, featuring works by Matteis and Vilsmayr as well as one of JS Bach’s masterworks. The second concert is focused on her ensemble, Brecon Baroque, with a dazzling new arrangement of the Goldberg Variations by Chad Kelly. Rachel, Brecon Baroque and a starry cast of singers return in spring 2024 for a beautiful Easter sequence taking us from darkness and lament into vibrant celebration.

‘the unsurpassed British glory of the baroque violin’ The Times

‘there is probably no more inspirational musician working today’ Gramophone

View shows & offers

Bach Weekend

Bach Weekend returns with a trio of transcendent evening concerts celebrating the genius of Johann Sebastian Bach.

The weekend opens with ‘From Darkness into Light’, a programme of works celebrating rebirth and transfiguration, presented by Rachel Podger and Brecon Baroque.

Bach’s orchestral masterpieces are featured on Saturday night, when violin virtuoso Catherine Manson is joined by Miki Takahashi and oboist Geoffrey Coates for a performance of Bach’s great solo and double violin concerti, accompanied by the Feinstein Ensemble.

The weekend finishes, fittingly, with a complete performance of Bach’s final masterpiece The Art of Fugue, an emotional odyssey and a work of extraordinary beauty.

View shows & offers

Folk Weekend: State Of The Nations

Folk Weekend: State Of The Nations

Folk Weekend returns with State Of The Nations, taking a snapshot of some of the extraordinary creativity and innovation in contemporary folk music-making in the British Isles. Just a moment in time; taking the pulse of the current folk scene in its many and various forms. Where many political unions are fractured, and each nation state retaining its own rich cultural identity, there are also many musical connections which have always stretched beyond borders. Here we venture into uncharted musical territories, celebrating diversity, bending genre and reframing tradition in a contemporary setting.

View shows & offers

HebCelt Festival Spotlight

HebCelt Festival Spotlight

HebCelt takes place annually on the picturesque Lews Castle Green in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis. Over its 26-year history, the festival has grown from a small event attracting less than 1,000 fans to an international showpiece for roots, Celtic and traditional music, with record attendances of over 19,500 in 2023.

In that time, it has generated more than £34 million for the local economy. It was crowned Best Cultural Event or Festival at the 2018 Scottish Thistle Awards and it won a Highly Commended accolade at A Greener Festival Awards. It also scooped the Festival of the Year award and the Grand Prix prize at the 2018 Scottish Event Awards and has twice been named Best Cultural Event or Festival in the Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards, as well as being named Event of the Year at the 2022 MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards.

HebCelt Chair of the Board, Gayle Findlay, said: “It’s fantastic that HebCelt is going to be part of the Scotland Unwrapped series at Kings Place, with some wonderful artists who have previously played the festival representing us. It’s a great opportunity for music lovers in London to get a taste of HebCelt and see how we do things here in Stornoway, and to celebrate the amazing music and rich culture on offer.”

View shows & offers

Sing to the Dark Weekend

The Gaelic festival Samhain was once widely marked across Scotland, Ireland and beyond as a threshold into winter and the darker half of the year. A liminal time of fire and feasting, magic and mischief, and the ritual remembering of the dead, it finds echoes in Halloween and All Saints/Souls.

Singer, songwriter and storyteller, and Kings Place Artist in Residence Karine Polwart programmes a weekend of events that explores darkening and light, myth and divination, and the supernatural.

View shows & offers

Back to top