February 2020: UK Classical Concerts
Here are our picks for the month ahead, including a yoga class with a live string quartet, a winter supper club with classical music, a brass-fuelled club night and a 21st-century take on Beethoven, which moves from electronic installation to flashmob. Sound good?! Follow on social media @alterclassical for more recommendations and sign up for the mailing list to be the first to read our future articles.
Sunday 23 February, 1.30pm - 3.30pm, £30
The Old Church, Stoke Newington
Practise yoga with music performed and curated by Estilo String Quartet in London's only surviving Elizabethan church in this new series. 90 minutes of vinyasa yoga is followed by hot chocolate as the late winter afternoon closes in. Music choices include J.S. Bach, Arvo Pärt and acoustic classical arrangements of pop songs. Open to yoga lovers of all abilities and levels of experience.
Monday 17 February, 8pm, £15
Spiritland Royal Festival Hall, Waterloo
London Sinfonietta has launched a new digital channel presenting new music content and online concerts, including a new podcast series The Music That Made Me, exploring six key pieces of music that have influenced and inspired composers and artists. Go to the music lovers’ bar, Spiritland, for a live podcast recording with discussion from Matthew Herbert, Anna Meredith and Zoë Martlew. Anna Meredith is also performing in Brighton on Monday 10 February.
Saturday 15th February, 6pm - 10pm, £49.50
Fidelio Orchestra Cafe, Clerkenwell
A 4-course winter supper club served with live classical music from the all-female Behn Quartet, formed of players from England, the Netherlands, Portugal and New Zealand. Tonight’s food menu includes cauliflower velouté, spiced parsnip fritters and braised beef with orange and chocolate porter, and the music includes that of Fanny Mendelssohn.
1-2 February, £25 (£10 14-25s)
Barbican Centre, Barbican
A festival dedicated to Beethoven in his 250th anniversary year. Watch out for s t a r g a z e’s Beethoven NEIN!, which moves from electronic installation to flashmob and culminating in a joyful participatory performance. Pull up a cushion to watch the Barbican debut of 1970s television icon, Ah, Ludwig! with live soundtrack. And even toddlers can get creative with Beethoven’s music in the sensory play area Squish Space.
Tuesday 25 February, 7.30pm, £18 (£5 students & <26s)
RNCM Concert Hall, Manchester
The Bang on a Can All-Stars are recognised worldwide for their ultra-dynamic live performances and recordings of today’s most innovative music. Freely crossing the boundaries between classical, jazz, rock, world and experimental music, this six-member amplified ensemble has consistently forged a distinct category-defying identity, taking music into uncharted territories. RNCM students join BOAC for music by Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Julia Wolfe, Kate Moore and Steve Martland.
18-23 February, 7.30pm, £12.50-£13.50 (some 2 for 1 tickets available)
Forge, The Vaults, Waterloo
This nine-piece, multi award-winning progressive brass band embark on a curious audio-theatrical journey. Replete with enormous choral harmonies, dynamic choreography, mesmerising contact juggling and thoughts on existence and happenstance. This is a piece of gig theatre which contemplates life’s baffling, unlikely origins and the tiny stories weaved between our atoms and the stars. Bursting with triumphant horns, fascination and wonder. If you go on Friday 21st, stay on for the brass-fuelled club night, on until 2am.
25 February - 6 March, £15-£20 (£12.50 <26s, £10 students)
Perth, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness
A striking new music-and-theatre production exploring the extraordinary story of a transplanted heart. Scottish Ensemble musicians will flit between their roles as musicians, chorus and curious onlookers to the drama happening on stage. The show features a new score for string orchestra and two vocalists by one of Iceland’s most original and creative composer/producers, Valgeir Sigurðsson, whose compositions swoop amongst contemporary classical and experimental electronica.
Saturday 15 February, 8pm, £16.50
Kings Place, King’s Cross
Expect works by Debussy, sampled Mongolian folk songs, re-imagining of J.S. Bach, and improvisations on prepared piano in Belle Chen’s audiovisual show. She collaborates with designer Nick Robertson (Coldplay, Brian Eno) and with real-time visual performer Mario Radev, live-painting a journey through shifting environments around the world. Chen performs an acoustic piano (prepared and unprepared through improvisation), synths and kalimba, whilst sampling electronics and found sound through a laptop.
Saturday 29 February, 9.45pm, £4
Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham
This sparky, genre-hopping piano trio was born when Colombian pianist Ivan Guevara met British cellist Graham Walker back in 1997. Since then, they’ve been joyfully mixing classical style with Latin American rhythms and melodies, winning fans all over the world. This first visit to Nottingham gives you a chance to sample their vibrant sounds at this late-night show.
Get Closer: Nixon in China
21 & 28 February, 6pm - 7pm, £5
Theatre Royal Glasgow & Festival Theatre Edinburgh
An hour-long taster that gives into an insight into Scottish Opera’s shows and how they are created. You’ll hear highlights from the music and find out more about the props, costumes, lighting and direction, as well as some backstage secrets.
5 February - 7 March, 3pm & 7.45pm, £25-£35
Trafalgar Studios, Charing Cross
The Olivier Award nominated producers of 2017’s ★★★★★ smash hit La bohème present a brand new Puccini double-bill radically distilled to 60 minutes each and sung in English. Tosca is an electrifying story of love, lies and abuse in present-day Hollywood. La bohème is a thoroughly modern look at relationships, addiction and co-dependency in Peckham. Suitable for opera newcomers and die-hard fans alike.
Thursday 20 February, 7.30pm - 8.30pm, £14.50 (£6 students & <30s)
Firth Hall, Sheffield
Fans of the evocative strain of new piano music coming from labels such as Erased Tapes will find this an exciting journey into the atmospheric origins and inspirations of artists like Nils Frahm. Pianist David Greilsammer takes us on an imaginary musical voyage, to the heart of the human soul and dreams. The programme includes Chaos, an adventurous and wild piece composed in the baroque era by French composer Jean-Féry Rebel to depict the chaos of the world. Originally written for orchestra, it will be performed here on the piano for the first time.
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: David Greilsammer: Julien Mignot at Sony Classical, Anna Meredith: Gem Harris