April 2020: Concert Picks
It’s looking incredibly unlikely that any of us will be able to go to many concerts in April this year (😬), but as I’d already written this, I thought I may as well publish it to showcase some of the fantastic events that were in the works. Please check with the individual organisations and venues nearer the time as to whether any of these will still be going ahead. In the meantime, I’ve created a Spotify mixtape with some of the music you would have heard live, so you can still experience it from the concert seat of your sofa. See you over @alterclassical. Take care x
Friday 17 April, 7pm - 10pm, £20
St John’s Church, Waterloo
Here we have a multimedia orchestral odyssey by Retrophonica, creators of immersive concerts in iconic venues. This audio-visual experience features choir, twin pianos, organ and early electronic instruments (theremin and ondes Martenot) and explores how composers past and present have responded to mysteries of the distant past. Original and adapted music by Holst, Mozart, Debussy, Yma Surmac, Goldsmith and Grieg comes served with cocktails, lightshow and narration.
23 April - 2 May, £5 - £20
Leeds, Glasgow, Salford, Liverpool, Oxford, London, Manchester
Manchester Collective with a whale of an announcement: they are performing Voice of the Whale by American avant-garde composer George Crumb (great name) underneath REAL whale skeletons in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. They’re then touring around the UK (sans skeletons). It will be performed under blue light by anonymous, masked musicians, on instruments that are amplified and modified. It’s music from an undersea world, inspired by whale sounds, that audiences will experience on stage together with the players.
Saturday 25 April, 7.15pm & 8.30pm, £12
The Victoria Tunnel, Newcastle
Steve Luck performs his soothing piano compositions in (almost) pitch darkness in the remarkably atmospheric Victoria Tunnel. A treat for the senses in a particularly unique setting - a preserved waggonway built to transport coal from 1842 until the 1860s, and later an air raid shelter during World War 2.
Friday 24 and Saturday 25 April, 6.30pm - 11.45pm, £25 - £45
York Hall, Bethnal Green
In the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, The Little Orchestra perform a famous Beethoven symphony in the colossal York Hall, a popular venue for wrestling events (and there’s also a spa, open until the concert start time, if that’s of interest to anyone 😉). The seating is a mix of cushions and sofas, there are cocktails and a themed pop-up food menu, and also a post-concert soirée to enjoy.
Friday 17 April, 7.30pm, £15 (14-25s £5)
Milton Court Concert Hall, Barbican
London’s new experimental vocal group bring original choral arrangements melded with synths and percussion to the gig stage. They describe their compositions as ‘miniature sonic paintings’ and you may have unknowingly heard them on Nils Frahm’s 2018 album All Melody.
23-26 April, £18.50-£85
Various venues, Bristol
Four days of concerts, exhibitions and workshops as part of Bristol’s biennial exploration of the city through sound. Venues include Arnolfini, Clifton Suspension Bridge Vaults, Colston Hall, Cube Cinema, Loco Klub, Spike Island, St Mary Redcliffe Church and the Victoria Rooms.
Friday 3 April, 8pm - 10pm, £12-£22
Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank
Inspired by BBC Radio 3’s Unclassified programme, Elizabeth Alker presents music by a visionary generation of composers and performers who break down boundaries and fuse classical music with a whole range of other genres, including electronica, jazz, ambient and pop. We went to the first concert in this trio series and had a wonderful night, so will be returning in April!
Neighbourhood Cafe Yukari, Kew
Saturday 4 April, 7pm, £15.73
Classical (old and new), Brazilian and jazz improvisation at an intimate Japanese cafe near Kew Gardens. The performers are violinist Hannah Woolmer and Brazilian-based pianist Daniel Roberts. At the end of the programme, Daniel Roberts will take requests and improvise on themes you suggest.
Friday 3 April, 7.30pm, £16.50 - £34.50 (<30s £8.50)
Kings Place, King’s Cross
Founder member of jazz big band Loose Tubes, Django Bates travels between the jazz and classical worlds. He has composed an ‘umpteenth’ violin concerto, to be performed by Thomas Gould, a violinist who also inhabits both sonic worlds. Bates says his concerto is “a wry comment on those radio stations that play the Mendelssohn and Bruch Concertos in a never-ending cycle.”
Saturday 4 April, 7.30pm, £5-£17.50|
HOME, Manchester
A night of soulful fusion as Manchester Camerata team up with Kabantu, Manchester’s finest folk band, who aim to ‘celebrate the space where different cultures meet’. The acoustic quintet includes classically-trained players who met at the Royal Northern College of Music and a virtuoso busker they heard playing in the city. They’ve developed a fusion style, in which global influences are mixed with jazz improvisation and reminders of their classical backgrounds.
21 April - 1 May, 7.30pm, £17 (£10)
Ovalhouse, Clapham (then Liverpool, Brighton, Reading, Weston-super-Mare & Gloucester in May & June)
A human surround-sound experience places you at the meeting point between threads of music. Nine voices weave amongst you and around the space, from a whispered duet to a screaming mob. An ensemble of people with different qualities of voice animate a series of new compositions inspired by our relationship to our voices throughout our lives. Previous shows by Verity Standen have been described by The Guardian as “startling, moving, and genuinely immersive”.
Hannah Fiddy is a creative entrepreneur, developing new audiences for classical music. She has created and promoted numerous concerts outside of traditional spaces, including warehouses, pubs, clubs, museums, hospitals, prisons and even in Primark. Hannah also hosts monthly drinks for the classical music industry and runs a choir in Stoke Newington. Her alter ego is the Founder of London Flashmob, producing quirky events from wedding proposals to cultural pranks for up to 1,000 people.
Follow Hannah on Twitter @Hannah_Fiddy.
Photo credits: Classical Remix by Dimitri Djuric; Wilton’s by Paul Marc Mitchel; Sounds Like THIS by maskofstorrow